The roots of intimate partner violence

Social ecological predictors and correlates of Latinos' IPV behaviors: A systematic review and critique of the research literature

The current paper utilizes an ecological level of analysis framework to review and critique the literature surrounding predictors, correlates, and antecedents of Latinos' intimate partner violence (IPV) behaviors. More specifically, the ecological levels of analysis framework was employed to demonstrate how Latino males' IPV perpetration is being understood and studied. A total of n = 34 peer-reviewed articles were reviewed and critiqued. Findings indicated that most IPV research is being conducted at and comprehended from the individual (n = 33; 97%) and microsystem/small group (n = 24; 71%) levels of analysis, while linkages to organizational, locality, and institutional levels of analysis are largely neglected. Researchers and interventionists appear to view Latinos' IPV behaviors through deficit models, employ decontextualized and homogenized representations of the population, and neglect higher ecological levels of analysis. These three shortcomings in IPV research as it pertains to Latino populations must be addressed in future research studies if investigators desire to end the stigmatization and demonization of Latinos as a cultural and people group, and to maximize battering intervention effectiveness and efficiency for men of Latino origin.

Do relationship education programs reduce relationship aggression? A meta-analytic study

There is an increasing focus on evaluating the effectiveness of Relationship Education (RE) programs on reducing relationship aggression. Nevertheless, there has been little by way of a systematic quantitative synthesis of research to date. The primary aim of this research was to conduct a meta-analysis into the effects of RE programs on relationship aggression and provide a comprehensive assessment as to the moderating effects of various methodological characteristics of studies. A secondary aim was to determine whether RE programs reduce negative aspects of relationship functioning that are known to exacerbate relationship aggression. Thirty-one studies (n = 25,527) were included comprising of pre-post comparison studies and control trials. Overall, RE programs were significantly associated with reductions in relationship aggression (d = 0.11, p = .001). Pre-post studies yielded a significantly larger effect size (d = 0.28, p < .001) than RCT studies (d = 0.05, p = .10). Subgroup analysis revealed that participants who reported moderate to severe relationship aggression upon RE program entry demonstrated large reductions in physical (d = 0.66, p = .01) and psychological (d = 0.85, p < .001) aggression compared to those who reported minimal to low relationship aggression on entry (physical aggression d = 0.07, p = .009; psychological aggression d = -0.04; p = .17). Amongst participants who reported moderate to severe relationship aggression, RE programs were also found to reduce controlling behavior (d = 0.20, p < .01) and conflict behavior (d = 0.40, p < .001). Findings demonstrate the emerging efficacy of RE programs for reducing relationship aggression and conflict behavior, particularly in those with a history of moderate to severe levels of relationship aggression.

More GP Consultations by Violence Victims: Results from the Representative German DEGS1 Study

Violence is a growing public health problem influencing physical and mental health. Victims tend to contact medical care in the first place, yet a discrepancy between patients' violence experiences (VE) and general practitioners' (GP) awareness is reported. The number of GP visits by victims is of interest. Using data of the nationally representative German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Adults (DEGS1), associations between the prevalence of ≥1 recent VE (last 12 months) and the number of GP contacts were analyzed with respect to age, gender, socio-economic status, and health conditions. The DEGS1 dataset comprised persons aged 18 to 64 years (n = 5938). The prevalence of a recent VE was 20.7%. Compared to non-victims, VE victims visited their GP significantly more often in the preceding 12 months (3.47 vs. 2.87, p < 0.001), which increased markedly in those who were strongly impaired by a recent physical VE (3.55 GP visits) or psychological VE (4.24). The high frequency of GP contacts in VE victims constitutes opportunities to professionally support this vulnerable patient group and underlines the necessity for GPs to integrate VE as a bio-psycho-social problem in a holistic treatment approach.

Older adult abuse in a service for sexual and domestic violence: Medico-legal implications from the experience of an Italian center

Older adults are subject to vulnerability and abusive behaviors have serious negative health consequences. Since the phenomenon is underestimated, several challenges are faced to prevent, diagnose, and treat abuses on older adults. In this context, clinical forensic medicine practitioners can play a pivotal role. A retrospective monocentric analysis of all the files concerning victims of violence observed in the SVSeD Center in Milan over the age of 65 for a five-year period was performed. For each medical report, data regarding the variables of the victims, the type of violence, and the variables of the perpetrators were analysed. Older adult victims of abuses were 166. Abuses against women were more frequent than against men (less than 6 % of consultations). In one third of cases, subjects also suffered from disabling diseases and reported signs of physical violence. Perpetrators were male known individuals in almost 90 % of cases. Violence was perpetrated by a partner or a family member. The present study may help in identifying risk factors for domestic violence against older adults. Consequently, preventive policies should be designed to interrupt the vicious circle of violence. Older adult abuse deserves additional focus and better education for healthcare professionals and further research should be carried out to better understand the actual epidemiology of the phenomenon and to develop therapeutical and caring strategies.

