Exploring Relationships: A Systematic Review on Intimate Partner Violence and Attachment

Abstract

Background: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is an important public health challenge. In recent years, there has been a greater awareness concerning this phenomenon, its causes and consequences. Due to the relational nature of IPV, attachment theory (Bowlby, 1988) appears a useful framework to read the phenomenon and to better understand its components and its dynamics to provide more precise and tailored interventions in the future.Purpose: To summarize our knowledge of the research concerning IPV and attachment with an aim to better design and implement future research.Methods: Computer database researches were conducted using the following databases: Psychinfo, Psycharticle, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed (all years to the 01/02/2018). Search terms were compiled into two concepts for all database namely Attachment and IPV.Results: After removing the duplicates, a total of 3,598 records was screened, resulting in the identification of 319 full-text articles to be further scrutinized. Upon closer examination, there was consensus that 113 of those studies met the study inclusion criteria. Data was organized considering specifically studies concerning (1) IPV victimization and attachment, (2) IPV perpetration and attachment (both these sections were articulated in Physical, Psychological, and Sexual IPV), and (3) New research (comprising same-sex couples, IPV and attachment in couple contexts and IPV profiles and attachment among perpetrators).Conclusion: A number of studies failed to find significant associations between insecure attachment and IPV victimization or perpetration. Additional research is needed to provide a greater understanding of different IPV forms and to aid in the development of prevention and treatment interventions.

Violence against women in heterosexual couples: A review of psychological and medico-legal considerations

“…This attachment style is termed ‘disorganised’ because the child desperately seeks physical closeness while simultaneously trying to create mental distance. 40,41 A child living in a dysfunctional family system with an abuser or a frightened or frightening caregiver internalises both the caregiver’s feelings of rage, hatred or fear and a frightening or unmanageable self-image. This terrifying self-image, internalised by the child, constitutes a sort of ‘alien self’ or a ‘persecutory object’ that the child must externalise to ‘survive psychically’ and to achieve a bearable and coherent self-representation.…”

Dating SOS: a systematic and theory-based development of a web-based tailored intervention to prevent dating violence among Brazilian youth

“…In addition to the I-Change Model, attachment theory was adopted as a secondary theoretical basis for Dating SOS [34]. Although this theory has been extensively used to explain how attachment may explain the process leading to intimate partner violence [35] and prevention to dating violence [36], its use in CTI to this end has not yet been recorded. The choice of attachment theory to base Dating SOS upon resides in the evidence that adolescents with insecure affective bonding styles tend to use more destructive conflict management strategies and are more frequently victims of dating violence than those securely attached [37,38].…”

A Systemic Conceptualization of Intimate Partner Violence: Attachment and Differentiation

“…Theoretically, when partners with opposing closeness and distance needs (e.g., insecure anxious and insecure avoidant) or when partners who both desire intense closeness are paired (e.g., insecure anxious and insecure anxious), finding a balancing point may be especially difficult and the attachment system may become aroused frequently (Pistole, 1994; Velotti et al, 2018). In these adult romantic relationships, one or both partners may have experienced attachment injuries, and increased proximity may not elicit the intended safe and secure feeling.…”

“…Research applying attachment theory to IPV has suggested that it may be the interaction of complementary insecure attachment styles in relationships that triggers violent behavior. For instance, research has found that IPV occurred when the perpetrator was high in attachment anxiety (fearing abandonment) and the other partner was high in attachment avoidance (fearing intimacy; Roberts & Noller, 1998 cited in Allison et al, 2008; Park, 2016; Velotti et al, 2018. Similarly, research has shown that IPV occurs in couples when a male high in attachment avoidance is “mispaired” with a female high in attachment anxiety (Allison et al, 2008; Doumas et al, 2008).…”