Insecure attachment style and child maltreatment: relations to aggression in men convicted of intimate partner violence

Abstract

Child abuse is not only a serious violation of children’s rights and well-being, but also the worst example of how to relate and bond with others. Violence against an intimate partner during adulthood may have as background the emotional experiences and early learning associated with parents as the most significant developmental figures. The study of men who have been convicted of crimes of domestic violence against women may shed light on how childhood experiences impact aggressive adult behavior. Accordingly, this research explores the relationships between attachment style, childhood parental abuse experiences and aggression in adult life in a sample of men convicted of intimate partner violence (N=265). This was carried out using the Spanish version of the Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire and the Melero and Cantero Adult Attachment Questionnaire. After the cleaning and analysis of the data by means of k-means cluster analysis, ANOVA and multiple hierarchical linear regression, it becomes clear that the fact of having been a victim of childhood abuse among this type of men, although it constitutes a risk factor for violent behavior in adult life, does not determine it. Something similar could be said about the different attachment styles, with secure types functioning as a protective factor and insecure types being associated to a greater extent and with different forms of violence.