This study investigates attachment style and gender as predictors of ratings of warning signs of intimate partner violence. University students (N = 349, 269 women, 60 men, 15 non-binary individuals, and 5 who did not report their gender) completed the Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire-Relationship Structure Questionnaire (attachment style) and rated how strongly each of 25 red flag behaviours was indicative of warning signs of abuse, on a scale from 1 (not at all a red flag) to 4 (very much a red flag). An exploratory factor analysis of the red flag behaviours suggested two factors consisting of controlling and surveillance behaviours and intimidating and threatening behaviours, in contrast to the five-factor structure initially proposed by the scale authors. Anxious attachment significantly predicted lower ratings for the controlling and surveillance red flag behaviours. Gender significantly moderated the relationship between avoidant attachment and both controlling and surveillance red flag behaviours and intimidating and threatening red flag behaviours. For men, higher levels of avoidant attachment were associated with higher ratings of these behaviours as red flags, while women's ratings remained stable regardless of their avoidant attachment. This suggests that avoidantly attached men are more likely to identify these behaviours as highly indicative of red flags compared to women. Overall, the findings indicate that gender and attachment type influence how red flags are perceived, and that anxiously attached individuals may selectively interpret these behaviours. Avoidantly attached men may better recognize red flags as warnings than avoidantly attached women, who might overlook certain behaviours as indicators of intimate partner violence.
Trahair et al. (Wed,) studied this question.