Is attachment anxiety an antecedent factor of intimate partner violence?: An examination from two longitudinal studies on romantic relationships and marital relationships

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the causal relationship between Attachment Anxiety and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Several studies have showed that Attachment Anxiety increases IPV, but most of them were cross-sectional studies. Therefore, it is unclear whether Attachment Anxiety or IPV is an antecedent factor. Thus, we conducted two longitudinal studies of couples in romantic and marital relationships. In Study 1, a 6-month longitudinal survey was conducted on 392 young adults who were currently involved in a romantic relationship. In Study 2, a 2-year longitudinal survey was conducted on 412 married young and middle-aged adults. The results of structural equation modeling with a cross-lagged effect model showed that Attachment Anxiety predicted increases of later IPV in both types of relationships. These results are discussed in terms of adult attachment theory and IPV prevention.