Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Attachment as a Moderator Between Intimate Partner Violence and PTSD Symptoms

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Family Violence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms have been linked to traumatic experiences, including intimate partner violence. However, not all battered women develop PTSD symptoms. The current study tests attachment style as a moderator in the abuse–trauma link among a community sample women in violent and non-violent relationships. Both attachment anxiety and dependency were found to moderate the relation between intimate partner violence and PTSD symptoms. However, attachment closeness did not function as a moderator. Differences in attachment may help to explain why certain victims of domestic abuse may be more susceptible to experiencing PTSD symptoms. Clinically, these findings may aid in the prediction and prevention of PTSD symptoms in women victimized by intimate partner abuse.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aguinis, H., & Stone-Romero, E. F. (1997). Methodological artifacts in moderated multiple regression and their effects on statistical power. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 192–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. New York: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ainsworth, M. D., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexander, P. (1992). Application of attachment theory to the study of sexual abuse. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60, 185–195.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alexander, P., & Warner, S. (2003). Attachment theory and family systems theory as frameworks for understanding the intergenerational transmission of family violence. In P. Erdman & T. Caffery (Eds.), Attachment and family systems: Conceptual, empirical, and therapeutic relatedness (pp. 241–257). NY: Brunner-Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edition text revised. Washington: APA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arias, I., & Pape, K. (1999). Psychological abuse: implications for adjustment and commitment to leave violent partners. Violence and Victims, 14, 55–67.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Babcock, J. C., Jacobson, N. S., Gottman, J. M., & Yerington, T. P. (2000). Attachment, emotional regulation, and the function of marital violence: differences between secure, preoccupied and dismissing violent and nonviolent husbands. Journal of Family Violence, 15, 391–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Babcock, J. C., Green, C. E., Webb, S. A., & Yerington, T. P. (2005). Psychophysiological profiles of batterers: autonomic emotional reactivity as it predicts the antisocial spectrum of behavior among intimate partner abusers. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114(3), 444–455.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Babcock, J. C., Roseman, A., Green, C. E., & Ross, J. M. (2008). Intimate partner abuse and PTSD symptomology: examining mediators and moderators of the abuse–trauma link. Journal of Family Psychology, 23, 295–302.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bartholomew, K., & Allison, C. (2006). An attachment perspective on abusive dynamics in intimate relationships. In M. Mikulincer & G. S. Goodman (Eds.), Dynamics of romantic love: Attachment, caregiving, and sex (pp. 102–127). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Besser, A., & Priel, B. (2005). The apple does not fall far from the tree: attachment styles and personality vulnerabilities to depression in three generations of women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(8), 1052–1073.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bowlby, J. (1979). The making and breaking of affectional bonds. London: Tavistock.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canady, B. E., & Babcock, J. C. (2009). The protective functions of social support and coping for women experiencing domestic violence. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma.

