The psychological entrapment of partner abuse

Current Opinion in Psychology · 2026-03-26

Aggression and Violence in Romantic Relationships

Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2026-02-09

Contains fulltext : 328781.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access)

Victims’ justification of violence, support need, and help-seeking: A longitudinal study

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · 2025-11-28

Previous research has revealed various negative outcomes when victims of intimate partner violence justify their partner’s behavior, including reductions in self-worth and the persistence of violence. The current research tested the temporal dynamics of the justification of violence and its negative effect on the need for support and help-seeking behavior. Additionally, we explored whether victims’ level of violence justification moderates the impact of frequency of violence on the perceived need for support. A longitudinal study was conducted among pre-screened participants who are currently victims of partner violence using self-report measures via online research platforms (T1 N = 335, T2 N = 286, T3 N = 261). The data were collected at three time points, each three weeks apart. The findings were mixed. Across the entire sample, we did not find that justification of violence was directly or indirectly associated with support need and help-seeking, either cross-sectionally or longitudinally, nor were changes in justification of violence associated with changes in support need. However, the results among men (but not women) showed a pattern consistent with our general prediction: male victims who justified violence to a greater extent were less likely to seek help. Moreover, exploratory analyses showed that victims’ justification of violence dampened the association between frequency of violence and their perceived need for support. The current findings provide novel insights into the processes underlying support need and help seeking among victims of intimate partner violence.

Attachment orientation and Michelangelo phenomenon

Open Science Framework · 2025-11-28

This project examines how attachment orientation shapes individuals’ personal growth in their relationships. Specifically, attachment orientation may shape the Michelangelo phenomenon, a relationship process through which individuals move toward their ideal selves when their partner affirm those ideals, which in turn promotes both personal and relational well-being. The extent to which individuals experience such movement depends on how affirming they perceive their partners to be. Attachment orientation, which reflects internal working models that guide how people interpret and respond to support in relationships, may shape these perceptions. Specifically, individuals high in attachment anxiety may report low levels of partner affirmation of the ideal self, as their negative internal working model of the self (e.g., feelings of inadequacy and incompetence) may mean they may not appreciate or be suspicious of their partner’s attempt to encourage pursuit of personal goals; in fact, their ideal self may center on being in a loving relationship but they fear their partner will leave them. On the other hand, individuals high in attachment avoidance may also report low levels of partner affirmation, as their negative working model of others (e.g., feelings that others cannot be counted on) may mean that they may dismiss partner affirmation because their mistrust in others’ motive and tendency to avoid intimacy. Thus, individuals high in attachment anxiety or avoidance, compared to relatively more secure individuals, may benefit less from interactions that involve partner affirmation, movement toward the ideal self, personal well-being, and relational well-being.

Machine learning uncovers the most robust self-report predictors of relationship quality across 43 longitudinal couples studies

UNC Libraries · 2025-06-26

Given the powerful implications of relationship quality for health and well-being, a central mission of relationship science is explaining why some romantic relationships thrive more than others. This large-scale project used machine learning (i.e., Random Forests) to 1) quantify the extent to which relationship quality is predictable and 2) identify which constructs reliably predict relationship quality. Across 43 dyadic longitudinal datasets from 29 laboratories, the top relationship-specific predictors of relationship quality were perceived-partner commitment, appreciation, sexual satisfaction, perceived-partner satisfaction, and conflict. The top individual-difference predictors were life satisfaction, negative affect, depression, attachment avoidance, and attachment anxiety. Overall, relationship-specific variables predicted up to 45% of variance at baseline, and up to 18% of variance at the end of each study. Individual differences also performed well (21% and 12%, respectively). Actor-reported variables (i.e., own relationship-specific and individual-difference variables) predicted two to four times more variance than partner-reported variables (i.e., the partner's ratings on those variables). Importantly, individual differences and partner reports had no predictive effects beyond actor-reported relationship-specific variables alone. These findings imply that the sum of all individual differences and partner experiences exert their influence on relationship quality via a person's own relationship-specific experiences, and effects due to moderation by individual differences and moderation by partner-reports may be quite small. Finally, relationship-quality change (i.e., increases or decreases in relationship quality over the course of a study) was largely unpredictable from any combination of self-report variables. This collective effort should guide future models of relationships.

Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Risk-Taking: Attachment Avoidance as a Linking Mechanism

Behavioral Sciences · 2025-02-19 · 2 citations

Why might women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) become more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior? Women’s interest in casual sex may satisfy relational expectations and connection needs, while avoiding the types of close attachments that previously were violent. Specifically, attachment avoidance was tested as a mechanism linking IPV victimization and risky sexual behavior. Women who experienced (vs. did not experience) partner violence reported higher rates of risky sexual behavior, and this association was mediated by attachment avoidance (Study 1, N = 312; age range 18–58 years, M = 28). Making IPV salient via an experimental manipulation caused more avoidant perceptions (Study 2, N = 140; age range 19–57 years, M = 31), and inducing an avoidant mindset via an experimental manipulation caused greater sexual interest (Study 3, N = 128; age range 19–66 years, M = 33). These findings suggest that IPV disrupts expectations of security and reinforces a manner of connecting with partners that leads to risky sexual encounters.

Security spillover: The role of personal achievement and perceived partner validation on felt security

Open Science Framework · 2024-01-01

Existing theory suggests that personal achievements should predict positive outcomes in a person’s mental representations of their self and current relationship. However, not everyone may handle personal achievements in the same way. The potential moderating effect of being high in attachment anxiety has yielded mixed results. This project examines the association of personal achievements with self-representations (self-esteem, self-efficacy) and felt attachment security, specifically testing the potential moderating role of attachment anxiety. We also examine whether perceiving a partner as validating one’s achievements mediates the association between personal achievements with self-representations and felt security, and whether this mediation process varies for individuals who are high versus low in attachment anxiety.

How Do Third Parties Respond to Intimate Partner Violence? The Role of the Victim’s Justification of Violence

Journal of Interpersonal Violence · 2024-12-08

Previous research shows that victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) often justify violence, which can play a role in the persistence of violence. The present studies examined whether the victim’s justification of violence negatively affects third parties’ evaluative responses toward the victim (general evaluation of the victim, victim blaming, and evaluation of the victim’s response toward the violence) and negatively affects third parties’ willingness to support and take action. We also examined whether this would occur especially when the violence had happened frequently in the past. In two experimental studies (one in the Netherlands, Study 1, N = 220; one in Indonesia, Study 2, N = 231), participants watched a video depicting IPV. After watching the video, we manipulated the victim’s justification of violence (high vs. low justification of violence) as well as the frequency of violence experienced by the victim in the past (high vs. low past frequency). Consistent across the two studies, the results showed that when they justified violence (as compared to when they did not justify violence), victims were evaluated more negatively. There were no effects on victim blaming, willingness to support, and willingness to take action. We also found the effects of past frequency of violence on victim evaluation and willingness to take action. We discuss how the current findings extend previous research on the consequences of justification of violence as well as on third-party responses toward victims.

The role of trust in reducing confrontation-related social costs.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2023-08-03 · 8 citations

= 1,019) integrate the close relationships and prejudice reduction literatures to examine whether people who are confronted assign fewer social costs when they trust the confronter. Study 1 provided correlational evidence that people who were confronted for making a sexist remark experienced less irritation and annoyance (i.e., negative other-directed affect) if they trusted the confronter, which, in turn, reduced social costs. Manipulation of trust in Study 2 with non-Black participants provided causal evidence that trust buffers against social costs. Being confronted predictably led to more negative other-directed affect and social costs, relative to not-confronted participants; however, these effects were mitigated among participants who underwent a trust-building exercise with the confronter. Study 3 used an ecologically valid context in which non-Black participants who made a stereotypic remark were confronted by an actual friend or stranger. They assigned fewer social costs when confronted by their friend (vs. stranger), and this effect was serially mediated by trust and negative other-directed affect. Importantly, confrontation reduced subsequent stereotyping in all studies. Practically, these studies reveal that when confronters establish trust, they experience fewer social costs. Theoretically, these studies provide a new direction for confrontation research that accounts for interpersonal dynamics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Adult Attachment Insecurity During the COVID Pandemic

2023-03-31

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of social connections. Attachment theory provides a compelling framework for understanding how pandemic conditions have affected people and their most important relationships. The pandemic has created chronic uncertainties and stressors, which are precisely the conditions that trigger attachment insecurity. Chronically activated insecurities, in turn, strain important close relationships. However, pandemic conditions have also provided opportunities to foster greater security. This chapter provides an up-to-date review of research on how early pandemic conditions affected individuals and relationships and then discusses the undoing of insecurity through two processes: (1) when a person feels insecure, relationship partners can adopt effective strategies to manage the person’s insecure feelings, and (2) lasting decreases in insecurity occur when new experiences contradict the mental representations that underlie insecurity. This chapter emphasizes how relationships provide an important context in which people may flourish or languish under conditions of great uncertainty.