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

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 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 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.