Table 6.
Studies investigating the relationship between physical IPV and attachment among perpetrators.
| References | Country | Design | Sample Characteristics | Instrument used to evaluate IPV | Instrument used to evaluate attachment | Main results | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender composition | Size | Type | Age | ||||||
| Wekerle and Wolfe, 1998 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 128 | High school students | 15.34 (1.75) | CIR | Attachment Security Ratings | Anxiety (r = 0.15) Avoidance (r = 0.21) |
| Female | 193 | 15.13 (0.94) | |||||||
| Rankin et al., 2000 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 69 | Convicted for IPV | 31 (11) | MWA | ASQ | Avoidance (r = 0.27) |
| Follingstad et al., 2002 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 223 | College students | NA | CTS | RSQ | NSO |
| Female | 199 | ||||||||
| Kim and Zane, 2004 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 52 | Korean Americans in treatment for IPV | 40.7 (9.8) | CTS | RQ | Anxiety (r = 0.28) |
| 50 | European Americans in treatment for IPV | ||||||||
| Henderson et al., 2005 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 60 | Community | 37.4 (12.6) | CTS2 | HAI | Preoccupied (r = 0.23) |
| Female | 68 | ||||||||
| Orcutt et al., 2005 | USA | Cross-sectional | Female | 457 | College students | NA | CTS2 | ECR-R | Anxiety (b = 0.32) Avoidance (b = −0.11) |
| Lafontaine and Lussier, 2005 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Couples | 316 | Community | 39 (NA) | CTS2 | ECR | Anxiety (β = .15 for F) |
| Toews et al., 2005 | USA | Cross-sectional | Female | 147 | Divorced mothers | 34 (NA) | CTS2 | RSQ | Insecure attachment (r = 0.25) |
| Lawson et al., 2006 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 33 | In treatment for IPV | 32.8 (8.7) | CTS | AAS | NSO |
| Mauricio et al., 2007 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 192 | Convicted for IPV | 33 (8.83) | CTS | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.24) |
| Goldenson et al., 2007 | USA | Cross-sectional | Female | 33 | Violent | 30.9 (7.8) | Physical violence interview | ECR-R | Anxiety (F = 8.48, p = 0.005) Avoidance (F = 10.96, p = 0.002) |
| 32 | Non-violent | 32 (9.1) | |||||||
| Lawson, 2008 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 100 | Violent | 32.2 (10.3) | CTS | AAS | Closeness (r = −0.32) |
| 35 | Non-violent | 27.1 (10) | |||||||
| Wigman et al., 2008 | UK | Cross-sectional | Male | 50 | College students | 22 (7.39) | CTS | RQ | NSO |
| Female | 127 | ||||||||
| Doumas et al., 2008 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 70 | Community couples | 28.46 (10.36) | CTS | RQ | NSO |
| Female | 70 | 27.03 (10.52) | |||||||
| Godbout et al., 2009 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 315 | Community | 29.5 (5.5) | CTS2 | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.21) Avoidance (r = 0.15) |
| Female | 329 | 27.6 (4.3) | |||||||
| Lawson and Brossart, 2009 | USA | Longitudinal | Male | 49 | In IPV treatment | 31.73 (8.83) | CTS2 | AAS | NSO |
| Brown et al., 2010 | Australia | Cross-sectional | Male | 66 | In IPV treatment | 39.9 (NA) | ABI | SSDS | Anxiety (r = 0.27) |
| Miga et al., 2010 | USA | Longitudinal | Male | 39 | Couples | 14.28 (0.78) | CIR | ECR | NSO |
| Female | 54 | ||||||||
| Lawson and Malnar, 2011 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 100 | On probation for IPV | 32.2 (10.3) | MCTS | AAS | Avoidant (r = 0.24) |
| Fournier et al., 2011 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 55 | In treatment for relationship difficulties | 37 (12.5) | CTS2 | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.32) |
| Karakurt et al., 2013 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 87 | Couples of college students | 22.3 (4.8) | CTS2 | ECR; RQ | NSO |
| Female | 87 | ||||||||
| Owens et al., 2014 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 133 | Veterans in treatment for PTSD | 51.28 (12.05) | CTS | ECR-S | Anxiety (r = 0.19) |
| McKeown, 2014 | UK | Cross-sectional | Female | 92 | Convicted | NA | CTS2 | ECR-R | NSO |
| Brassard et al., 2014 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 302 | In treatment for relationship difficulties | 35 (10.9) | CTS2 | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.19) |
| Lee et al., 2014 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 89 | College students | 20.81 (1.81) | CTS2 | ECR-R | Anxiety (r = 0.34) |
| Female | 392 | ||||||||
| Belus et al., 2014 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 125 | College students | 21.25 (2.21) | CTS2 | RSQ | NSO |
| Female | 306 | 21.39 (3.6) | Fearful (r = 0.13) Secure (r = −0.12) Preoccupied (r = 0.13) | ||||||
| Burk and Seiffge-Krenke, 2015 | Germany | Cross-sectional | Male | 194 | Couples of high school students | 16.99 (1.26) | CADRI | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.37 for M; r = 0.19 for F) Avoidance (r = 0.30 for M) |
| Female | 194 | 18.41 (2.02) | |||||||
| Rodriguez et al., 2015 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 39 | College students | 22.51 (4.79) | CTS2 | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.27) |
| Female | 222 | ||||||||
| Bélanger et al., 2015 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 20 | Couples in treatment for IPV | 34.3 (NA) | CTS2 | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.565 for F) |
| Female | 20 | 32.2 (NA) | |||||||
| González et al., 2016 | Chile | Cross-sectional | Male | 239 | College students | 21.52 (2.15) | CTS2 | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.14 for M; r = 0.12 for F) Avoidance (r = 0.15 for M; r = 0.12 for F) |
| Female | 369 | 21.41 (2.26) | |||||||
| Sommer et al., 2017 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 163 | Couples | 31.9 (9.51) | CTS2 | AAS | Anxiety (r = 0.1666 for M; r = 0.165 for F) Avoidance (r = 0.306 for M; r = 0.227 for F) |
| Female | 163 | 30.29 (9.61) | |||||||
| Cascardi et al., 2017 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 185 | College students | 19.5 (NA) | CADRI | RSQ | Anxiety (r = 0.16) |
| Female | 327 | ||||||||
CIR, Conflict in Relationships scale; IPV, Intimate Partner Violence; MWA, Measurement of Wife Abuse; ASQ, Attachment Style Questionnaire; NA, Not available; CTS, Conflict Tactics Scale; RSQ, Relationship Style Questionnaire; NSO, Non-significant outcome; RQ, Relationship Questionnaire; CTS2, Conflict Tactics Scale-Revised; HAI, History of Attachments Interview; ECR-R, Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Revised; ECR, Experiences in Close Relationships Scale; F, Female; AAS, Adult Attachment Scale; ABI, Abusive Behavior Inventory; SSDS, Spouse-specific dependency scale; MCTS, Modified Conflict Tactics Scale; ECR-S, Experiences in Close Relationship-Short form; CADRI, Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory; LEQ, Love Experiences Questionnaire; M, Male.