The Effect of Attachment Styles on Cyber Dating Abuse in Emerging Adulthood

Abstract

The first aim of this study was to examine the effects of attachment styles (anxious-ambivalent attachment, secure attachment, avoidant attachment) in cyber dating abuse (direct aggression, monitoring/control). The second aim was to examine gender differences in emerging adulthood who exposed to cyber dating abuse. Permission was obtained from Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University Ethics Committee for the study with decision number 25 on 08/10/2021. Participants were ages of 19 and 26 years (X=22.06, SD=2.5) unmarried emerging adulthood (n=211,77.3% women, 22.7% men). All participants had been in a relationship for more than one month. Participants completed a demographic information form, the Cyber- Dating Abuse Questionnaire (Bakır & Kalkan, 2019), and the Three-Dimensional Attachment Style Scale (Erzen, 2016). The results showed that men were exposed to direct aggression much more than women, but there were no gender differences in monitoring/control. The other result was that secure attachment style negatively correlated with cyber dating abuse (direct aggression, monitoring/control). Furthermore, secure attachment significantly and negatively predicted direct aggression, which the higher the secure attachment related to the lower direct aggression. Avoidant attachment significantly and positively predicted direct aggression; Higher avoidant attachment was associated with more increased direct aggression. Also, anxiousambivalent attachment did not significantly predict direct aggression. However, anxious-ambivalent attachment significantly and positively predicted monitoring/control, which higher levels of anxiousambivalent attachment were associated with higher levels of monitoring/control. The results are discussed, and the limitations of the research are explained.