  • Cascardi, M., O’Leary, K. D., & Schlee, K. A. (1999). Co-occurrence and correlates of posttraumatic stress disorder and major depression in physically abused women. Journal of Family Violence, 14, 227–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clements, C. M., & Sawhney, D. K. (2000). Coping with domestic violence: control attributions, dysphoria, and hopelessness. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 13(2), 219–240.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coker, A. L., Watkins, K. W., Smith, P. H., & Brandt, H. M. (2003). Social support reduces the impact of partner violence on health: application of structural equation models. Preventive Medicine, 37, 259–267.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, N. L., & Read, S. J. (1990). Adult attachment, working models, and relationship quality in dating couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 644–663.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, D. M., & Babcock, J. C. (2008). Articulated thoughts of intimate partner abusive men during anger arousal: Correlates with personality disorder features. Journal of Family Violence, 23, 395–402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, D. M., Canady, B., & Babcock, J. C. (2007). Preliminary report on the accountability scale: a change and outcome measure for intimate partner violence research. Violence & Victims, 22, 515–531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Declercq, F., & Palmans, V. (2006). Two subjective factors as moderators between critical incidents and the occurrence of post traumatic stress disorders: adult attachment and the perception of social support. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 79, 323–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dutton, D., & Painter, S. (1993). The battered woman syndrome: effects of severity and intermittency of abuse. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 63, 614–622.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elwood, L. S., & Williams, N. L. (2007). PTSD-related cognitions and romantic attachment as moderators of psychological symptoms in victims of interpersonal trauma. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 26(10), 1189–1209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foa, E. B., & Cashman, L. (1997). The validation of a self-report measure of posttraumatic stress disorder: the posttraumatic stress disorder diagnostic scale. Psychological Assessment, 9, 445–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frazier, P. A., Tix, A. P., & Barron, K. E. (2004). Testing moderator and mediator effects in counseling psychology research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 115–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511–524.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, N. S., Gottman, J. M., Waltz, J., Rushe, R. Babcock, J. C., & Holtzworth-Munroe, A. (1994). Affect, verbal content, and psychophysiology in the arguments of couples with a violent husband. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 982–988.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, L., Hughes, M., & Unterstaller, U. (2001). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in victims of domestic violence: a review of the research. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 2, 99–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kemp, A., Rawlings, E. L., & Green, B. L. (1991). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in battered women: a shelter sample. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 4, 1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, M. (2005). The child and its family: the social network model. Human Development, 48, 8–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Livesley, J. (2008). Toward a genetically-informed model of borderline personality disorder. Journal of Personality Disorders, 22, 42–71.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood, and adulthood: a move to the level of representation. Monographs of the Society for the Research in Child Development, 50, 66–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roche, D. N., Runtz, M. G., & Hunter, M. A. (1999). Adult attachment: A mediator between child sexual abuse and later psychological adjustment. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14, 187–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Senior, A. C. (2003). The relation between physical abuse and PTSD: Testing a moderator and a mediator. University of Houston. Unpublished manuscript.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shurman, L., & Rodriguez, C. (2006). Cognitive-affective predictors of women’s readiness to end domestic violence relationships. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21, 1417–1439.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, Z., Dekel, R., & Mikulincer, M. (2008). Complex trauma of war captivity: a prospective study of attachment and post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychological Medicine, 38, 1427–1434.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spanier, G. B. (1976). Measuring dyadic adjustment: new scales for assessing the quality of marriage and similar dyads. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 38, 15–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sperling, M. B., & Lyons, L. S. (1994). Representations of attachment and psychotherapeutic change. In M. B. Sperling & W. H. Berman (Eds.), Attachment in adults: Clinical and developmental perspectives (pp. 331–347). NY: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stovall-McClough, K., Cloitre, M., & McClough, J. (2008). Adult attachment and posttraumatic stress disorder in women with histories of childhood abuse. In H. Steele & M. Steele (Eds.), Clinical applications of the adult attachment interview (pp. 320–340). NY: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Straus, M. A. (1979). Measuring intrafamily conflict and violence: the conflict tactics (CT) scales. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 41, 75–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Straus, M. A., Gelles R. J., & Steinmetz, S. K. (1980). Behind closed doors: Violence in the American family. (pp. 31–50). Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Straus, M. A., Hamby, S. L., Boney-McCoy, S., & Sugarman, D. B. (1996). The revised conflict tactics scale (CTS2). Journal of Family Issues, 17, 283–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Twaite, J. A., & Rodriguez-Srednicki, O. (2004). Childhood sexual and physical abuse and adult vulnerability to PTSD: The mediating effects of attachment and dissociation. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 13, 17–39.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, L. E. (2000). Abused women and survivor therapy: A practical guide for the psychotherapist. Washington: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, R. S. (1994). Forward. In M. B. Sperling & W. H. Berman (Eds.) Attachment in adults: Clinical and developmental perspectives. (pp. ix–xv). NY: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whiffen, V. E., Judd, M. E., & Aube, J. A. (1999). Intimate relationships moderate the association between childhood sexual abuse and depression. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14, 940–954.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zakin, G., Solomon, Z., & Neria, Y. (2003). Hardiness, attachment styles, and long-term psychological distress among Israeli POWs and combat veterans. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 819–829.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Houston, 126 Heyne Building, Houston, TX, 77204-5022, USA

    Shelby Scott & Julia C. Babcock

Authors
  1. Shelby Scott
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julia C. Babcock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julia C. Babcock.

Additional information

This project was funded by Grant R03 MH066943-01A1 from the National Institutes of Health and by the University of Houston.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Scott, S., Babcock, J.C. Attachment as a Moderator Between Intimate Partner Violence and PTSD Symptoms. J Fam Viol 25, 1–9 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-009-9264-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-009-9264-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation