A study of men convicted of intimate partner violence against women found that men who reported experiencing physical or psychological abuse in childhood tended to exhibit greater physical aggression toward their partners. Impulsivity may mediate the association between childhood maltreatment experiences and adult intimate partner violence. The paper was published in. Psychiatric Research Journal.
Intimate partner violence is harmful or abusive behavior by a current or former romantic partner. It can occur in marriages, dating relationships, cohabiting partnerships, and ended relationships. Intimate partner violence takes many forms.
For example, physical violence includes acts such as hitting, pushing, kicking, choking, and using a weapon. Sexual violence includes forced or unwanted sexual activity or pressure to engage in sexual activity. Psychological abuse may include threats, intimidation, humiliation, insults, or deliberate efforts to frighten a partner.
Coercive controls include monitoring communications, restricting movement, isolating your partner from family and friends, or controlling day-to-day decisions. Financial abuse may include withholding money, preventing a partner from working, and creating financial dependence.
Intimate partner violence can affect people of all genders, ages, and social backgrounds, but some forms and outcomes are more common in certain groups. It can also affect children who witness it or live in threatening home environments. Key risk factors that increase the likelihood of engaging in this form of violence include emotional dysregulation, impaired executive functioning, substance use, childhood abuse, and lack of social support.
Study author Andrea Antonio Gheorghe and colleagues conducted a study aimed at identifying the self-regulatory mechanisms by which childhood abuse and perceived social support are associated with intimate partner violence against women. More specifically, we wished to investigate the possible mediating role of impulsivity and attentional functioning in the relationship between childhood maltreatment, social support, and intimate partner violence against women.
Study participants were 211 male perpetrators convicted of intimate partner violence against women. They were recruited from the CONTEXTO program, a community-based psychoeducational intervention designed for men who have been sentenced to up to two years in prison for the mentioned forms of violence, which are legally classified as gender-based violence under Spanish law. The average age of participants was 41 years. Of these, 24% were married and 74% were employed.
Study participants completed assessments of child abuse (Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale), perceived social support (Functional Social Support Questionnaire), conflict management and resolution strategies (Revised Conflict Tactics Scale), and risk of recidivism (i.e., partner aggression again using the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide). They also completed a series of self-regulation measures, including assessments of impulsivity (Plutchik Impulsivity Scale) and attention-related traits, namely inattention, impulsivity, sustained attention, and vigilance (using Conners Continuous Performance Test 3).
Results showed that participants who reported more severe childhood physical and psychological abuse were more likely to be physically aggressive toward their partners and had a higher risk of recidivism toward others. Low perceived social support also increases the risk of re-assaulting a partner.
The study authors tested a statistical model and proposed that impulsivity mediates the association between childhood maltreatment, on the one hand, and physical aggression and risk of recidivism in adulthood, on the other. The results showed that such a relationship is likely between the factors examined.
In fact, the researchers found that impulsivity completely mediated this relationship. Once the statistical model accounted for the perpetrator’s lack of impulse control, the direct relationship between childhood abuse and adult violence disappeared. This suggests that childhood trauma causes adult violence, particularly by impairing a person’s ability to control impulses.
The researchers also tested whether sustained attention served as a mediator between lack of social support and risk of recidivism. The data showed a weak link suggesting this pathway is possible, but did not survive rigorous statistical correction and requires further testing to confirm.
“Impulsivity represents an important cognitive control pathway linking childhood maltreatment and IPVAW-related (intimate partner violence against women)-related outcomes in convicted perpetrators, supporting intervention goals focused on self-regulatory control. Attention-related mechanisms may contribute to the association between social support and recidivism risk, but this pathway requires confirmatory replication,” the study authors concluded.
This study contributes to scientific understanding of the psychological underpinnings of intimate partner violence. However, we note that the cross-sectional design of this study does not allow definitive causal inferences to be drawn from the results. Additionally, the assessment of childhood maltreatment experiences used in this study was based on reported memories of such experiences, leaving room for recall bias to influence the results. Finally, all participants were already convicted criminals in Spain, so the results may not apply to non-convicted individuals or different cultural settings.
The paper, “From childhood abuse and lack of social support to intimate partner violence: the mediating role of impulsivity and attentional functioning,” was authored by Andrea Antonio Gheorghe, Javier Comes-Fayos, Marisol Lira, Ángel Romero-Martínez, and Luis Moya-Albiol.
