Editing Attachment theory (section)

=== Types of offences ===
Disrupted attachment patterns from childhood have been identified as a risk factor for domestic violence.<ref name=":6">{{cite web | vauthors = Gilchrist E, Johnson R, Takriti R, Weston S, Anthony Beech A, Kebbell M | url = http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/r217.pdf | archive-url = http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218141158/http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/r217.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2011-02-18 | title = Domestic Violence offenders: characteristics and offending related needs | date = 2003 | work = Research, Development and Statistics Directorate | publisher = United Kingdom Home Office | access-date = 2019-03-29 }}</ref> These disruptions in childhood can prevent the formation of a secure attachment relationship, and in turn adversely affecting a healthy way to deal with stress.<ref name=":7">{{cite journal |last1=Kesner |first1=John E. |last2=Julian |first2=Teresa |last3=McKenry |first3=Patrick C. |date=1997-06-01 |title=Application of Attachment Theory to Male Violence Toward Female Intimates |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-family-violence_1997-06_12_2/page/211 |journal=Journal of Family Violence |language=en |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=211–228 |doi=10.1023/A:1022840812546 |s2cid=26203922 |issn=1573-2851}}</ref> In adulthood, lack of coping mechanisms can result in violent behaviour.<ref>{{cite book |title=Frustration and aggression |url=https://archive.org/details/frustrationaggre00doll |last1=Dollard |first1=John |last2=Miller |first2=Neal E. |last3=Doob |first3=Leonard W. |last4=Mowrer |first4=O. H. |last5=Sears |first5=Robert R. |date=1939 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |doi=10.1037/10022-000}}</ref> Bowlby's theory of functional anger states that children signal to their caregiver that their attachment needs are not being met by use of angry behaviour. This perception of low support from partner has been identified as a strong predictor of male violence. Other predictors have been named as perceived deficiency in maternal love in childhood, low self-esteem.<ref name=":7" /> It has also been found that individuals with a dismissive attachment style, often seen in an antisocial/narcissistic-narcissistic subtype of offender, tend to be emotionally abusive as well as violent. Individuals in the borderline/emotionally dependent subtype have traits which originate from insecure attachment in childhood, and tend to have high levels of anger.<ref name=":6" />

It has been found that sexual offenders have significantly less secure maternal and paternal attachments compared with non-offenders which suggests that insecure attachments in infancy persist into adulthood.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Smallbone S, Dadds M  |date=October 1998 |title=Childhood Attachment and Adult Attachment in Incarcerated Adult Male Sex Offenders |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |volume=13 5}}</ref> In a recent study, 57% of sexual offenders were found to be of a preoccupied attachment style.<ref>{{cite book |title=What Works in Therapeutic Prisons | vauthors = Brown J, Miller S, Northey S, O'Neill D |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-137-30620-3 |location=London |chapter=Attachments: The Multiple Sorting Task Procedure |doi=10.1057/9781137306210}}</ref> There is also evidence that suggests subtypes of sexual crime can have different attachment styles. Dismissive individuals tend to be hostile towards others, and are more likely to offend violently against adult women. By contrast, child abusers are more likely to have preoccupied attachment styles as the tendency to seek approval from others becomes distorted and attachment relationships become sexualized.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ward T, Beech A |date=2006 |title=An integrated theory of sexual offending |journal=Aggression and Violent Behavior |volume=11 |pages=44–63 |doi=10.1016/j.avb.2005.05.002}}</ref>