Preoccupied and Fearful-Avoidant Attachment Styles May Mediate the Relationship Between Poor Parental Relationship Quality and Sexual Interests in Violence

Abstract

Research suggests that adverse rearing conditions such as poor-quality relations with one's parents are associated with a range of potentially problematic sexual behaviors and interests. Less is known, however, about the mechanisms linking adverse rearing conditions and paraphilic interest, especially in non-incarcerated individuals. In a representative sample of 1600 Czech adults that oversampled people with paraphilic interests, the current study examined the association between lower quality parental relations and violent paraphilic interest (sexual interest in immobilization, biastophilia, and sadomasochism), and whether this association was mediated by attachment insecurity. Participants completed an online survey with questions assessing violent paraphilic interest, attachment style, and quality of relations with their parents up until age 12. A series of models were fitted to hypotheses based on structural equation modeling. The model estimating a mediation effect of relationship quality with parents on paraphilic interests via attachment insecurity showed an adequate fit to the data (RMSEA = .039, SRMR = .027, CFI = .977, TLI = .953). Controlling for age and gender, lower parental relationship quality was associated with higher levels of violent paraphilic interest and this effect was mediated by insecure attachment, specifically preoccupied and fearful-avoidant attachment styles. Our findings indicate that insecure attachment styles, particularly those that involve anxiety of rejection, may be part of the mechanism linking poor parental bonds and violent paraphilic interest, but the causal nature of these effects cannot be confirmed based on cross-sectional observational data. We discuss study limitations and new research directions in the discussion section.