Levels Of Interpersonal Dependency Research Articles

Exploring the Relevance of Attachment Theory as a Dependent Variable in the Treatment of Women Mandated into Treatment for Domestic Violence Offenses

Objective: The purpose of the study was to: (a) investigate the pre-treatment levels of interpersonal dependency and violence among women entering a 16-week, court-mandated, batterer intervention program (BIP) and determine if there were any associations between interpersonal dependency and violence; (b) investigate differences in demographic variables and psychological variables between treatment completers and drop-outs; and (c) evaluate the treatment effect of a standard BIP in altering levels of interpersonal dependency among treatment completers. Method: The study employed a secondary analysis of 75 women, 39 treatment completers and 36 drop-outs. Results: Analysis indicated that women who assault their intimate partners and are court-ordered into treatment are excessively dependent on their partners prior to beginning treatment, that level of interpersonal dependency is directly related to a multidimensional conceptualization of domestic violence (i.e., psychological aggression, physical assault, sexual coercion and injury), that interpersonal dependency is an important variable in predicting treatment completion and that the BIP increased the level of interpersonal dependency among treatment completers. Conclusion: Implications of the findings for professionals providing intervention services to women in court-mandated batterer intervention programs were explored and discussed.

Heightened interpersonal dependency in schizophrenia: associations with graver impairment in neurocognition but not with negative or positive symptoms.

This study sought to clarify how dependency traits may be related to neurocognition and clinical symptoms of schizophrenia. Participants were 35 persons diagnosed with a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder who were recruited from a comprehensive day hospital at a VA Medical Center. Neurocognition, symptoms and level of interpersonal dependency were measured. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that greater neurocognitive deficits predicted greater dependency needs. No relationship was found between symptoms and the level of dependency needs.

Interpersonal Dependency Among Court-Ordered Domestic Violence Offenders: A Descriptive Analysis

In the effort to improve treatment programs for batterers, researchers have begun to examine the role of interpersonal dependency in the etiology and maintenance of domestic violence. Recent empirical investigations of interpersonal dependency among maritally violent men have discovered that these men exhibit increased levels of interpersonal dependency when compared to nonviolent men. This study examined the level of interpersonal dependency of 105 adult men court-ordered into a treatment program for domestic violence offenses, and 25 nonviolent men. Results indicated no significant difference in level of interpersonal dependency between the court-ordered batterers and the nonviolent men. Possible explanations for the failure of this research to replicate earlier findings were explored and discussed. These findings indicate that more research is needed before the role of interpersonal dependency in the etiology and maintenance of domestic violence can be understood.

Male Domestic Violence

This study investigated whether men who use violence toward their partners are more accepting of domestic violence and report higher levels of general aggression and levels of interpersonal dependency than comparison groups (football players and community service volunteers). Participants consisted of 83 men: 23 from an intervention program for violent men, 30 football players, and 30 community service volunteers. Measures of attitudes to the acceptability of domestic violence, aggression levels, and interpersonal dependency levels were administered. Results indicated the violent men were more aggressive and more dependent than both the comparison groups, whereas all three groups had a low tolerance of violence toward female partners. Football players and community service volunteers did not differ in their levels of general aggression. These findings emphasize the importance of intervention programs addressing the areas of male aggression and emotional dependency in their syllabuses as a strategy for curbing male violence toward female partners.

Interpersonal Dependency and Academic Performance

Forty-eight first-year college students (25 women and 23 men) completed self-report measures of level of interpersonal dependency and then provided information regarding their Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores and overall high school grade point averages (GPAs). Dependent men had significantly higher high school GPAs than did nondependent men, even when scholastic aptitude was controlled for statistically. However, a parallel relationship between dependency and academic performance was not found in women. These results are discussed in the context of previous research on the dependency-academic performance relationship. The implications of these findings for studies of gender differences in dependency and for studies examining the positive, adaptive qualities of dependent personality traits are discussed.

Counsellors' responses to clients' non-attendance at counselling sessions

Abstract Although there has been some study of clients who miss psychotherapy appointments, very little attention has been given to therapists' responses in such circumstances. A questionnaire survey of student counsellors working in British higher education institutions invited them to consider whether or not they would initiate any further contact with each of eight hypothetical non-attenders, described in case vignettes. It was predicted that responses would be influenced both by the subjects' theoretical approach to counselling and by their level of interpersonal dependency, as measured with the Interpersonal Dependency Inventory (Hirschfeld et al., 1977). It was found that the majority of counsellors were not subject to institutional guidelines about contacting non-attenders, and that responses ranged from contacting none to contacting all of the clients. Psychodynamic counsellors were found to be significantly more likely to initiate contact than were humanistic counsellors. There were no significan...