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The role of attachment avoidance and defensive fight in aggression
journal contribution
posted on 2019-05-01, 00:00 authored by Gery KarantzasGery Karantzas, Nicolas KambouropoulosNicolas KambouropoulosAttachment insecurity (i.e., levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance) is associated with interpersonal violence and aggression. However, evidence suggests that the associations are more consistent for attachment anxiety than for attachment avoidance. This raises questions as to whether there are particular moderators that may help to explain the lack of consistency in findings for attachment avoidance. In this article, we focus on a novel moderator regarding the association between attachment avoidance and aggression. Drawing on attachment theory, the aggression literature, and research into systems of threat detection, we suggest that the association between attachment avoidance and aggression may reflect a defensive fight (DF) response in situations of high relationship threat. Across two studies (Study 1, a self-report cross-sectional design; N = 128; Study 2, a cross-sectional experimental design, N = 126), we tested the extent that DF moderated the association between attachment avoidance and aggression under perceived relationship threat. In line with our suggestion, a three-way interaction was found across both studies between attachment avoidance, relationship threat, and DF. The findings have important theoretical and practical implications for the study of interpersonal aggression from an attachment theory perspective.
History
Journal
Journal of social and personal relationshipsVolume
36Issue
5Pagination
1476 - 1490Publisher
SAGE PublicationsLocation
London, Eng.Publisher DOI
ISSN
0265-4075eISSN
1460-3608Language
engPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2018, The Author(s)Usage metrics
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