Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Psychology (Ph.D.)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Tamara Del Vecchio

Abstract

Emotional flooding, or the experience of partner negative affect as intensely disorganizing and overwhelming, has recently emerged as an important variable in predicting maladaptive relationship behaviors, including intimate partner violence (IPV). However, not much is known about risk factors for flooding beyond qualities of the interpersonal interaction. While flooding depends on the experience of intense partner negative emotion, some individuals may vary regarding their propensities to feel flooded in a relatively stable way, and therefore may be more likely to engage in destructive relationship behaviors. Theory and research suggest that family violence negatively impacts emotional processing by increasing emotional arousal and heightening sensitivities to anger, impacts that would theoretically predict emotional flooding and can be explained by the construct of attentional bias (AB) to threat. Further, Gottman’s (1993) theory of flooding suggests that negative interpretation biases, which are thought to stem from AB to threat, may play an important role in maintaining tendencies toward flooding. Therefore, the current study examined the impact of family violence on propensities toward flooding in intimate relationships and the mediating role of AB to threat on this relation. It was hypothesized that family violence would be positively associated with emotional flooding and AB to threat would mediate this link. A sample of 71 undergraduate students (ages 18 to 22) currently in a romantic relationship completed a task measure of AB to threat followed by self-report questionnaires of family violence and emotional flooding. The hypotheses were partially supported; family violence was significantly positively associated with intimate partner flooding, but AB to threat did not mediate this link. Post hoc analyses included AB to neutral vs. happy faces as a measure of AB to threat based on previous research. Post hoc results revealed that aggression between parents was significantly associated with emotional flooding and AB to threat (neutral faces) approached significance as a moderator of the link between aggression between parents and feeling overwhelmed by partner negative affect. The implications of these results are discussed.

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