سبک دلبستگی والدین، اما نه کیفیت محیط زیست، با استفاده از والدین متضاد جنسی به عنوان یک الگو برای همکاران رابطه است

Animal and human studies have suggested that some individuals use sexual imprinting, in which a template is created based on traits of one's opposite-sex parent (OSP), to assist in choosing potential mates. The current study investigates the role of parental attachment and early environment in the variance of using a sexual imprinted template. Two hundred twenty-nine undergraduate students from a Midwestern university completed the Parental Acceptance–Rejection Questionnaire (Rohner, 1990), answered questions on early environment, and rated traits of their opposite-sex parent, ideal partner, and acceptable partner. Results show varying evidence for sexual imprinting. In particular, there are correlations between secure attachment and stricter adherence to an opposite-sex parent template, especially for women, but no association between early environment and template variance.