Adult attachment styles and aggressive behavior within dating relationships

Recent developments in the application of attachment theory to the study of adult relationships are used to explain the occurrence of aggression in dating relationships. We compared individuals who reported being engaged in reciprocally aggressive dating relationships with individuals who reported being in non-aggressive relationships on measures of attachment patterns and interpersonal problems. To examine the robustness of the attachment-aggression relationship, we also statistically controlled for the effects of interpersonal problems. Using a sample of 85 undergraduate students, we found that, after controlling for relationship satisfaction and length of relationship, those involved in reciprocally aggressive relationships scored higher on the preoccupied and fearful-avoidant attachment styles and reported experiencing more interpersonal problems than did individuals involved in non-aggressive dating relationships. When we controlled for interpersonal problems, however, only the relationship between preoccupied attachment and aggression was observed. Although sex differences were found for attachment style scores and interpersonal problems, no significant sex x type of relationship (non-aggressive vs reciprocally aggressive) effects were observed. The results are discussed in the context of recent findings on attachment, conflict and aggression and recommendations for future research are offered.