Attachment, Care and Educational Responsibility for the Prevention of Gender-Based Violence

Journal title EDUCATIONAL REFLECTIVE PRACTICES
Author/s Maria Luisa Iavarone, Chiara Scuotto
Publishing Year 2024 Issue 2024/1
Language Italian Pages 10 P. 48-57 File size 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/erp1-2024oa18284
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

Gender-based violence in Italy is a figure of very high criminal and social alarm. The rationale that supports the analysis in this article is that sociocultural work for the prevention of gender violence should be done primarily in education through the education of mothers who raise young males. The literature points to the role that the quality of primary attachment (mother-child relationship) plays in building healthy and balanced relationships in adulthood; having experienced specific attachment styles during childhood can constitute a prejudice in the ability to exercise healthy affectivity in adulthood. These observations are supported by evidence from studies that have found higher levels of aggression and violence, physical and psychological, in couples where one or both partners had an insecure attachment (Wilson et al., 2013). This reflection, far from wanting to appear as an analysis aimed at attributing a sort of “stigma of guilt” to mothers, has the aim, on the contrary, of underlining how childhood represents a very delicate terrain. Hence the usefulness of investing in research and interventions in the field of maternal empowerment for the development of resources, especially of mothers in conditions of poor economic and cultural possibilities, with the aim of carrying out positive actions to change their lives and therefore more protective, in biopsychosocial terms, also of the children.

Keywords: ; Gender violence; Education; Attachment styles; Parental empowerment

  1. Ainsworth, M.D.S. (1978). The bowlby-ainsworth attachment theory. Behavioral and brain sciences, 1(3), pp. 436-438. DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X00075828
  2. Baumrind, D. (1978). Parental disciplinary patterns and social competence in children. Youth & Society, 9(3), pp. 239-267. DOI: 10.1177/0044118X7800900302
  3. Bendezú, J.J., Loughlin-Presnal, J. E., & Wadsworth, M.E. (2019). Attachment security moderates effects of uncontrollable stress on preadolescent hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses: Evidence of regulatory fit. Clinical Psychological Science, 7(6), pp. 1355-1371. DOI: 10.1177/2167702619854747
  4. Bond, S.B., & Bond, M. (2004). Attachment styles and violence within couples. The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 192(12), pp. 857-863. DOI: 10.1097/01.nmd.0000146879.33957.ec
  5. Bowen, M., Andolfi, M., & De Nichilo, M. (1979). Dalla famiglia all'individuo: la differenziazione del sè nel sistema familiare. Roma: Astrolabio.
  6. Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss. New York: Random House.
  7. Cuccì, G., O'Leary, K.D., Olivari, M.G., Bonanomi, A., & Confalonieri, E. (2019). Adolescent dating violence perpetration, emotion dysregulation, and parenting styles. Journal of family psychology, 33(1), pp. 12. DOI: 10.1037/fam0000464
  8. DeKlyen, M., & Greenberg, M. T. (2008). Attachment and psychopathology in childhood. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.). Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 637-665). New York: Guilford Press.
  9. Di Gennaro G. Iavarone M.L. (2023). Ragazzi che sparano. Viaggio nella devianza grave minorile. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  10. Dutton, D.G., & White, K.R. (2012). Attachment insecurity and intimate partner violence. Aggression and violent behavior, 17(5), pp. 475-481. DOI: 10.1016/j.avb.2012.07.003
  11. Gentzler, A.L., Kerns, K.A., & Keener, E. (2010). Emotional reactions and regulatory responses to negative and positive events: Associations with attachment and gender. Motivation and Emotion, 34, pp. 78-92. DOI: 10.1007/s11031-009-9149-x
  12. Heaven, P., & Ciarrochi, J. (2008). Parental styles, gender and the development of hope and self‐esteem. European Journal of Personality: Published for the European Association of Personality Psychology, 22(8), pp. 707-724. DOI: 10.1002/per.699
  13. Iavarone M.L., Menafro M. (2019). Essere genitori e fare famiglia nel tempo pre-sente. In Del Pizzo, F., Incoronato, P.(a cura di). Giovani e vita quotidiana. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  14. ISTAT (2023, November 24). Vittime di omicidio. https://www.istat.it/it/files//2023/11/ Vittime-di-omicidio-2022.pdf.
  15. Kawabata, Y., Alink, L.R., Tseng, W.L., Van Ijzendoorn, M. H., & Crick, N.R. (2011). Maternal and paternal parenting styles associated with relational ag-gression in children and adolescents: A conceptual analysis and meta-analytic review. Developmental review, 31(4), pp. 240-278. DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2011.08.001
  16. Kwong, M.J., Bartholomew, K., Henderson, A.J., & Trinke, S.J. (2003). The inter-generational transmission of relationship violence. Journal of family psychology, 17(3), pp. 288. DOI: 10.1037/0893-3200.17.3.288
  17. Love, H. (2007). Feminist criticism and queer theory. A history of feminist literary criticism, (pp. 301-21). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  18. Luppi, E., & Pacetti, E. (2019). L’empowerment femminile nei luoghi di lavoro: metodologie, progetti e social media. A prescindere dal genere: pari opportunità, empowerment e diversità, pp. 49.
  19. Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention, 1, pp. 121-160.
  20. Ozaki, R., & Otis, M.D. (2017). Gender equality, patriarchal cultural norms, and perpetration of intimate partner violence: Comparison of male university students in Asian and European cultural contexts. Violence against women, 23(9), pp. 1076-1099. DOI: 10.1177/1077801216654575
  21. Sanawar, S.B., Islam, M.A., Majumder, S., & Misu, F. (2019). Women’s empow-erment and intimate partner violence in Bangladesh: investigating the complex relationship. Journal of biosocial science, 51(2), pp. 188-202. DOI: 10.1017/S0021932018000068
  22. Sheikh, F., Koolaee, A.K., & Zadeh, M.R. (2013). The comparison of self-differentiation and self-concept in divorced and non-divorced women who experience domestic violence. International journal of high risk behaviors & addiction, 2(2), pp. 66. DOI: 10.5812/ijhrba.10029
  23. Simpson, J.A., & Rholes, W.S. (2010). Attachment and relationships: Milestones and future directions. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 27(2), pp. 173-180. DOI: 10.1177/026540750936090
  24. Spencer, C.M., Keilholtz, B.M., & Stith, S.M. (2021). The association between attachment styles and physical intimate partner violence perpetration and victimization: A meta‐analysis. Family process, 60(1), pp. 270-284. DOI: 10.1111/famp.12545
  25. Tafà, M., & Togliatti, M.M. (1998). L’attaccamento oltre l’infanzia: continuità intergenerazionale e potenzialità evolutive del legame di coppia. Rassegna di Psicologia, (3).
  26. Wilson, J.B., Gardner, B. C., Brosi, M.W., Topham, G.L., & Busby, D.M. (2013). Dyadic adult attachment style and aggression within romantic relationships. Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy, 12(2), pp. 186-205. DOI: 10.1080/15332691.2013.779185
  27. WHO Report, World Health Organization, Focus sulla salute mentale degli adolescenti, 2021 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health.

Maria Luisa Iavarone, Chiara Scuotto, Attaccamento, Cura e Responsabilità educativa per la prevenzione della violenza di genere in "EDUCATIONAL REFLECTIVE PRACTICES" 1/2024, pp 48-57, DOI: 10.3280/erp1-2024oa18284