The Effect Of Adult Attachment On Intimate Partner Violence

The quality of intimacy is an important factor that would affect individual’s happiness.A good intimate relationship would bring a pleasant experience to both partners and also result in individual’s better self development.At the same time,the conflicts might still occurred in high-quality intimate relationships.When the conflict intensifies,violence will follow,which might seriously affect both physical and mental health of both people in the relationship and might even become a threat to individual’s life.Current researches about intimate partner violence(IPV)have already become one of the hottest topics of intimate relationship,however,domestic researches on IPV are still in the initial stage of development.Studies have shown that adult attachment,self-esteem and hostile cognition could influence IPV,but the mechanism of relationship between these four factors has not been discovered yet.Based on this,this study aims to explore the mechanism between adult attachment and intimate partner violence,and to help people get to know more about intimate partner violence,as well as the strategies to avoid or prevent IPV from happening,which is of great significance for promoting the harmony between the partners,the family and the society.In this study,922 adults from 8 work places in Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia and 5 universities in Harbin with love or marital experiences were selected as subjects,by methods of the cluster sampling and so on,and the statistics were collected from questionnaires measured by Intimate Relationship Experience Scale(ECR),Self-Esteem Scale(SES),Hostile Cognitive Subscale of Aggressive Scale(AQ),and Revised Conflict Tactics Scales(CTS2).The purpose is to explore the relationship between adult attachment,self-esteem,hostile cognition,and intimate partner violence,as well as to testify the mechanism of the relationship between self-esteem,hostile cognition,adult attachment and intimate violence.The conclusions are as follows:(1)Adult attachment,self-esteem,hostile cognition,and intimate partner violence differ significantly in certain demographic variables.(2)Attachment avoidance had a significant negative correlation with self-esteem.Attachment avoidance was significantly positively correlated with hostile cognition;attachment anxiety was significantly positively correlated with hostile cognition.There were significant negative correlation between attachment avoidance and negotiation,significant positive correlation with physical assault,psychological aggression,sexual coercion and injury degree.There were significant positive correlation between attachment anxiety and physical assault and psychological aggression.There was a significant negative correlation between self-esteem and hostile cognition.Self-esteem was significantly positively correlated with negotiation,and significantly negatively correlated with physical assault,sexual coercion and injury.There were significant positive correlation between hostile cognition and physical assault,psychological aggression,sexual coercion and injury.(3)Attachment avoidance negatively predict self-esteem;attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety positively predict hostile cognition;attachment avoidance negatively predict negotiation,positively predict physical assault,psychological aggression,sexual coercion and injury degree;attachment anxiety positively predict negotiation and psychological aggression.Self-esteem positively predict negotiation,negatively predict physical assaults,sexual coercion,and degree of injury.Hostile cognition positively predict physical assault,psychological aggression,sexual coercion,and degree of injury.Self-esteem negatively predict hostile cognition.(4)The relationship between attachment avoidance and intimate partner violence was partially mediated by self-esteem.The relationship between attachment avoidance and negotiation was partially mediated by self-esteem.(5)The relationship between attachment avoidance and intimate partner violence was partially mediated by hostile cognition.The relationship between attachment anxiety and physical assault was totally mediated by hostile cognition.The relationship between attachment anxiety and psychological aggression was partially mediated by hostile cognition.(6)Self-esteem and hostile cognition play a chain-mediated role in attachment avoidance and physical assault,psychological attack,sexual coercion and degree of injury.This study concludes that adult attachment can not only directly affect intimate partner violence,but also indirectly affect intimate partner violence through self-esteem and hostile cognition.This provides insight into clinical counseling and intervention for intimate partner violence.