Abuse exposure, adult romantic attachment and involvement in domestic violence in female former foster youth

Domestically violent relationships are highly prevalent amongst men and women, yet women suffer the most severe consequences of male perpetrated violence in intimate relationships. Understanding the factors related to women’s patterns of victimization and involvement in close relationships is crucial, given the universality of romantic love and attachment in adulthood. The objective of the current study was to examine the associations between prior physical and sexual abuse exposure, dimensions of adult romantic attachment, and domestic violence, in an under-researched, high-risk sample of former female foster youth, all of whom were women of color. Involvement in domestic violence was examined from the perspective of the participants as victims of domestically violent adult romantic relationships.

The number of relationships involving domestic violence and the total length of those relationships were positively associated, suggesting that female former foster youth who are repeatedly involved in violent relationships may also tend to have long-term relationships involving DV. Prior incidents of sexual, but not of physical, abuse predicted greater involvement in domestic violence. Notions of betrayal trauma, attachment theory, and sexual victimization are discussed to put this finding in context. Dissimilar to previous studies’ findings, dimensions of adult romantic attachment were not found to predict women’s domestic violence victimization; however, low power may account for this difference. Participants in the current study were only slightly higher on self-reported attachment-related insecurity compared to previous study samples, which is unexpected for a trauma-exposed sample of women of color. Possible explanatory dimensions including earned resiliency and culture-specific factors for this sample are discussed. This difference may also reflect alternative developmental considerations for continued involvement in domestically violent romantic relationships in adulthood for former female foster youth, such as racial oppression, earned resilience and motherhood. The results of the current study suggest that female former female foster youth may follow a unique pathway to domestic violence victimization. Clinical implications are discussed, including specific developmental and demographic differences including race, motherhood and trauma/abuse history.

Keywords: female, former foster youth, women of color, adult romantic attachment, victimization, domestic violence, prior abuse.