Table 7.
Studies investigating the relationship between psychological 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 | ||||||
| Dutton et al., 1994 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 120 | In treatment for IPV | 35 (NA) | PMWI | RSQ; RQ | Anxiety (r = 0.26) |
| 40 | Non-violent | ||||||||
| Dutton, 1995 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 140 | In treatment for IPV | 35 (NA) | PMWI | RSQ | Fearful (r = 0.53) |
| 44 | Non-violent | ||||||||
| Dutton et al., 1996 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 120 | In treatment for IPV | 35 (NA) | PMWI | RSQ | Fearful (NA) |
| 40 | Non-violent | ||||||||
| O'Hearn and Davis, 1997 | USA | Cross-sectional | Female | 282 | College students | 20 (NA) | Verbal abuse subscale (PMWI) | RQ | Preoccupied (r = 0.39) Fearful (r = 0.14) |
| Wekerle and Wolfe, 1998 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 128 | High school students | 15.34 (1.75) | CIR | Attachment Security Ratings | Anxiety (r = 0.17) Avoidance (r = 0.24) |
| Female | 193 | 15.13 (0.94) | |||||||
| Rankin et al., 2000 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 69 | Convicted for IPV | 31 (11) | MWA | ASQ | Avoidance (r = 0.28) |
| Davis et al., 1998 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 46 | College students | 19 (NA) | PMP | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.25) |
| Female | 123 | ||||||||
| Davis et al., 2002 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 93 | College students | 19 (NA) | PMP | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.22) |
| Female | 110 | ||||||||
| Dye and Davis, 2003 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 87 | College students | 21 (3.31) | PMWI | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.28) |
| Female | 251 | ||||||||
| Henderson et al., 2005 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 60 | Community | 37.4 (12.6) | PMWI | HAI | Preoccupied (r = 0.38) |
| Female | 68 | ||||||||
| Mahalik et al., 2005 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 143 | In treatment for IPV | 34.9 (8.99) | CBI | RQ | Fearful (r = 0.28) |
| Lafontaine and Lussier, 2005 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 316 | Couples | 39 (NA) | CTS2 | ECR | Avoidance (B = 0.12 for M) Anxiety (B = 0.2 for F) |
| Female | |||||||||
| Toews et al., 2005 | USA | Cross-sectional | Female | 147 | Divorced mothers | 34 (NA) | CTS2 | RSQ | Attachment insecurity (r = 0.32) |
| Mauricio et al., 2007 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 192 | In treatment for IPV | 33 (8.83) | CTS | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.50) Avoidance (r = 0.16) |
| Lawson, 2008 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 100 | Violent | 32.2 (10.3) | CTS | AAS | Closeness (r = −0.30) |
| 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 | ||||||||
| 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 treatment for IPV | 31.73 (8.83) | CTS2 | AAS | NSO |
| Grych and Kinsfogel, 2010 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 188 | High School students | 15.6 (1.1) | CIR | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.21 for M; r = 0.27 for F) |
| Female | 203 | ||||||||
| Gormley and Lopez, 2010 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 61 | College students | 20 (2.26) | DS | ECR-R | Anxiety (r = 0.30 for F) Avoidance (r = 0.48 for M) |
| Female | 66 | ||||||||
| Patton et al., 2010 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 1.169 | College students | 23 (NA) | NVAWS | ECR | Anxiety (B = 0.569) |
| Female | 1.614 | ||||||||
| Brown et al., 2010 | Australia | Cross-sectional | Male | 66 | In treatment for IPV | 39.9 (NA) | ABI | SSDS | Anxiety (r = 0.39) |
| Riggs and Kaminski, 2010 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 64 | College students | 21.4 (4.25) | CTS2 | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.160) |
| Female | 221 | 21.9 (3.7) | |||||||
| Péloquin et al., 2011 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 193 | Community couples | 31 (NA) | CTS2 | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.245 for M; r = 0.306 for F) Avoidance (r = 0.290 for F) |
