Attachment insecurity and intimate partner violence

• Published in: Aggression and violent behavior Vol. 17; no. 5; pp. 475 - 481
• Main Authors: Dutton, Donald G, White, Katherine R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2012; Elsevier; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Abusive relationships; Adolescents; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aggression; Aggressiveness; Attachment; Attachment disorders; Behavior disorders; Biological and medical sciences; Borderline personality; Causality; Criminology; Domestic violence; Insecurity; Interpersonal relations; Intimate partner violence; Medical sciences; Personality disorders; Psychiatry; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Sexual abuse; Sexual assault; Victimology; Intimate partner violence; Attachment; Borderline personality; Affect affectivity; Borderline; Affective attachment; Review; Social behavior disorder; Personality disorder
• ISSN: 1359-1789; 1873-6335
• DOI: 10.1016/j.avb.2012.07.003

Abstract We argue that human attachment encompasses a broad spectrum of attachment insecurities including fearful and preoccupied attachment style, negative emotionality (NEM), and borderline personality organization (BPO). These, in turn, have a developing literature to link them as causative factors for intimate partner violence (IPV) in both adolescents and adults. These broad spectrum attachment disorders constitute the major psychological predictor of IPV. Direct assessments indicate that they increase the likelihood of aggression in adolescents and intimate partner violence in adults. Some of the proposed mechanisms increasing aggression in insecurely attached people include alterations in the appraisal of threat due to an inability to call on memories of parental support and diminished ability to implement affective controls and impulsivity.