When Staying Home Is Not Safe: An Investigation of the Role of Attachment Style on Stress and Intimate Partner Violence in the Time of COVID-19

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health concern, with increasing rates of IPV being seen around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous research has linked the perpetration of IPV and other forms of sexual violence to aspects of romantic attachment psychology, with insecure anxious/preoccupied attachment most often linked to higher rates of IPV. Stressful events typically activate the attachment system and may either aggravate or disrupt its regulatory functioning. In the present study, we investigated whether COVID-related PTSD and depressive symptoms were associated with increased IPV perpetration and whether this relationship was moderated by levels of attachment security. Our findings indicated that higher COVID-related PTSD was significantly associated with increased IPV perpetration in securely attached individuals, whereas depressive symptoms was significantly associated with decreased IPV perpetration in securely attached individuals. IPV perpetration by insecure individuals was consistently high regardless of COVID-related PTSD or depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that COVID-related PTSD may erode adaptive attachment functioning, particularly among the previously secure, which can have important consequences for secure individuals and their intimate partners. The present findings may explain some of the recent increase in IPV cases worldwide and serve to raise awareness and motivate clinical interventions to more efficiently help both victims and perpetrators of IPV stay safe while staying home.