Understanding intimate partner violence : an adult attachment dimensional perspective

Abstract

This study focuses on obtaining an account of how male perpetrators of physical violence experience this violence and what meaning they attribute to it. 5 male perpetrators of physical abuse were recruited from the perpetrator services section of the national social welfare agency for the family and children. They were interviewed for about an hour each, using, the semi-structured interview format. Transcriptions of the interviews were then analysed using an lnterpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology, resulting in the superordinate themes of 'feelings of abandonment', 'experience of violence', 'traditional masculine gender roles and their transgression' and 'anxiety-related experiences'. The participants were also administered the ECR-R dimensional adult attachment scales, and their results were used speculatively in the discussion, due to the 'colouring' of attachment theory that this study has aimed for.