The Relationship Of Romantic Attachment To Intimate Partner Violence Victimization And Perpetration: An Examination Of Individual Mediation And Moderation Variables

Author

Chauntel Marie Wiggins, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

5-1-2015

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Cashel, Mary

Abstract

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is common among college students and university counseling centers require strategies for addressing this health problem (Amar & Gennaro, 2005; Gover, Kaukinin, & Fox, 2004; Murray & Kardatzke, 2007). Attachment theory may provide strong theoretical and empirical grounding for guiding IPV prevention and intervention efforts (Magdol et al., 1998; Schwartz et al., 2006; Scott, Wolfe, & Wekerle, 2003). The present study evaluated a variety of social and emotional risk factors as potential mediators and moderators of the relation between attachment relevant variables and IPV victimization and perpetration in a college sample. None of the primary hypotheses were fully supported; however, women who reported IPV histories exhibited higher levels of anxious romantic attachment than women without IPV histories. Further, partner delinquency moderated the relation between problems with anger modulation and IPV. Sex differences were examined for study variables and women were more likely than men to experience both IPV victimization and perpetration. These results are compared to prior empirical findings and implications for potential prevention and intervention strategies with college students are identified. Methodological considerations that may influence the interpretation of study data are also presented and discussed.