Attachment Styles as Correlates of Domestic Abuse among Married Women in Rivers State: Implications for Counselling

The study investigated attachment styles as correlates of domestic abuse among married women in Rivers State. Three objectives of the study, research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a correlational research design. The population of the study comprised the entire 645,641 married women in Rivers State. A sample size of 430 married women was drawn from the population using the stratified random sampling technique. The researcher developed two research instrument titled: “Attachment Styles Scale" (ASS) and "Domestic Abuse Scale” (DAS). These instruments were used for data collection. The instruments were validated by three experts in Educational Psychology, Guidance and Counselling. The reliability coefficients of the instruments was determined through the test re-test method which yielded a reliability coefficient of r=0.81 for Personality Traits and Attachment Styles Scale and r=.83 for Domestic Abuse Scale. The research questions and hypotheses were answered and tested using Pearson's product moment correlation. The findings of the study revealed that secured, anxious and avoidant have significant relationship with domestic abuse among married women in Rivers State. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommends that: married women should strive to develop secured attachment with their partners through healthy communication, healthy autonomy, cohesion, collaboration and trust to mitigate domestic abuse among them and married women exhibiting symptoms of anxious attachment style should be reassured by counsellors and helped to resolve their deeply rooted fears to checkmate domestic abuse.