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. 2022 Apr 22;10(1):104.
doi: 10.1186/s40359-022-00813-9.

Attachment styles and their association with aggression, hostility, and anger in Lebanese adolescents: a national study

Elise Maalouf  1 , Pascale Salameh  2   3   4   5 , Chadia Haddad  3   6 , Hala Sacre  3 , Souheil Hallit #  7   8   9 , Sahar Obeid #  10
Affiliations

Attachment styles and their association with aggression, hostility, and anger in Lebanese adolescents: a national study

Elise Maalouf et al. BMC Psychol. .

Abstract

Background: The idea that attachment styles can affect the level of anger in an individual educes a reason why people develop anger issues and behavioral problems in adolescence that escalate into adulthood. Lebanon suffers from a shortage of data pertaining to insecure attachment styles and the affective and cognitive aspects of anger and behavioral anger expression among the Lebanese youth population. This study aimed to investigate the association between attachment dimensions and anger expression (trait anger, hostility, physical aggression, and verbal aggression) among a sample of Lebanese adolescent participants.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed between January and May 2019 among 1810 Lebanese high-school students aged 12-18 and used two validated measures, the Adolescent-Relationship Questionnaire (A-RQ) and The Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ). The A-RQ assessed attachment behaviors, while the BPAQ evaluated aggression.

Results: Higher fearful and dismissing attachment styles, and higher physical activity index were significantly associated with higher physical and verbal aggression. A higher fearful attachment style was significantly associated with more anger. A higher secure attachment style was significantly associated with less anger. Higher preoccupied and dismissing attachment styles were significantly associated with higher hostility.

Conclusion: Our findings revealed a significant relationship between both insecure attachment dimensions and the tripartite model of anger expression. This study adds to the anger literature by providing a more informed understanding of how variations in anger expression are linked to the processing of interpersonal interactions, which are the hidden facets of attachment systems.

Keywords: Anger; Attachment styles; Hostility; Physical aggression; Verbal aggression.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Conceptual framework of attachment theory and its connection with anger/aggression
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Mean values of the aggression scores according to the secure attachment adjusted for age, gender, house-crowding index, number of siblings, smoking status, physical activity score
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Mean values of the verbal aggression scores according to the fearful attachment adjusted for age, gender, house-crowding index, number of siblings, smoking status, physical activity score
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Mean values of the aggression scores according to the preoccupied attachment adjusted for age, gender, house-crowding index, number of siblings, smoking status, physical activity score
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Mean values of the aggression scores according to the dismissing attachment adjusted for age, gender, house-crowding index, number of siblings, smoking status, physical activity score
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