Intimacy‐Anger and Insecure Attachment as Precursors of Abuse in Intimate Relationships¹

TLDR

Attachment theory links anger and intimacy to assaultive behavior, with early studies suggesting that fearful attachment may manifest as angry attachment and framing intimacy‑anger as a key explanatory factor for adult relationship violence. The study surveyed 120 men in couple‑assault treatment and 40 controls using self‑report measures of attachment, anger, jealousy, borderline personality organization, and trauma symptoms. Attachment styles were linked to aggression profiles: secure attachment was negatively associated, fearful attachment positively associated, preoccupied showed weaker correlations, and dismissing was unrelated to the aggression constellation.

Abstract

One hundred and twenty men referred for treatment for wife assault and forty demographic controls completed self‐report questionnaires assessing attachment patterns, anger, jealousy, Borderline Personality Organization, and trauma symptoms. This constellation, with the exception of attachment, has been found to represent a profile related significantly to the frequency of both verbal and physical abuse. In the present study, attachment was found to correlate significantly with these other measures. A measure of secure attachment correlated significantly, but negatively, with the constellation measures. A measure of fearful attachment correlated significantly and positively. A preoccupied attachment pattern correlated with the other measures less strongly than did the fearful measure. A dismissing measure was not correlated with any constellation measures. The role of attachment anger is discussed; it is suggested that fearful attachment could also be described as angry attachment. The concept of intimacy anger is introduced from early studies in attachment and applied to the explanation of assaultiveness in adult relationships.