Childhood Sexual Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence in a Clinical Sample of Men: The Mediating Roles of Adult Attachment and Anger Management

This study examined the association between men’s experience of childhood sexual abuse and later perpetration of intimate partner violence, considering the roles of attachment insecurity and poor anger regulation. The sample was 302 Canadian men undergoing counseling for relationship difficulties or aggression. They completed questionnaires assessing childhood sexual abuse, the two dimensions of attachment insecurity (anxiety and avoidance), anger regulation processes, physical and psychological aggression, and social desirability bias. Path analyses showed that men who experienced childhood sexual abuse scored higher on attachment anxiety, which in turn was associated with aggressive behaviors directly and through four anger-related variables (trait anger, anger-in, anger-out, and low anger control). Attachment-related avoidance predicted psychological aggression, but not physical aggression, through men’s trait anger and anger-in.     

Predictors of aggression in Southeast Asian female prisoners

Although aggression is universal, few studies examine violence from an Asian perspective, and even fewer consider female offenders from Southeast Asia. The current study examined whether correlates of aggression in western male offenders are similarly effective for predicting aggression in female inmates (n = 114) from a local prison in Singapore. Aggression was measured using the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire (comprising dimensions of physical and verbal aggression, anger and hostility) which we sought to predict from measures of impulsivity, general personality traits (neuroticism, agreeableness), psychopathy, and empathy. Impulsivity and agreeableness were significant predictors of self-reported physical and verbal aggression and anger, whereas neuroticism contributed to anger. Neuroticism and psychopathy were significant predictors of hostility. Empathy did not significantly predict any of the four aggression dimensions. Personality, impulsivity and psychopathy appear fair predictors of aggression for female offenders from Southeast Asia, just as they are for the western male offenders.     

Women's aggression in heterosexual conflicts

Using a longitudinal design, prior experience with violence as a victim and opportunity to aggress were examined as predictors of college women's verbal and physical aggression toward romantic partners. Five additional categories of predictors identified in previous research (experienced and witnessed parental aggression during childhood, attitudes accepting of aggression, aggressive/impulsive personality attributes, psychopathology, and prior use of aggression) were also examined. Blockwise hierarchical regression analyses were performed to reveal the best predictors of verbal and physical aggression during the first year of college. Significant predictors of verbal aggression were prior use of verbal aggression in heterosexual conflicts during adolescence, witnessed parental aggression, level of adolescent sexual victimization, being a target of rational conflict strategies during adolescence, and use of physical aggression in romantic adolescent relationships, as well as self-reported verbal aggression as an index of personality, weak emotional ties, number of sexual partners, and approval of sexual intimacy in many types of relationships. Significant predictors of physical aggression were prior use of physical aggression during adolescence, witnessing and experiencing parental aggression, being a victim of physical aggression in adolescent romantic relationships, weak emotional ties, low levels of alcohol/drug use, and opportunity to aggress. A developmental model of aggression in which childhood experiences with family violence contribute to the likelihood of subsequent involvement in relationship violence seems appropriate. Past experience with aggression may be particularly important for women. Cultural expectations about women's roles do not provide the social support for female aggression that is provided for male aggression. Adolescent sexual victimizations and general involvement in conflictual relationships (as target and perpetrator) predicted subsequent verbal aggression, whereas experiencing family violence and sustaining physical aggression in romantic relationships predicted subsequent physical aggression. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Dating Violence Perpetration: The Predictive Roles of Maternally versus Paternally Perpetrated Childhood Abuse and Subsequent Dating Violence Attitudes and Behaviors

This study investigated both young men's and young women's perpetration of physical, sexual, and psychological forms of dating violence, examining predictors of violence including maternally or paternally perpetrated forms of various types of child maltreatment, as well as attitudes toward dating violence and dating violence victimization. Results of hierarchical linear regressions found that childhood experiences of maternal neglect predicted men's physical perpetration, and childhood sexual abuse predicted women's sexual perpetration and men's psychological perpetration. Further, positive attitudes toward dating violence predicted women's physical, psychological, and sexual perpetration, as well as men's sexual perpetration, and experiences of dating violence victimization were the strongest predictors of most forms of dating violence perpetration, particularly among women. Implications for future research and prevention initiatives are discussed.     

Empirically identifying factors related to violence risk in corrections.

The authors used structural modeling to predict institutional aggression among male mentally ill offenders using the predictors of anger, antisocial personality style, current violent offense, ethnicity, and impulsivity. Measures included the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, the Personality Assessment Inventory, age, ethnicity, current violent offense, victim injury from current offense, and institutional incidents of physical and verbal aggression. The model fit the data, and accounted for 94% and 87% of the variance of physical and verbal aggression, respectively. Results indicated anger, antisocial personality style, and impulsivity are stronger predictors of institutional aggression than are ethnicity and current violent offense; anger was the best predictor. Results suggest dynamic variables such as anger can be targeted for clinical intervention to reduce institutional violence.     

