Are women who have been the victim of psychological abuse in the past more likely to prefer an abusive dating partner in the future? Are men who have been the perpetrator of abuse more likely to prefer a dating partner with high attachment anxiety, a characteristic associated with victims of abuse? The present research used a highly repeated, within-subject, multilevel approach to identify the characteristics of potential dating partners that constitute salient psychological ingredients of situations influencing partner preference. Study 1 found that college-age women who reported more instances of receiving psychological abuse, compared to women who did not, showed a stronger preference for male dating partners who possessed characteristics associated with an abusive personality (e.g., possessiveness). Study 2 found that college-age men who reported more instances of inflicting psychological abuse, compared to men who did not, showed a stronger preference for female dating partners characterized by high attachment anxiety.
Baldwin, M. W., Keelan, J. P. R., Fehr, B., Enns, V., & Koh-Rangarajoo, E. (1996). Social-cognitive conceptualization of attachment working models: Availability and accessibility effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 94-109.
2.
Bartholomew, K., & Horowitz, L. M. (1991). Attachment styles among young adults: A test of a four-category model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 226-244.
3.
Brehm, S. S., Miller, R. S., Perlman, D., & Campbell, S. M. (2002). Intimate relationships (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
4.
Brennan, K. A., Clark, C. L., & Shaver, P. R. (1998). Self-report measurement of adult romantic attachment: An integrative overview. In J. A. Simpson & W. S. Rholes (Eds.), Attachment theory and close relationships (pp. 46-76). New York: Guilford.
5.
Cahn, N., & Meier, J. S. (1995). Domestic violence and feminist jurisprudence: Towards a new agenda. Boston University Public Interest Law Journal, 4, 339-339.
6.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC). (2000). Healthy people 2000: Violent and abusive behavior progress review. Retrieved August 25, 2006, from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/otheract/hp2000/violence/violencecharts.htm.
7.
Cohen, J., & Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regression: Correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
8.
Collins, N., & Read, S. (1990). Adult attachment, working models and relationship quality in dating couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 644-663.
9.
Dutton, D. G. (1994). Patriarchy and wife assault: The ecological fallacy. Violence & Victims, 9, 167-182.
10.
Dutton, D. G., & Browning, J. J. (1988). Power struggles and intimacy anxieties as causative factors of violence in intimate relationships. In G. Russell (Ed.), Violence in intimate relationships. New York: PMA Publishing.
11.
Dutton, D. G., Starzomski, A., & Ryan, L. (1996). Antecedents of abusive personality and abusive behavior in wife assaulters. Journal of Family Violence, 11, 113-132.
12.
Fletcher, G. J. O., Tither, J. M., O'Loughlin, C., Friesen, M., & Overall, N. (2004). Warm and homely or cold and beautiful? Sex differences in trading off traits in mate selection. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 659-672.
13.
Fraley, C. R., & Waller, N. G. (1998). Adult attachment patterns: A test of the typological model. In J. A. Simpson & W. S. Rholes (Eds.), Attachment theory and close relationships (pp. 46-76). New York: Guilford.
14.
Frazier, P. A., Byer, A. L., Fischer, A. R., Wright, D. M., & DeBord, K. A. (1996). Adult attachment style and partner choice: Correlational and experimental findings. Personal Relationships, 3, 117-136.
15.
Henderson, A. J. Z., Bartholomew, K., & Dutton, D. G. (1997). He loves me; he loves me not: Attachment and separation resolution of abused women. Journal of Family Violence, 12, 169-191.
16.
Jacobson, N. A., & Gottman, J. M. (1998). When men batter women: New insights into ending abusive relationships. New York: Simon & Schuster.
17.
Kasian, M., & Painter, S. L. (1992). Frequency and severity of psychological abuse in a dating population. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 7, 350-364.
18.
Katz, J., Arias, I., & Beach, R. (2000). Psychological abuse, self-esteem, and women's dating relationship outcomes: A comparison of the self-verification and self-enhancement perspectives. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 24, 349-357.