Mechanisms Linking Masculine Discrepancy Stress and the Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence Among Men in the United States

Although studies show that masculine discrepancy stress (i.e., the intrapsychic strain associated with failing to meet internalized masculine ideals) is associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, little is known about the processes underlying this association. There may be other social psychological constructs at play that explain this relationship further. The present study uses recently collected data from a national survey of men living in the United States (n = 711) to formally test whether the effects of discrepancy stress on three different forms of IPV perpetration are mediated by anger, self-esteem, and perceived powerlessness. We find that discrepancy stress is directly associated with higher levels of anger, lower levels self-esteem, a sense of powerlessness, and a greater odds of perpetrating any physical IPV and severe physical IPV resulting in injuries, but not sexual IPV perpetration in our sample of men. Our mediation analyses confirms that masculine discrepancy stress is indirectly associated with perpetrating all three forms of IPV through the mechanism of anger. Self-esteem and perceived powerlessness are not supported as mediators. These findings add to our understanding of the link between masculinity and violence perpetration and can inform IPV reduction interventions. Gender transformative interventions that reduce discrepancy stress among men by shifting men’s adherence to traditional masculine norms, and that integrate anger management strategies, should be explored in future research.

Why Does He Do It? What Explanations Resonate During Counseling for Women in Understanding Their Partner's Abuse?

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a complex and multifaceted problem gaining increasing attention within mental health research and practice. IPV explanations focus on both individual and systemic levels; however, it is increasingly acknowledged that a single level explanation may not be sufficient. The practices of clinical disciplines may, however, still privilege an explanation at one level over another, which will influence how they work with clients. It is likely that one such clinical group, psychologists, may play a critical role in helping victim-survivors to understand and explain their experiences of IPV. However, we were unable to find any studies focusing on women's perceptions of psychologists' role in this. Additionally, we know little about women victim-survivors' perceptions of why their partners use IPV. To address these gaps, the research question for this study was: What explanations resonate during counseling for women in understanding their partner's abuse? To explore this question, 20 women who had seen psychologists after experiencing IPV participated in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and three themes constructed from the data. The first two themes, narcissist description was helpful and not all bad all the time, showed that the women found it powerful in their healing processes when psychologists offered the opportunity to discuss their partners individual characteristics as explanations for their use of IPV. The third theme, structural explanations, showed that some of the women also reflected on wider structural contexts. Implications for clinical practice include the potential healing effect when practitioners can move along a continuum of explanation levels, covering both the inner and outer worlds. Implications for research into IPV perpetration are that women hold expertise and insight into individual perpetrators and could make valuable contributions to this field.

Determinants of Gender-Based Violence and Its Physiological Effects Among Women in 12 African Countries

Goals 3 and 5 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are to promote good health and well-being and to achieve gender equality, respectively. To successfully move toward these goals in the area of gender equality, there is the need to understand the underlying legislative or laws that protect women and girls from all forms of domestic violence (DV), including gender-based violence (GBV). The cardinal objective of this study, therefore, was to examine the risk factors of GBV and the physiological effects of GBV. To date, few studies have quantified the relationship between laws on DV and the incidence of DV/GBV. This article fills that gap by using Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data of 12 African countries. We applied multivariate logistic regression to estimate the association of the absence of laws on DV, men dominant power, history of violence, alcohol consumption, women's attitude toward men's violence perpetration, and decision-making power with the scores of GBV and physiological effects of GBV. Group Kruskal-Wallis Rank test was used to determine the variation of the two outcomes among the 12 countries. Results show significant disparities in the score of GBV, H test ₍₁₁₎ = 168,217, p < .001, and score of physiological effects, H test ₍₁₁₎ = 122,127, p < .001, among the 12 countries. Specifically, Ghana, Namibia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Togo reported the highest physiological effect of GBV. Presence of DV laws, male dominance, alcohol consumption, history of abuse, and women empowerment predict GBV and the physiological effect of GBV. Thus, building strong legal frameworks against all forms of DV and empowering women may reduce the incidence of GBV and physiological effects of GBV for all African women.