Effects of (un)employment on young couples’ health and life satisfaction

This study investigated effects of employed and unemployed job status on health outcomes with questionnaires in 50 young couples. Analysis of variance revealed higher pessimism, higher stress levels, and lower life satisfaction in couples in which one partner was unemployed. These couples also exhibited more health risk behaviours compared to couples in which both partners were working. The dyadic analysis of data, using an actor–partner interdependence model, demonstrated strong actor and partner effects for male partner's job status. Being unemployed was significantly associated not only with male partner's life satisfaction but also with the life satisfaction of his female partner. In addition, male partner's pessimism was identified as a significant variable which mediates between male partner's job status and female partner's life satisfaction. The study highlights the relevance of the accomplishment of tasks in the domains of work and partnership during young adulthood and it emphasises the gender specific importance.     

Sticks,Stones, or Words? Counting the Prevalence of Different Types of Intimate Partner Violence Reported by New Zealand Women

This study documents the lifetime and 12-month prevalence and overlap of psychological/emotional, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) reported by a representative sample of New Zealand women. Use of controlling behaviors by women's current or most recent intimate partner was also explored. The results indicated that 55% of ever-partnered women had experienced any IPV in their lifetime: 33% had experienced more than one type of IPV (usually psychological/emotional violence and physical and/or sexual violence), and 22% had experienced one type of IPV. Use of controlling behaviors by the woman's current or most recent partner was associated with partner's use of physical or sexual violence. Implications are discussed at the population level, for service providers, and for future studies.     

Dating Violence Victimization,Dispositional Aggression,and Nonsuicidal Self‐Injury among Psychiatrically Hospitalized Male and Female Adolescents

The objective of the current study was to characterize the association between dating violence victimization and dispositional aggression in predicting nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) among psychiatrically hospitalized male and female adolescents. One hundred fifty‐five adolescents (ages 13–17) and their parents completed the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School‐Age Children clinical interview to assess NSSI and child abuse; adolescents completed self‐report measures of aggression and dating violence victimization (verbal, physical, and sexual). Dating violence victimization and NSSI were found to be highly prevalent among both males and females in this psychiatric inpatient sample. Two moderational models were supported, wherein dating violence was associated with NSSI in the context of elevated trait anger in males and indirect aggression in females. Findings suggest that helping victims of dating violence acquire skills to address certain forms of dispositional aggression may attenuate NSSI.     

Female intimate partner violence perpetration: stability and predictors of mutual and nonmutual aggression across the first year of college

Cross-sectional and longitudinal predictors of mutual and nonmutual intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration were identified in a sample of female college freshmen (N = 499). Using female reports, couples were classified as to whether the relationship included no IPV, female-only IPV, or mutual IPV (male-only IPV was too rare to analyze). Mutual IPV was more common than asymmetrical IPV, and women in mutually violent relationships perpetrated more frequent acts of physical aggression than those in female-only violent relationships. In cross-sectional analyses of IPV in the first semester of college, only partner antisocial behavior and psychological aggression distinguished female-only IPV from no IPV; witnessing mother-to-father aggression, higher psychological aggression, more frequent partner marijuana use, partner antisocial behavior, and, surprisingly, higher relationship satisfaction, discriminated mutual IPV from no IPV. Contrary to hypothesis, first semester (T1) IPV did not predict having a new partner in the second semester (T2); however, women who reported more frequent heavy episodic drinking and lower relationship satisfaction at T1 were more likely to be in a different relationship at T2. Prospective prediction of T2 IPV category failed to support the hypothesis that female-only IPV would escalate to mutual IPV. The majority of couples with female-only IPV reported no IPV at T2. After accounting for T1 IPV, the only significant predictor of T2 IPV category was T1 psychological aggression, suggesting that this may be an appropriate target for IPV prevention efforts among college dating couples.     

Romantic partners and body image disturbance: Further evidence for the role of perceived—actual disparities

In this study, female and male college dyads (primarily Caucasian) involved in a “romantic relationship” used schematic figures to rate their conceptions of body size on a variety of rating protocols, including actual self, ideal self, ideal opposite gender, perceived partner's ideal opposite gender, perceived partner's rating of self, and rating of partner's body size. Based on the reflected-appraisal literature and previous body image research on perceived—actual disparities in body size ratings, five discrepancy indices were created and related to dispositional levels of body image disturbance, eating dysfunction, and general psychological function (self-esteem, depression). The results clearly indicated gender differences in the particular predictor associated with all measures of disturbance. For females, the discrepancy between the Self rating and the Perceived Partner's Ideal Other Gender rating accounted for almost all of the variance associated with clinical indices of disturbance. For males, the discrepancy between the Self rating and the Actual Partner's Ideal Other Gender rating was the only important predictor to emerge in regression analyses. The findings are interpreted in light of recent research on actual/perceived differences in body size ratings.     

