The association between attachment, parental bonds and physically aggressive and violent behavior: A comprehensive review

• I report a comprehensive review of studies on the association between attachment and violence.
• This review also includes developmental studies of physical aggression in young children.
• There is consistent evidence of a negative association between attachment and violent behavior.
• The relationship withstands conservative controls in multivariate models.
• The relationship withstands controls for abuse and for child effects.

In the present paper a comprehensive review of studies of the association between indicators of attachment or its proxy, and physical aggression or violence is presented. The review includes both early developmental studies and criminological studies of older children and adolescents. The studies fall into five categories: studies of separation from parents or parent death; studies using attachment categories (such as secure or insecure-avoidant) conducted with very young children; studies of continuous measures of attachment and violent delinquency conducted with adolescents and young adults; studies of parental bonding and violence; and studies of parental sensitivity. The findings overall suggest a very consistent association between indicators of attachment and violent behavior. This association withstands a host of conservative control variables in multivariate models, including those for “child effects” and abuse. It is reported in both male and female samples and across cultures. The findings remain consistent in longitudinal analyses and in studies of attachment bonds to fathers. Nuances of the findings and suggestions for further research are presented as well as a summary of findings from studies of incarcerated samples.