Anxious and Hostile: Consequences of Anxious Adult Attachment in Predicting Male-Perpetrated Sexual Assault

Attachment theory has increasingly been utilized to understand the etiology of sexual violence, and anxious attachment appears to be especially informative in this domain. We investigate the influence of general anxious attachment and specific anxious attachment on hostile masculine attitudes to pre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of interpersonal violence 2018-07, Vol.33 (13), p.2098-2117
Main Authors: Barbaro, Nicole, Parkhill, Michele R., Nguyen, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assaults
Attachment
Attachment Behavior
Attachment theory
Etiology
Females
Hypotheses
Males
Masculinity
Sex crimes
Sexual Abuse
Sexual behavior
Sexuality
Socioeconomic status
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Summary:Attachment theory has increasingly been utilized to understand the etiology of sexual violence, and anxious attachment appears to be especially informative in this domain. We investigate the influence of general anxious attachment and specific anxious attachment on hostile masculine attitudes to predict male-perpetrated sexual assault. We hypothesize that hostile masculinity will mediate the relationship between general anxious attachment style and sexual assault perpetration (Hypothesis 1) and the relationship between specific anxious attachment to the assaulted woman and sexual assault perpetration (Hypothesis 2). Men (N = 193) completed the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) to determine sexual assault history and completed measures of general attachment style, specific attachment to the woman involved in the sexual activity, and measures of hostile masculine attitudes. Results support the hypothesized mediation models, such that general anxious attachment and specific anxious attachment are significantly associated with hostile masculinity, which in turn, predicts the likelihood of male-perpetrated sexual assault. The findings suggest that the unique characteristics of anxious attachment may escalate into hostile masculinity, which then increases the likelihood of sexual assault perpetration. This research is the first to investigate attachment bonds to the woman involved in the sexual activity and likelihood of sexual assault perpetration against the same woman.
ISSN:0886-2605
1552-6518
DOI:10.1177/0886260515622301