NCJ Number
223748
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 23 Issue: 6 Dated: August 2008 Pages: 395-402
Date Published
August 2008
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study compared cognitive correlates of anger arousal among intimate partner abusers (IPA; n=130), distressed/nonviolent men (DNV; n=27); and satisfied/nonviolent men (SNV; n=21).
Abstract
The study found that the IPA men did not show any pattern more often than either the DNV or SNV men. This suggests that personality-disorder characteristics, rather than intimate partner violence and relationship dissatisfaction account for differences in intimate partner abusers' cognitive distortions when angered. Intimate partner violence was unrelated to the degree to which men expressed anger verbally, anxiety/distress, sexist beliefs, power and control, abandonment fears, or jealousy. As expected, intimate partner abusers had the most personality-disorder features. They were the most likely to exhibit borderline features, antisocial characteristics, psychopathic conduct, and engage in violence both in and outside of the relationship. Anger management, especially for violent individuals with antisocial or psychopathic features, may be useful adjuncts to battering intervention programs. Study participants consisted of 184 couples from Houston, TX, recruited to participate in 2 larger studies. Men were classified as intimate- partner abusive if either partner reported male-to-female abuse in the past year on the Conflict Tactics Scale-2. A self-report instrument measured antisocial behavior, including criminal activity. The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III assessed psychopathology. The Self-Report of Psychopathy captured both the interpersonal and antisocial features of psychopathy. Other instruments measured the intensity of currently experienced angry feelings, the degree to which participants could imagine themselves in scenarios, and levels of anger experienced from the scenarios. 3 tables, 1 figure, and 32 references