Aggression and Attachment

Overview of Attachment Theory

Bowlby posited that children are born with an attachment behavioral system that motivates them to seek proximity to caregivers in times of need. Attachment behaviors serve an evolutionary function. Infants protect themselves and increase their chances of survival by being closely attached to their primary caregivers.

All children are attached to their primary caregivers, but important individual differences exist in attachment styles. These attachment differences are shaped by interactions with attachment figures across the life span, especially in childhood. Interactions with attachment figures who are available and responsive contribute to a dispositional sense of attachment security consisting of positive expectations about others’ availability and positive views of the self as competent and valued. When attachment figures are not reliably available and supportive, a sense of insecurity arises. Current scholars describe attachment insecurity in terms of two dimensions. Attachment anxiety reflects the degree to which a person worries that the attachment figure will not be available in times of need and is afraid of being rejected or abandoned. Attachment avoidance reflects the extent to which a person distrusts attachment figures’ goodwill and strives to maintain behavioral independence and emotional distance from attachment figures. Like other cognitive networks, attachment cognitive models (referred by Bowlby as “internal working models”) and their associated responses are automatically activated in relevant situations.

Attachment and Aggression in Childhood

Bowlby viewed anger in children as a functional response to separation that may motivate attachment figures to pay attention and provide care. Aggression may be viewed as an exaggerated version of this otherwise functional behavior. Extreme anger, aggression, and violence are most typical of children who experience repeated separations and are subjected to the threat of being abandoned. Indeed, attachment insecurity has been found to predict fighting and bullying in children (e.g., Renken et al., 1989).

Attachment and Aggression in Adulthood

Beyond childhood, research finds positive associations among attachment insecurities, interpersonal conflict, and aggression. For instance, the experience and expression of anger in adults have been linked to attachment insecurity. Significant differences also exist in secure and insecure individuals’ responses to conflict situations. Secure individuals tend to emphasize the challenging aspects of interpersonal conflicts, whereas insecure individuals are likely to appraise interpersonal conflicts in more threatening terms and apply less effective conflict resolution strategies.

Attachment processes have been linked to various aggressive behaviors in adolescence and adulthood. Attachment insecurity, especially anxious attachment, is a risk factor for intimate partner violence (e.g., Mauricio, Tein, & Lopez, 2007). Insecure attachment has been linked to intimate partner violence among men and among women (Dutton, 2011), and in heterosexual and homosexual relationships (Bartholomew, Oram, & Landolt, 2008).

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