Battering typologies, attachment insecurity, and personality disorders: A comprehensive literature review

Abstract

Abstract Woman battering is a serious social problem that occurs across all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic boundaries, and that affects not only the physical, mental, and emotional health of victims but also that of perpetrators. This article is a comprehensive literature review on battering typologies that explores also the mediating role that antisocial and borderline personality traits may play in explaining the relationship observed in a number of studies between insecure attachment styles and battering perpetration. Since the groundbreaking work that Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart conducted in 1994, research on battering typologies has consistently shown that male batterers do not represent a homogeneous group of persons. Specifically, different studies have classified batterers in two or three subtypes that differ in terms of severity of intimate partner violence perpetrated, generality of the violence, psychopathology of Axis I and Axis II, drug and alcohol use, and attachment styles. Recent studies have also detected a consistent association between insecure attachment styles and battering that may be mediated by dysfunctional personality traits, specifically borderline and antisocial personality disorders. Implications for clinical practice, limitations of existing research, and suggestions for future research are discussed.