Romantic Attachment and Physical Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration in a Chilean Sample: The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation Difficulties

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 854-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónica Guzmán-González ◽  
Marie-France Lafontaine ◽  
Christine Levesque

Despite evidence that adult attachment insecurity has been linked to the perpetration of physical intimate violence, the mechanisms underlying this link need further exploration. The goal of this study was to evaluate the mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties in the association between romantic attachment and the use of physical intimate partner violence. To this end, 611 students recruited from Chilean universities completed the Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, and the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses revealed that emotion regulation difficulties mediated the relationship between dimensions of romantic attachment (anxiety over abandonment and avoidance of intimacy) and physical violence perpetration among both male and female participants. Implications for future research and clinical practice are presented herein.

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110063
Author(s):  
Lauren E. Simpson ◽  
Alexa M. Raudales ◽  
Miranda E. Reyes ◽  
Tami P. Sullivan ◽  
Nicole H. Weiss

Women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) are at heightened risk for developing posttraumatic stress (PTS). Emotion dysregulation has been linked to both IPV and PTS, separately, however, unknown is the role of emotion dysregulation in the relation of IPV to PTS among women who experience IPV. Moreover, existing investigations in this area have been limited in their focus on negative emotion dysregulation. Extending prior research, this study investigated whether physical, sexual, and psychological IPV were indirectly associated with PTS symptom severity through negative and positive emotion dysregulation. Participants were 354 women who reported a history of IPV recruited from Amazon’s MTurk platform ( Mage = 36.52, 79.9% white). Participants completed self-report measures assessing physical (Conflict Tactics Scale), sexual (Sexual Experiences Scale), and psychological (Psychological Maltreatment of Women) IPV; negative (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale) and positive (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Positive) emotion dysregulation; and PTS symptom severity (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5) via an online survey. Pearson’s correlation coefficients examined intercorrelations among the primary study variables. Indirect effect analyses were conducted to determine if negative and positive emotion dysregulation explained the relations between physical, sexual, and psychological IPV and PTS symptom severity. Physical, sexual, and psychological IPV were significantly positively associated with both negative and positive emotion dysregulation as well as PTS symptom severity, with the exception that psychological IPV was not significantly associated with positive emotion dysregulation. Moreover, negative and positive emotion dysregulation accounted for the relationships between all three IPV types and PTS symptom severity, with the exception of positive emotion dysregulation and psychological IPV. Our findings provide support for the potential underlying role of both negative and positive emotion dysregulation in the associations of IPV types to PTS symptom severity. Negative and positive emotion dysregulation may be important factors to integrate into interventions for PTS among women who experience IPV.


2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly N. Graves ◽  
Stacy M. Sechrist ◽  
Jacquelyn W. White ◽  
Matthew J. Paradise

Using a longitudinal design, the current study explored intimate partner violence perpetration among 1,300 college women within the context of one's history of physical and sexual victimization across 4 years of college. Structural equation modeling indicated that sexual victimization does not predict concurrent use of women's intimate partner violence but does predict subsequent use of women's intimate partner violence during the later years of college. In contrast, physical victimization is associated positively with concurrent use of women's intimate partner violence but is negatively associated with subsequent use of women's intimate partner violence for women. Furthermore, the negative relationship of victimization to subsequent perpetration primarily is due to those with high levels of victimization histories. The present study provides the first model of intimate partner violence within the context of victimization history using longitudinal data. The findings indicate that women's intimate partner violence perpetration is not context-free, but rather is influenced by their own physical and sexual victimization histories.


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