Contrary to our predictions, there was no evidence that anxious-depressed symptoms for the low early care/low adult romantic quality group or the low early care/high adult romantic quality group changed over time. By limiting our assessment to only relatively well-established relationships (a minimum length of 4 months, with a sample average of 37 months), we may have missed the critical period at the beginning of relationships when these changes occur. Future research using more fine-grained assessments of internalizing symptoms that are associated with being involved in a new romantic relationship might be a more sensitive test of this hypothesis (for an example of a daily diary method in this vein, see Eberhart & Hammen, 2010)