Factors in childhood that predict later criminal behavior

A follow-up study was conducted on the aggressive and delinquent behavior of an original sample of 220 pupils of two age groups. The subjects were 7 and 9 years old in 1978 when they were interviewed for the first time. The present paper focuses on predictors of the subjects' aggressive and criminal behavior in adolescence and in young adulthood. Four different groups of variables were chosen as possible predictive factors: 1) parental aggression, punitivity, and attitudes of rejection toward the child, 2) previous acts of aggression by the subjects, 3) the viewing of violence on television during childhood, and 4) aggressive, indifferent, and delinquent behavior in adolescence. Physical aggression in adolescence and the number of arrests and traffic violations in young adulthood were used as dependent variables. The analyses established that for the male subjects, the best predictor of physical aggression in adolescence was previous aggression, whereas for the female subjects the best predictor of physical aggression in adolescence was previous viewing of violence on television. The number of arrests in young adulthood was best predicted for the male subjects on the basis of previous aggression and viewing of violence on television. The best predictors of the number of arrests in young adulthood for the female subjects were, apart from previous aggression and viewing of violence on television, also aggressive and delinquent behavior in adolescence as well as parental aggression, punitivity, and attitudes of rejection. The results emphasize the importance of the atmosphere of socialization in childhood and previous aggressive behavior as significant predictors of physical aggression in adolescence and criminal behavior in young adulthood. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Gender Differences in the Association of Intimate Partner Violence and Relationship Values among College Students

Although research has indicated that cognitions and situational factors play a role in relationship satisfaction and aggression, few studies have investigated the association between intimate partner violence (IPV) and relationship values. We addressed this gap by measuring college students’ perpetration of and victimization by four types of IPV; namely, physical violence, sexual violence, threats, and psychological aggression over the past year. One-way ANOVAs and multiple regression analyses were used to measure the association between IPV and the endorsement of relationship values. The results suggest that past IPV perpetration and victimization correlated with the current endorsement of relationship values for males more than females. In general, male perpetrators rated relationship values such as security, investment, others’ approval, and daily conflict as less important than non-perpetrators. Although male victimization explained significant variance in security, investment, and others’ approval, the results were somewhat mixed as to whether victimization related to higher or lower ratings of relationship values, with the majority of the results suggesting an inverse correlation between relationship value endorsement and IPV experience. Future research can investigate mediating factors in the relationship between IPV and relationship value endorsement, as well as look at how IPV and relationship values influence decisions concerning relationship maintenance.     

Psychological distress with relationship satisfaction is moderated by anticipatory relational savoring among non-deployed military partners

This study recruited participants whose partners were deployed for active-duty military service to examine whether anticipatory relational savoring moderated the association of psychological distress with relationship satisfaction. Two weeks prior to their partner's deployment (T1), participants (N = 73) completed a self-report measure of relationship satisfaction. Then, 2 weeks into their partner's deployment (T2), participants completed self-report measures of stress, loneliness, and depression (combined into a composite index of psychological distress), and relationship satisfaction. Participants also completed a stream-of-consciousness task at T2 in which they imagined and discussed their partner's return from deployment. We coded the stream-of-consciousness task for anticipatory relational savoring regarding their upcoming reunion with their deployed partner. We found that anticipatory relational savoring moderated the association of psychological distress with during-deployment relationship satisfaction after adjusting for demographics, interpersonal variables, and deployment-specific variables; the association did not hold after adjusting for pre-deployment relationship satisfaction, and thus was robust when considering the distress-satisfaction association during the deployment but was not when considering changes in relationship satisfaction from pre- to during-deployment. We discuss the potential importance of anticipatory relational savoring for this unique population.     

Low intimacy as a mediator between depression and clinic couple relationship satisfaction

This study examined low intimacy as a mediator between partners' depression symptoms and low relationship satisfaction in a sample of 82 heterosexual couples who sought therapy at an outpatient clinic. Both the amount of intimate behavior that partners enact and the level of pleasure they experience from each other's intimate acts were assessed. Using an actor–partner interdependence model approach, path model analysis simultaneously included both partners' scores on measures of depression, intimate behavior, pleasure from partner's intimate behavior, and relationship satisfaction. Overall, female depression symptoms had a greater impact than male depression symptoms on the couple relationship. Male depression had little effect on intimacy, whereas the female partner's depression affected her pleasure from the male's intimate behavior and both partners' enactment of intimate behavior. The results indicate the importance of examining reciprocal influences between partners' functioning to understand and treat intimacy problems.     

