Role of Adult Attachment in the Intergenerational Transmission of Violence: Mediator, Moderator, or Independent Predictor

摘要

The present study examined the role of adult attachment in the intergenerational transmission of violence. We assessed the effects of exposure to several forms of childhood violence such as child physical abuse (CPA), child sexual abuse (CSA), domestic violence (DV), and adult CPA risk and examined whether adult attachment serves as a mediator or moderator of these relationships, or as an independent predictor of CPA risk. During their first week of basic training, U.S. Navy recruits (N=11,195) completed a package of questionnaires assessing childhood violence, adult attachment, and adult CPA risk. Childhood violence (especially parental CPA and DV) and adult attachment (especially the self-attitude dimension) were both predictive of increased adult CPA risk. Effects of childhood violence on CPA risk were partially but not entirely mediated by adult attachment. In contrast, there was no evidence that adult attachment or demographic factors moderated the relationship between childhood violence and adult CPA risk.