Abstract
This study aimed to understand the relationship between secure base phenomena and dating violence among couples. Within a relationship, a secure base can be defined as a balancing act of proximity-seeking and exploration at various times and contexts with the assurance of a caregiver’s availability and responsiveness in emotionally distressing situations. Participants were 87 heterosexual couples. The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model was used to examine the relationship between each partner’s scores on secure base representational knowledge and intimate partner violence. Findings demonstrated that women’s secure base representational knowledge had a significant direct negative effect on the victimization of both men and women, while men’s secure base representational knowledge did not have any significant partner or actor effects. Therefore, findings suggest that women with insecure attachments may be more vulnerable to being both the victims and the perpetrators of aggressive behavior. Research and clinical implications are discussed.
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Acknowledgments
This project was supported in part by NIH/NCRR CTSA KL2TR000440. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Gunnur Karakurt, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Case Western Reserve University. Cleveland, OH 44106. E-mail: gkk6@case.edu.
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Appendix
Appendix
Doctor’s Office: Score 7
It was early in the morning and Tommy had just gotten on his bike to outside to ride around the street. There were kids down the neighborhood down the block playing basketball So he ride there to see what was going on in doing when he did this the basketball had bounced on the street make him run over it and he fell down. And he hurt himself badly enough to make his mother scared when she came by running because she heard him screaming. She saw that he was bleeding from his knees because he had fallen of his bike scratched them up. She picked him up in her arms running back to the house and put him in the car and take him to the doctor. When he was get to the doctor he was crying because his knees were all bloody he thought he is going to have scar for the rest of his life even though his mother was reassure him he was not going to. When he get to the doctor’s office doctor called him to the office and looked at him and hmm looked over and cleaned up the wound and gave him a shot just in case there is an infection in doing so this further made him cry because he did not liked shots and find it quite painful and scary. His mother..hmm.. knowing this brought his favorite toy along so he can hold it while right afterwards and doing so he stopped cry once they get back to the house he immediately get back on his bike and start running around, went down the block to play with to play with the kids down the block to play basketball.
Doctor’s Office: Score: 2
Tommy is riding his bike on a beautiful sunny day outside and he stumbles on a rock and falls down the mother hurries out to help because she hears him crying and then Tommy is complaining that his leg hurt and the mother is worried that Tommy broke his leg so they go to the doctor and the doctor examines his leg and determines that he broke his leg the hands him back the toy so Tommy stops crying Tommy holds the toy and he does stop crying the doctor tells Tommy he is going to give him a shot so Tommy starts crying again and the doctor gives him another toy and gives him a shot and Tommy stops crying.
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Karakurt, G., Silver, K.E. & Keiley, M.K. Secure Base Narrative Representations and Intimate Partner Violence: a Dyadic Perspective. J Fam Viol 31, 467–477 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-015-9778-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-015-9778-7