Suspension of Criminal Proceedings for Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: Impact on Re-Entries

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of the most prevalent crimes in our society, but the legal mechanisms to oppose it are recent. The Portuguese Provisional Suspension of Criminal Proceedings (PSCP) as a criminal justice system (CJS) response proposes an integrated consensual solution with the involved parties, to reduce offenders' recidivism. This article analyses the effect of PSCP on re-entries into the CJS. We examined 1,662 IPV police reports, exploring cases that underwent PSCP and re-entries of the same offender in the CJS. Results show that PSCP is applied in 17% of the cases. From all analyzed determinants, with a possible relation to the PSCP implementation, it was found that social violence and the age of both victims and defendants emerge as significantly associated with the request or acceptance of this legal mechanism. No variables tested moderated the relationship between PSCP and re-entry over 96months following the first police report. The article also examined variables that might moderate the decision to request this legal mechanism among victims and defendants.

Neural mechanisms of intimate partner aggression

People sometimes hurt those they profess to love; yet our understanding of intimate partner aggression (IPA) and its causes remains incomplete. We examined brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in an ethnically and racially diverse sample of 50 female-male, monogamous romantic couples as they completed an aggression task against their intimate partner, a close friend, and a different-sex stranger. Laboratory and real-world IPA were uniquely associated with altered activity within and connectivity between cortical midline structures that subserve social cognition and the computation of value. Men's IPA most corresponded to lower posterior cingulate reactivity during provocation and women's IPA most corresponded to lower ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity during IPA itself. Actor-partner independence modeling suggested women's IPA may correspond to their male partner's neural reactivity to provocation. Broadly, these findings highlight the importance of self-regulatory functions of the medial cortex and away from effortful inhibition subserved by dorsolateral cortices.

The Role of Individual Differences in Cyber Dating Abuse Perpetration

There is a growing research interest in cyber dating abuse (CDA). CDA includes abusive online behavior toward a current or former intimate partner, such as aggression, control, harassment, and humiliation. Despite the potential overlap and reciprocal relationship of CDA and intimate partner violence, there remains considerable paucity in research exploring predictors of this abusive online behavior. In the current study, we adopt the General Aggression Model framework and explore the role of gender, hegemonic masculinity, vulnerable narcissism, and sexual aggression myths to predict perpetration of CDA. Participants (N = 415, 51 percent women; Mage = 32.68 years) were recruited via social media advertisements and completed an anonymous, confidential online questionnaire. The questionnaire comprised the Conformity to Masculine Roles Norms Inventory, the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale, the Acceptance of Modern Myths About Sexual Aggression Scale, and a modified Cyber Aggression in Relationships Scale. A hierarchical regression analysis indicated that hegemonic masculinity, vulnerable narcissism, and sexual aggression myths were all significant positive predictors of perpetrating CDA. As gender was a significant predictor until the inclusion of these variables, a multiple mediation analysis was performed, indicating that both hegemonic masculinity and sexual aggression myths fully mediated the relationship between gender and perpetrating CDA. These results add to the growing body of research exploring how CDA emerges as a behavior and highlight possible implications for management and intervention.

Male victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence: A steadily increasing phenomenon

Violence perpetrated on male victims is a phenomenon that is currently underestimated by both national and international scientific communities, since males are historically (and stereotypically) considered the perpetrators rather than the victims of violence. As a consequence, the available literature lacks data which would allow a better understanding of this issue and its presenting features. We undertook a retrospective analysis of 231 medical files of male victims of violence over a five-year-period (2014-2018) at the Soccorso Violenza Sessuale e Domestica Centre in Milan, Italy. The sample included 112 victims of sexual violence and 119 victims of domestic violence, most of whom were younger than 18 years of age. The main aim of this study was to describe the presentations of male victims of violence in order to understand the phenomenon better, increase awareness of the issue and enable improved health-care management. The need to pay more attention to this vulnerable part of the population is mandatory in health-care services, and it includes: the provision of management guidelines, training to attending physicians and a supportive service to male survivors. Understanding which risk factors are related to male abuse can help with the development of programmes that identify, prevent and minimise violence - this being especially useful for primary-care clinicians. This is the first Italian study to deal with domestic and sexual violence involving male victims.

Predicting Engagement in Electronic Surveillance in Romantic Relationships

The Internet is a common medium through which people engage in interpersonal electronic surveillance (IES) of one another. We know little empirically about what predicts IES in romantic relationships. The present study expands on factors identified in previous studies (including demographic characteristics, relational characteristics, and other psychosocial variables) to predict surveillance in romantic relationships. Internet users in established romantic relationships (n = 259) completed inventories on the frequency of surveillance behavior, relationship variables, demographic variables, and Internet usage variables. Hierarchical regression was applied to understand relationships between these behaviors and surveillance. The regression supported that relationship variables and Internet use variables significantly predicted IES in romantic relationships. These findings further our understanding of the Internet to surveil partners.

