One of the most debated constituents of intimate partner violence pertains to attachment theory. Although, attachment theory can provide a theoretical framework for understanding the linkage between childhood family experiences and subsequent experiences with partner violence, there are controversial perspectives as to whether attachment style is stable from childhood to adulthood (Bowlby, 1973, 1980, 1982) or if attachment style can be formulated directly from adult abusive relationships (Caspi & Elder, 1988; Ricks, 1985). Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore how attachment style presents in the Battered Woman Syndrome, determine if the battered woman's attachment style is consistent throughout childhood to adulthood or if it is manifested due to intimate partner violence exposure as well as to determine how attachment style is manifested in interpersonal functioning and perceived power and control. The theory of learned helplessness (Seligman, 1975) was used as a conceptual model for understanding why battered women remain in abusive relationships. There were 137 female sample participants who reported a history of domestic violence. Measures administered included the Battered Woman Syndrome Questionnaire (BWSQ, Walker, 1978) that assessed childhood history, interpersonal functioning and power and control and the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (Collins and Read, 1996) that assessed the participant's attachment style. Statistical techniques employed included latent class analysis, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and logistic regression. Results indicated that aversive childhood environment (as measured primarily by childhood battering variables) and involvement in adulthood abusive relationships were significantly related to childhood environment and involvement in adulthood abusive relationships. Across all five adulthood battering episodes there were significant overall effects of attachment style on sexual abuse scores. Results also confirmed the hypotheses that insecurely attached participants were more likely to report more interpersonal functioning difficulties and lower perceived power and control when compared to secure participants. Implications for future research are also presented.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-04T20:04:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 22 / Nenhuma / Esta dissertação apresenta uma pesquisa qualitativa que investigou a especificidade do padrão de apego de crianças na relação com seus cuidadores principais, em especial mãe e pai. O referencial teórico de base foi a teoria do apego, desde os conceitos iniciais de Bowlby até as novas perspectivas conceituais, sustentadas pelos pesquisadores que seguem estudando tal temática na atualidade. Os objetivos do estudo foram identificar qual o padrão de apego da criança em relação a suas figuras parentais, avaliar a existência de uma especificidade do padrão de apego em relação à mãe e ao pai e descrever as características familiares associadas ao apego seguro e/ou inseguro. Os resultados encontrados apontam que a qualidade de cada relação emocionalmente significativa é única e um padrão de apego predominantemente seguro pode conter aspectos inseguros e vice-versa. A estabilidade das relações familiares, uma favorável rede de apoio e social, bem como a demarcação de papéis entre pais e filhos foram as principais cara / This dissertation presents a qualitative research about the specificity of the attachment pattern between children and his main caregiver, specially father and mother. The theory reference base was the attachment theory, since Bowlby’s concepts untill the new conceptual perspectives. The goals of this research were identify the children attachment pattern characteristics related to the parents, evaluate the existence of specificity in the attachment pattern related to father and to mother and describe the families characteristics associated to secure attachment and/or insecure. The results indicate that the quality of each significant emotional relationship is unique and a predominant secure attachment pattern can have insecure aspects and vice-versa. The stability of family relationships, a favorable social network support, as well the definition of the roles of children and parents were the main characteristics related to the secure attachment pattern. The insecure attachment pattern is related to sickness