Attachment Styles, Coping Strategies, and Romantic Feelings Among Battered Women in Shelters

The aim of the study was to examine coping strategies, attachment styles, and romantic feelings among a sample of battered women (BWS) in shelters in Israel compared with a sample of women recruited from the community (CS; defined as nonbattered women). Results indicate that BWS were significantly more anxious and avoidant than CS and their romantic feelings for their partners were lower. However, contrary to prediction, BWS used more problem-focused than emotion-focused coping. Also contrary to prediction, attachment style and romantic feelings predicted problem-focused coping among BWS while predicting emotion-focused coping among CS. Aside from challenging common assumptions, the findings of the current study enhance our understanding of the associations between coping style, attachment style, and emotions experienced by BWS and highlight the importance of considering the larger context within which an individual instance of leaving occurs. Even so, future studies should employ a longitudinal design so as to shed additional light on interrelationships between these variables.