A Critical Analysis of Intimate Partner Sexual Violence in Iran

According to global data, intimate partner violence and its corresponding impact threaten the lives of almost 35% of women at some point in their life. The aim of this research was to explore the effects of intimate partner sexual violence on women's sense of self-efficacy when it comes to speaking out against violence and seeking help. In-depth interviews and a thematic analysis approach were employed to collect and analyze the data. The participants were 10 women with experiences of intimate partner sexual violence. They were selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Two main themes were drawn from the data, including Exposure and Empowerment. Exposure refers to the type of violence women have experienced and its physical and emotional effects; and Empowerment refers to factors women considered as giving them the courage to speak out against perpetrators, to seek help from others, or to refrain from doing either. It is concluded that Iranian women are not passive when exposed to intimate partner sexual violence, and social support, mainly from family and friends, was a pathway to feelings of empowerment; without this support, women's emotional health is put in jeopardy. Due to the importance of social networks in creating a sense of empowerment, it is recommended that professionals involved in cases of intimate partner sexual violence create an alliance with the women's families and friend and educate them on how to prevent violence or offer help before the violence takes its toll on woman's emotional and physical wellbeing.

Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Coercion: Measurement Invariance in a Population-Based Sample of Male and Female High School Students

PURPOSE

Though researchers have documented that adolescents are vulnerable to coercion focused on reproductive and sexual autonomy, measures to assess this type of coercion for both adolescent females and males have not been validated in a population-based sample.

METHOD

The present study used secondary data collected from high school students across Kentucky (n=16,137 from two independent samples in 2010 and 2014) to 1) determine if five items measuring adolescent reproductive and sexual coercion (ARSC) are appropriate for use among both females and males; and 2) estimate prevalence of identified ARSC factors by sex.

RESULTS

For both male and females, given measurement items, the results supported a two-factor model of ARSC comprised of 1) verbal relationship manipulation and 2) contraceptive interference. Measurement invariance by sex was also supported. Additional findings indicated the high prevalence of ARSC and its associated subscales. Approximately 4 in 10 females and 3 in 10 males reported experiencing ARSC in the previous year, with almost all of those reporting contraceptive interference also reporting verbal relationship manipulation.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest verbal relationship manipulation and contraceptive interference (together forming ARSC) may restrict the autonomous sexual and reproductive decision-making of both female and male adolescents.

Intimate Partner Violence and Child Custody Evaluation: A Model for Preliminary Clinical Intervention

Intimate partner violence is defined by the World Health Organization as “any behavior within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological, or sexual harm to those in the relationship” and it refers to a specific relationship dynamic. In recent decades, an increasing number of studies have focused on this phenomenon, considering its exponential growth over time. Many studies have focused on risk factors for violence within the couple relationship. This paper specifically analyses the association between violence and separation or divorce. Although many interventions have been developed over the years, the effectiveness of extant interventions on violent behaviors is not yet empirically supported. Since clinical experience allows to affirm that both partners can be involved in treatment for intimate partner violence especially during mandated proceedings, the present study focuses on domestic violence in separated couples involved in a child custody evaluation process. In this case, literature supports the need for individualized assessment in order to promote the best intervention according to the specific conditions of each partner, whether the battered one or the perpetrator. However, little research has been done on child custody evaluation in the presence of violent couples. The aim of the present study is to present a model of couple clinical intervention with a separated violent couple in the context of a child custody evaluation. This model can be defined as relational-intergenerational and its main aim is to understand the exchange between familial generations and to search for factors that safeguard and care for family relations. Furthermore, according also to the therapeutic assessment approach, there is an intrinsic connection between assessment and “family transformative potential.” This paper presents the specific working methodology underlying this model, through the description of a single clinical case. In particular, the proposed model provides a multi-dimensional assessment comprising three levels: individual, evaluating parents' history through representations, thoughts, and feelings; interpersonal, investigating the different relations; discussion and dialogue with the parental couple about findings.

Structural brain differences in emotional processing and regulation areas between male batterers and other criminals: A preliminary study

Poor emotion processing is thought to influence violent behaviors among male batterers in abusive relationships. Nevertheless, little is known about the neural mechanisms of emotion processing in this population. With the objective of better understanding brain structure and its relation to emotion processing in male batterers, the present study compares the cortical grey matter thickness of male batterers to that of other criminals in brain areas related to emotion. Differences among these brain areas were also compared to an emotional perception task. An MRI study and an emotional perception assessment was conducted with 21 male batterers and 20 men convicted of crimes other than Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Results demonstrated that batterers' had significantly thinner cortices in prefrontal (orbitofrontal), midline (anterior and posterior cingulate) and limbic (insula, parahipocampal) brain regions. The thickness of the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex in the batterer group correlated with scores on the emotional perception task. These findings shed light on a neuroscientific approach to analyzing violent behavior perpetrated by male batterers, leading to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in IPV.