How provoking! what makes men and women angry?

This study looked at differences in anger-provoking behaviors and in verbal insults as a function of the gender of the aggressor and the target of the provocation. Responses of 416 college students revealed that males were more likely to consider a female exhibiting physical aggression or a male hurting another person as anger-provoking, whereas females were more likely to mention condescending or insensitive behaviors from either sex, verbal aggression from a female, and physical aggression from a male. Physical aggression and hurting another provoked more anger when they came from a male, whereas dishonesty from a female evoked more anger. Females also felt that insensitive and condescending behaviors were worse when they came from a male. Most of the verbal insults were sexual in nature, with few sex of subject differences. However, it was considered worse for women to be called promiscuous; for men to be called sexually inadequate, worthless, or cowardly; for women to call men an obscene name; and for people to be called homosexual by a same sex speaker. These results are consistent both with previous research and with traditional gender role beliefs suggesting that women are more upset by condescending behaviors and that women's promiscuity, as well as men's aggression toward women, hurting another, sexual inadequacy, and cowardice, are viewed particularly negatively. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

The Relationship Between Aggression and Employment Integrity

The relationship between aggression and employment integrity was investigated, in order to assess the construct validity of a employment screening device. Participants (155 male, 151 female) completed an employment screening test and two aggression scales. For both men and women, general aggression negatively correlated with employment integrity. A negative relationship was also found between employment integrity and physical aggression, anger, and verbal aggression. No significant relationship was found between hostility and employment integrity.     

Correlates of intimate partner psychological aggression perpetration in a clinical sample of alcoholic men

This study longitudinally examined correlates of intimate partner psychological aggression in a sample of 178 men seeking treatment for alcoholism and their partners, building on a previous investigation examining correlates of intimate partner physical aggression (Taft et al., 2010). The men were largely Caucasian; average age was 41.0 years. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires that assessed distal and proximal predictors of psychological aggression perpetration. Distal factors, assessed at baseline, included initial alcohol problem severity, beliefs about alcohol, and antisocial personality characteristics. Proximal factors, assessed at baseline and at follow-ups 6 and 12 months later, included alcohol and drug use, relationship adjustment, and anger. Psychological aggression was assessed at all three time points. Findings showed that both groups of variables were associated with psychological aggression perpetration. Beliefs that drinking causes relationship problems and variables related to alcohol consumption exhibited the strongest associations with psychological aggression. The findings are consistent with theoretical models that emphasize both distal and proximal effects of drinking on intimate partner aggression. Implications for clinical interventions and directions for future research are discussed.     

Personality correlates of revenge‐seeking: Multidimensional links to physical aggression,impulsivity, and aggressive pleasure

People differ in how much they seek retribution for interpersonal insults, slights, rejections, and other antagonistic actions. Identifying individuals who are most prone towards such revenge‐seeking is a theoretically‐informative and potentially violence‐reducing endeavor. However, we have yet to understand the extent to which revenge‐seeking individuals exhibit specific features of aggressiveness, impulsivity, and what motivates their hunt for retribution. Toward this end, we conducted three studies (total N = 673), in which revenge‐seeking was measured alongside these other constructs. Analyses repeatedly demonstrated that revenge‐seeking was associated with greater physical (but not verbal) aggressiveness, anger, and hostility. Revenge‐seeking's link to physical aggression was partially accounted for by impulses toward enjoying aggression and the tendency to use aggression to improve mood. Dominance analyses revealed that sadism explained the most variance in revenge‐seeking. Revenge‐seeking was associated with greater impulsive responses to negative and positive affect, as well as greater premeditation of behavior. These findings paint a picture of revenge‐seekers as physically aggressive curators of anger, whose retributive acts are performed with planned malice and motivated by the act's entertaining and therapeutic qualities.

     

Positive discipline,harsh physical discipline,physical discipline and psychological aggression in five Caribbean countries: Associations with preschoolers' early literacy skills

Physical punishment has received worldwide attention because of its negative impact on children's cognitive and social development and its implications for children's rights. Using UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys 4 and 5 data, we assessed the associations between positive discipline, harsh physical punishment, physical punishment and psychological aggression and preschoolers' literacy skills in 5628 preschool‐aged children and their caregivers in the developing nations of Belize, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica and Suriname. Caregivers across countries used high levels of explanations and psychological aggression. There were significant country differences in the use of the four disciplinary practices. In the Dominican Republic and Guyana, physical punishment had negative associations with children's literacy skills, and in the Dominican Republic, positive discipline had a positive association with children's literacy skills. Findings are discussed with respect to the negative consequences of harsh disciplinary practices on preschoolers' early literacy skills in the developing world.