Relationship Between Love Attitudes, Attachment Styles, and Personality Traits in Women Who Have Experienced Domestic Violence.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the relationship between attitudes toward love, attachment styles, and personality traits in women who have experienced domestic violence (DV).

Methods: The study consisted of 64 women who experienced DV and 64 women without such history. All participants completed a sociodemographic data form and three assessment scales.

Results: Among women who were exposed to violence, attitudes toward altruistic and passionate love were significantly higher (p < 0.001, p = 0.026). In contrast, women who had not experienced violence showed higher levels of friendly and possessive love attitudes (p = 0.010, p < 0.001). Women who experienced violence also exhibited a significant increase in both anxious and avoidant attachment styles (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001), while the emotionally balanced personality trait was significantly lower (p = 0.006). Additionally, positive correlations were found between altruistic love and anxious attachment style and between logical love and anxious attachment style (p = 0.021, r = 0.288; p = 0.033, r = 0.267, respectively). Conversely, negative correlations were observed between altruistic love attitudes and both extraversion and emotional stability (p = 0.038, r = -0.261; p = 0.030, r = -0.271, respectively), between game-playing love attitude and conscientiousness and emotional stability (p = 0.046, r = -0.250; p = 0.027, r = -0.277, respectively), and between passionate love attitude and emotional stability (p = 0.009, r = -0.323). Furthermore, a positive correlation was noted between friendly love attitudes and agreeableness (p = 0.017, r = 0.296).

Conclusions: Individuals with high levels of emotional stability, along with friendly and possessive love attitudes, may be better equipped to cope with violence, while those with anxious and avoidant attachment styles, as well as altruistic and passionate love attitudes, may have difficulty handling such experiences.