Childhood Abuse Types and Adult Relational Violence Mediated by Adult Attachment Behaviors and Romantic Relational Aggression in Couples

Childhood Abuse Types and Adult Relational Violence Mediated by Adult Attachment Behaviors and Romantic Relational Aggression in Couples Tabitha Nicole Webster School of Family Life, BYU Doctor of Philosophy The current study investigated how three distinct types of childhood abuse—witnessing of parental domestic violence, experiencing physical abuse and total in-home violence, and experiencing sexual abuse—predicted partner reports of relational violence through the mediating factors self-perceptions of attachment and partner reports of relational aggression. The study used paired dyadic data from 1,658 couples who had completed the RELATionship Evaluation (RELATE). The Family Violence, the Brief Accessibility and Responsiveness, Couples Relational Aggression and Victimization, and the Conflict Tactics scales were the measures used. Data was analyzed by using structural equation modeling to estimate an actorpartner interdependence model exploring these relationships. Results showed only female childhood sexual abuse had direct associations with male relational violence; however, several mediating paths were identified. Keywords: childhood abuse, relational violence, attachment behaviors, relational aggression ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are so many individuals that have supported me along this journey, and to who I am forever grateful to. First, my heartfelt thank you to my chair and my committee and the rest of the MFT faculty. I have had important and valuable life and personal lessons from every single faculty member of the MFT program. I would not be here without all of your support and guidance. Special thank you's go to Jonathan, Jeremy and Jim, to which I really could not have done this program and project without. Your support and belief in me, I will treasure forever. Maybe most importantly, Shannon, who I truly would be lost without. Secondly, thank you to my sounding board, Jamie, and to my personal advisor, my Pa; to whom both keep my head in the game. Words cannot really express the gratitude to my husband and best friend, Tatsu, who has always supported my dreams, even if he was getting the fallout from the chase. And I really could have never done this without my stress buffers, Ghandi Bear, Barkevious Mingo and Lobby Boy, the furriest, most loyal, patience, and unconditionally loving best buddies, I could ever hope for. And there is not enough space for the all the names, but I have had some amazing mentors and role models—professors, teachers, bosses, friends, family—who I would not be here without. I owe each and every one of them so much gratitude for their piece in my journey. Thank you to all! CHILDHOOD ABUSE AND ADULT VIOLENCE ! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii . ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii . TABLE OF CONTENTS iv . LIST OF FIGURES vi . LIST OF TABLES vii . Introduction 1 . Theoretical Foundations 4 . Empirical Foundations 7 . Literature Review 8 . Childhood Maltreatment 8 . Romantic Relational Aggression and Relational Violence 14 . Adult Attachment 21 . Statement of Purpose 30 . Methods 31 . Sample 31 . Participants 32 . Measures 34 . Analytic Strategy 37 . Results 38 . Direct Effects 39 . Indirect Effects 41 . CHILDHOOD ABUSE AND ADULT VIOLENCE ! v Discussion 41 . Hypothesis 1 42 . Hypothesis 2 43 . Hypothesis 3 45 . Hypothesis 4 47 . Control Variables 48 . Clinical Implications 49 . Limitations 52 . Future Research 54 . Conclusion 55 . References 57 . Appendix A: Physical Health Effects of Childhood Maltreatment 105 . Appendix B: Figures and Tables 107 . CHILDHOOD ABUSE AND ADULT VIOLENCE ! vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Hypothesized Model 107 . Figure 2. Results SEM Model 108 . CHILDHOOD ABUSE AND ADULT VIOLENCE ! vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Factor Loadings 109 . Table 2. Correlations 110 . Table 3. Descriptive Statistics of Latent Variables 111 . CHILDHOOD ABUSE AND ADULT VIOLENCE !