Violência por parceiro íntimo e apego em homens autores de agressão contra a mulher

Abstract

International literature points to the existence of positive correlations between attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance in adulthood and the occurrence of intimate partner violence. In Brazil, there is little data regarding this phenomenon, especially when it comes to violence perpetrators and their psychological characteristics. The objective of this research was to correlate the attachment dimensions and the occurrence of physical and psychological violence by an intimate partner in men from a reflective group for domestic violence perpetrators (Group 1) and men from the general population (Group 2), and to compare the groups regarding the attachment dimensions and the occurrence of violence. A cross-sectional, descriptive and quantitative study was carried out, with independent samples. 80 men participated, 40 from each group. The contexts of research were the Center for Prevention and Combating Gender Violence (NUGEN) of the Public Defender's Office of the State of Pará and a unit of Usina da Paz, a government project that provides assistance, health and professionalization services to the community. The instruments used were the Biopsychosocial Characterization Form of Violence Perpetrators, the Revised Conflict Tactic Scales - CTS 2 and the Experience in Close Relationships Scale - Reduced (ECR- R-Brazil). Data analysis was performed using Spearman's rho and Mann-Whitney U tests. Positive and significant correlations were found, in both groups, between physical and psychological violence, and between violence perpetration and victimization, indicating the intertwining of different forms of violence and the bidirectionality of aggressions. Contrary to expectations regarding previous literature, no significant correlations were obtained between the attachment dimensions and violence in Group 1, but rather in Group 2. In the latter, the anxiety dimension was positively correlated with physical violence perpetration and victimization, and with psychological violence victimization. After comparing the two groups using the Mann-Whitney U test, participants in Group 1 showed significantly higher scores for both attachment dimensions and for perpetrated and suffered physical violence, but not for psychological violence. These results partially corroborate the findings of previous research, regarding the relationship between insecure attachment and violence observed in one of the groups, and the greater occurrence of insecure attachment and physical violence among convicted violence perpetrators when compared to control groups. The absence of significant correlations between attachment and violence in Group 1 may be explained by methodological issues and/or other influential variables not covered by this study. Also, the absence of differences between groups regarding psychological violence may be an alert to the invisibility of this form of aggression, which does not receive the same attention and volume of reports as physical violence. Such findings require greater support from future investigations, involving both partners and their psychological characteristics, to better understand the dynamics involved in intimate partner violence occurrence and maintaining.