Harmful social connection: Partner maltreatment & health

Enhancing social connection is a public health priority, but not all relationships are good for health. Partner maltreatment is associated with poorer mental health, risky health behavior, biological risk factors, and poorer physical health. Key underlying mechanisms may include threat hyperattunement and attentional biases, emotion (dys)regulation, self-esteem, and social positivity. Future research is encouraged to address methodological limitations by using research designs and analytical methods that strengthen causal inferences, alongside comprehensive and consistent measures of partner maltreatment that are distinct to traditional conceptualizations of low-relationship quality. An integrated relational, socio-cultural, and developmental framework would assist researchers in (a) identifying critical risk factors and (b) determining how partner maltreatment and the links with health unfold across the lifespan.