Dyadic empathy and romantic attachment: Explaining psychological and physical intimate partner violence in heterosexual couples

Empathy is a prominent component of social competence and is believed to foster effective communication, promote successful conflict management, and improve social relationships quality (Davis, 1994). The role of empathic responses in the romantic context, however, was overlooked in past literature, hence limiting our understanding of its contribution to global marital functioning. Dyadic empathy is the focus of this thesis and is examined through two articles. The first article is concerned with the measurement of dyadic empathy. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1980), a measure of general cognitive and emotional empathy, was adapted to assess empathy expressed toward the partner specifically and was validated in three independent samples of romantically involved individuals and couples. Confirmatory factor analyses yielded a two-factor structure (dyadic perspective taking and dyadic empathic concern), statistically invariant across gender and relationship type (heterosexual versus same-sex). Evidence of convergent, discriminant, concurrent, predictive, and incremental validity, as well as reliability and stability of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index for Couples is also provided. In sum, this measure appears valid for the assessment of cognitive and emotional dyadic empathy in diverse types of couples. The second article presents a theoretical model in which dyadic empathy mediates the relationship between romantic attachment and psychological and physical intimate violence. Attachment was assessed through self-report and behavioural observation in 193 couples recruited in the general community. Results from multilevel analyses generally support the theory. Attachment anxiety and avoidance negatively predicted dyadic empathy and positively predicted intimate partner violence in both men and women. Dyadic empathy in partners also predicted psychological and physical partner violence. Dyadic empathy mediated the relationship between avoidance and the use of psychological violence in women. Contrary to predictions, however, behaviourally observed attachment was unrelated to dyadic empathy or partner violence. This study has clinical implications and suggests that both romantic attachment and empathy expressed toward the partner may be valuable points of intervention for understanding and preventing the occurrence of violence within intimate relationships