19.
Kirkpatrick, L. A., & Davis, K. E. (1994). Attachment style, gender, and relationship stability: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 502-512.
20.
Kirkwood, C. (1993). Leaving abusive partners. London: Sage Ltd.
21.
Maiuro, R. (2001). Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will also hurt me: Psychological abuse in domestically violent relationships. In K. D. O'Leary & R. Maiuro (Eds.), Psychological abuse in violent domestic relationships (pp. ix-xx). New York: Springer.
22.
McKibbon, C. (1998). The relationship of subtle and overt psychological abuse to women's self-concept and psychological symptoms. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B. The Sciences and Engineering, 58(7-B), 3968-3968.
23.
Mischel, W., & Shoda, Y. (1995). A cognitive-affective system theory of personality: Reconceptualizing situations, dispositions, dynamics, and invariance in personality structure. Psychological Review, 102, 246-268.
24.
Murphy, C. M., Meyer, S. L., & O'Leary, K. D. (1994). Dependency characteristics of partner assaultive men. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 729-735.
25.
Neufeld, J., McNamara, J. R., & Ertle, M. (1999). Incidence and prevalence of dating partner abuse and its relationship to dating practices. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14, 125-137.
26.
NiCarthy, G. (1986). Getting free: A handbook for women in abusive relationships (2nd ed.). Seattle, WA: Seal Press.
27.
O'Hearn, R. E., & Davis, K. E. (1997). Women's experience of giving and receiving emotional abuse. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 12, 375-391.
28.
O'Keefe, M., & Treister, L. (1998). Victims of dating violence among high school students: Are the predictors different for males and females?Violence Against Women, 4, 193-228.
29.
O'Leary, K. D. (2001). Psychological abuse: A variable deserving critical attention in domestic violence. In K. D. O'Leary & R. Maiuro (Eds.), Psychological abuse in violent domestic relationships(pp. 3-28). New York: Springer.
30.
O'Leary, K. D., & Maiuro, R. D. (2001). Psychological abuse in violent domestic relations. New York: Springer.
31.
O'Leary, K. D., & Slep, A. M. (2003). A dyadic longitudinal model of adolescent dating aggression. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 32, 314-327.
32.
Paulhus, D. L. (1991). Measurement and control of response bias. In J. Robinson, P. Shaver, & L. Wrightsman (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes: Volume 1. Measures of social psychological attitudes series. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
33.
Pietromonaco, P. R., & Carnelley, K. B. (1994). Gender and working models of attachment: Consequences for perception of self and romantic relationships. Personal Relationships, 1, 3-26.
34.
Raudenbush, S. W., Bryk, A. S., & Congdon, R. T. (2001). HLM 5: Hierarchical linear and nonlinear modeling. Lincolnwood, IL: Scientific Software International
35.
Rosenberg, M. J. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
36.
Shoda, Y. (2003). Individual differences in social psychology: Understanding situations to understand people, understanding people to understand situations. In C. Sansone, C. C. Morf, & A. T. Panter (Eds.), The Sage handbook of methods in social psychology (pp. 117-141). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
37.
Shoda, Y., Mischel, W., & Wright, J. C. (1994). Intra-individual stability in the organization and patterning of behavior: Incorporating psychological situations into the idiographic analysis of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 674-687.
38.
Straight, E. S., Harper, F. W. K., & Arias, I. (2003). The impact of partner psychological abuse on health behaviors and health status in college women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18, 1035-1054.
39.
Straus, M. A. (1979). Measuring intrafamily conflict and violence: The Conflict Tactics (CT) Scales. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 41, 75-88.
40.
Walker, L. E. (1979). The battered woman. New York: Harper & Row.
41.
Weihe, V. R. (1998). Understanding family violence: Treating and preventing partner, child, sibling, and elder abuse. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
42.
Zayas, V., Shoda, Y., & Ayduk, O. N. (2002). Personality in context: An interpersonal systems perspective. Journal of Personality, 70, 851-898.
