An application of attachment theory to court-mandated batterers

The purpose of this study was to investigate levels of interpersonal dependency, an indicator of insecure attachment in adulthood, among batterers court-mandated into domestic violence treatment. The study collected data from 158 batterers beginning treatment and 25 nonviolent men. Analysis indicated that batterers demonstrated significantly elevated levels of interpersonal dependency, relative to the nonviolent comparison group. These findings indicate that more research is needed before the role of interpersonal dependency in the etiology and maintenance of domestic violence can be understood.