| Female | |||||||||
| Clift and Dutton, 2011 | USA | Cross-sectional | Female | 914 | College students | 20.5 (2.7) | PMI | RSQ | NSO |
| Fournier et al., 2011 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 55 | In treatment for relationship difficulties | 37 (12.5) | CTS2 | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.37) Avoidance (r = 0.407) |
| Frey et al., 2011 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 40 | Veterans in treatment for PTSD | 28.5 (5.11) | IJS | MIMARA | Avoidance (r = 0.653 for M) |
| Lawson and Malnar, 2011 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 100 | On probation for IPV | 32.2 (10.3) | MCTS | AAS | Avoidance (r = 0.28) |
| Karakurt et al., 2013 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 87 | Couples of college students | 22.3 (4.8) | CTS2 | ECR; RQ | Attachment insecurity (r = 0.398 for M; r = 0.309 for F) |
| 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 = 0.29) Avoidance (r = 0.30) |
| 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 = 0.34) Avoidance (r = 0.15) |
| Burk and Seiffge-Krenke, 2015 | Germany | Cross-sectional | Male | 194 | High school students | 16.99 (1.26) | CADRI | LEQ | Anxiety (r = 0.35 for M; r = 0.27 for F) Avoidance (r = 0.47 for M; r = 0.19 for F) |
| Female | 194 | 18.41 (2.02) | |||||||
| Wright, 2015 | USA | Longitudinal | Male | 274 | High school students | 17.53 (0.51) | Cyber Aggression Self-Report | Attachment Self-Report | Anxiety (r = 0.33) Avoidance (r = 0.19) |
| Rodriguez et al., 2015 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 39 | College students | 22.51 (4.79) | CTS2 | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.35) |
| Female | 222 | ||||||||
| Tougas et al., 2016 | Canada | Cross-sectional | Male | 210 | Couples | 43 (NA) | CTS2 | ECR | NSO |
| Female | 210 | 41 (NA) | |||||||
| Barbaro et al., 2016 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 258 | Community | 32.1 (8.9) | MRI-S | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.66 for M; r = 0.66 for F) Avoidance (r = 0.29 for M) |
| Sommer et al., 2017 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 163 | Couples | 31.9 (9.51) | CTS2 | AAS | Anxiety (r = 0.207 for M) Avoidance (r = 0.264 for M; r = 0.259 for F) |
| Female | 163 | 30.29 (9.61) | |||||||
| Gou and Woodin, 2017 | USA | Longitudinal | Male | 69 | Pregnant couples | 34.71 (5) | CTS2 | ECR | Anxiety (r = 0.30 for M) |
| Female | 71 | 32.24 (4.78) | |||||||
| Cascardi et al., 2017 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 185 | College students | 19.5 (NA) | CADRI | RSQ | Anxiety (r = 0.33) |
| Female | 327 | ||||||||
| Wright, 2017 | USA | Cross-sectional | Male | 276 | College students | 20.68 (0.61) | IPV Self-report | ECR-R | Anxiety (r = 0.36) Avoidance (r = 0.20) |
| Female | 324 | ||||||||
IPV, Intimate Partner Violence; PMWI, Psychological Maltreatment of Women Inventory; RSQ, Relationship Style Questionnaire; RQ, Relationship Questionnaire; NA, Not available; CIR, Conflict in Relationships scale; MWA, Measure of Wife Abuse; ASQ, Attachment Style Questionnaire; PMP, Psychological Maltreatment of Partner; ECR, Experiences in Close Relationships Scale; HAI, History of Attachments Interview; CBI, Controlling Behavior Index; M, male; F, female; CTS2, Conflict Tactics Scale - Revised; CTS, Conflict Tactics Scale; NSO, Non-significant outcome; AAS, Adult Attachment Style; MMEA, Multidimensional Measure of Emotional Abuse; ECR-R, Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Revised; DS, Dominance Scale; NVAWS, National Violence Against Women Survey modified to assess perpetration; ABI, Abusive behavior inventory; SSDS, Spouse-specific dependency scale; PMI, gender neutral version of Psychological Maltreatment of Women Inventory; IJS, Intimate Justice Scale; MIMARA, Multi-Item Measure of Adult Romantic Attachment; MCTS, Modified Conflict Tactics Scale; ECR-S, Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Short form; CADRI, Conflict in Adolescence Rating Scale; LEQ, Love Experiences Questionnaire; MRI-S: Mate Retention Inventory-Short Form.