NCJ Number
197410
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 17 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2002 Pages: 403-428
Date Published
August 2002
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This study tested the validity of an integrated sexual and nonsexual violence-perpetrator typology outlined by Monson and Langhinrichsen-Rohling (1998) in a sample of 670 dating individuals.
Abstract
Measures of the characteristics of aggression focused on the frequency and severity of a variety of functional, psychologically aggressive, physically abusive, and sexually coercive behaviors; nine sexual behaviors that individuals might have performed or had performed on them without consent by a variety of individuals; and arrests for a variety of criminal acts. Measures of intrapersonal characteristics addressed depressive symptomatology; several dimensions of anger; emotional and behavioral aspects of jealousy; degree of adherence to traditional gender roles; the degree to which individuals condoned the use of force and coercion to gain compliance; and alcohol abuse problems. Measures of interpersonal characteristics focused on attachment patterns; and the manipulation of another's thoughts, feelings, or actions. Personality style/pathology was also measured. A total of 265 of the participants (87 men and 178 women) reported perpetrating some act of sexual and/or physical dating violence in their lifetime. The data supported at least three perpetrator types: the "relationship-only" perpetrator type, who perpetrated relatively more mild forms of psychological and physical aggression within a dating relationship and minimal rates of sexual and physical violence outside of the dating relationship; the "Generally Violent/Antisocial" perpetrator type, who evidenced more pronounced antisocial and schizoid personality characteristics and who perpetrated more mild and severe types of physical violence outside of a dating relationship and was more likely to have an arrest record; and the "Histrionic/Preoccupied" perpetrator type, who had greater histrionic and dependent personality characteristics, but did not differ in the endorsement of antisocial characteristics when compared to nonperpetrators and Relationship-only perpetrators. The latter type was also found to have experienced more family-of-origin sexual aggression and to have perpetrated more exclusively sexually violent behavior. There were significant gender differences in perpetrator types, highlighting the differences in men's and women's use of violence. The implications of these findings are discussed regarding the development of typologies, their application to men and women perpetrators, and their utility for the assessment and treatment of perpetrators. 6 tables, 1 figure, and 80 references