Attachment Insecurity, Hazardous Alcohol Use, and Intimate Partner Violence: A Dyadic Analysis

According to the I³ model, intimate partner violence (IPV) results from an interaction of instigating, impelling, and inhibiting factors. Attachment insecurity is a well-established risk factor for IPV perpetration, but few studies have focused on its role as an impellor within an I³ framework. The current study investigated the independent and interactive effects of attachment insecurity (in impelling factor) and hazardous alcohol use (a disinhibiting factor) on IPV perpetration. It was hypothesized that hazardous alcohol use would moderate the relationship between attachment insecurity and IPV perpetration, such that this relationship would be stronger at higher levels of hazardous alcohol use. Couples (N = 133 dyads) ages 18–40 who had been involved in a committed inti-mate partner relationship for at least 90 days and had consumed alcohol within the past 90 days were recruited online through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and a university recruitment system. Structural equation models were estimated using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model to evaluate actor and partner effects of each risk factor on IPV perpetration. The hypothesized interaction was not significant; however, both hazardous alcohol use and attachment insecurity uniquely predicted different forms of IPV. Results suggest that impelling and inhibiting processes may differentially influence psychological aggression and physical assault, providing further support for varying thresholds for perpetration as posited by the I³ model. Partner effects for both predictors were observed, such that attachment insecurity and hazardous alcohol use of one partner predicted IPV perpetrated by the other partner. These findings also highlight the importance of considering dyadic processes when conceptualizing the etiological and perpetuating factors of IPV.