Examined 63 (51 female, 12 male) clients applying to the counselling services at their university. Mean age was 23.37 years and clients were of various ethnic origins. None of the participants had used counselling services previously. Clients were asked to complete the Relationship Questionnaire (1991), rating each of the four prototypes on a 7-point Likert-type scale. This was completed by clients before the first session of counselling. Working Alliance was measured using the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI; 1986) which was completed by clients after the third, fourth or fifth session of counselling.

Results indicated that clients' working models of attachment were at least partially related to the development of the working alliance in counseling. Significant positive correlations were found between secure attachment and the goals, bonds and global scales of the WAI, whilst significant negative correlations were found between fearfulness and the goals and bonds subscales. The authors interpret this as meaning that 'clients who view themselves as worthy of love and support and believe that others are generally trustworthy, accessible and responsive may be more likely to form emotional bonds and negotiate meaningful goals with their counsellors.'

The authors also noted that the preoccupied and dismissing dimensions yielded no significant associations with working alliance ratings. However, the limited sample size probably provided only enough power to detect the effects for the most and least secure attachment categories.