Date
4-2009
Department
Counseling Department
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Chair
Fred Milacci
Primary Subject Area
Psychology, Clinical; Psychology, Experimental
Keywords
anger, domestic violence offenders, empathy, romantic styles of attachment
Recommended Citation
Long, Luanne Faye Bender, "Anger, Empathy, and Romantic Styles of Attachment in Court Ordered Domestic Violence Offenders" (2009). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 187.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/187
Abstract
This study utilized a prospective design to examine the impact of empathy and attachment beliefs on various dimensions of anger. More specifically, the study explored whether pre-treatment empathy scores in domestic violence offenders were the best predictor of post-treatment anger. The subjects (n=24) were male (14) and female (10) court referred domestic violence offenders. Correlation coefficients were calculated for attachment styles from pretreatment to post treatment to determine if the treatment response scores in anxiety were negatively correlated with anger turned inward. A series of hierarchical multiple regressions were used to examine whether pretreatment empathy accounted for any significant unique variance in post treatment anger in. This data suggested the concept of empathy is more about a lack of self-awareness and less about self-deception.
