Attachment styles, causal attribution and responsibility attribution as predictors of violence against women

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of attachment styles (anxiety and avoidance), relational attributions (causal and responsibility attributions) with violence against women. From among all the female violence victims referring to the social security center of Shiraz 130 women were selected through convenient sampling method. They completed the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised Questionnaire (ECR-R), the Relationship Attribution Measure (RAM) and Violence Toward Women Inventory (VTWI). The data were analyzed using simple correlation and multiple regression. The results revealed a significantly positive correlation between anxiety and avoidance attachments, causal and responsibility Attributions and the violence exercised against women. The results of multiple regression also showed that anxiety and avoidance attachments, causal and responsibility attributions explained 64 percent of the total variance in the violence exercised against women. According to the results, it can be said that a pervasive fear of being rejected and an excessive dependence on a partner in anxious people, getting evasive about intimacy and avoiding husband in avoidant people, an excessive concentration on the negative behavior of the partner by the women with causal attributions, and seeking for blaming partner by the women with responsibility attributions can bring about violence against women. The results of the current study can help the therapists to diagnose the effective factors in violence against women. The results also showed that violence against women is not merely confined to men’s role, but women and their relational characteristics play an influential role in this disorder.