Mediators of attachment style, social support, and sense of belonging in predicting woman abuse by African American men

Recent studies have focused on attachment and related variables to explain partner abuse. These studies have not included significant numbers of Afric an American men. path analysis was used to examine the relationship between interpersonal relatedness (ie., attachment, social support and sense of be longing) as mediated by affect (hopelessness and depression) to explain abu sive behaviors in African American men arrested for partner abuse. Data wer e collected using self-administered questionnaires from a convenience sampl e of 69 African American men 18 to 69 years of age. The strongest effect wa s from sense of belonging in predicting severity-weighted frequency of phys ical, psychological, and sexual abuse. Preoccupation with closeness had a n egative direct effect an severity-weighted frequency of sexual abuse. Hopel essness and depression did not act as mediators. Implications for further r esearch are discussed.