Adulthood Animal Abuse among Men Arrested for Domestic Violence

The effectiveness of batterer intervention programs at reducing future intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration is limited. Learning about perpetrators to more comprehensively address issues relevant to their aggressive tendencies could aid in the development of more effective treatments. This study examined the prevalence of adulthood animal abuse perpetration and its association with psychological and physical IPV perpetration, antisocial traits, and alcohol use in a sample of men arrested for domestic violence (N = 307). Forty-one percent (n = 125) of the men committed at least one act of animal abuse since the age of 18, in contrast to the 3.0 percent prevalence rate reported by men in the general population. Findings were consistent with past research showing associations between IPV perpetration, adulthood animal abuse, antisocial traits, and alcohol use. Further, even after controlling for antisocial traits and alcohol use, adulthood animal abuse showed a trend towards a significant association with the perpetration of physical and severe psychological IPV perpetration. Implications for intervention programs and cross-sector reporting, as well as directions for future research, are discussed

The Perpetration of Adulthood Animal Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence in Men and Women Arrested for Domestic Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs at devastatingly high rates in the United States. The current interventions for perpetrators of IPV are limited in their effectiveness. Research regarding characteristics of perpetrators of IPV may provide needed insights about their aggression in order to inform more effective treatments. This cross-sectional study employed the newly developed Interactions with Animals Scale, an original measure of a form of aggression that lacks comprehensive examination despite its demonstrated association with IPV, adulthood animal abuse (AAA). The prevalence, frequency, initiation, motivation, type of animal victimized, and recency of AAA was obtained from a sample of men (N= 157) and women (N= 41) arrested for domestic violence. This study also examined whether AAA accounts for unique variance in IPV perpetration beyond antisocial characteristics, and whether those IPV perpetrators who engaged in AAA differed from those who did not on other characteristics common to perpetrators of IPV. Comparisons by sex were made where appropriate. AAA perpetration was endorsed at significantly higher rates than in nationwide community samples. Men endorsed significantly more AAA overall, as well as physical and threatening acts of AAA than women. It was more common for both sexes to initiate animal abuse perpetration after age 15 than before age 15, beyond the age at which animal abuse is typically considered a sign of future psychopathology. AAA was not uniquely associated with IPV perpetration beyond antisocial personality characteristics. Compared to those individuals who denied AAA perpetration, men who reported AAA perpetration endorsed higher rates of antisocial personality characteristics and difficulties with emotional clarity, while women who reported AAA perpetration were not significantly different from their counterparts. The methods of this study addressed several of the limitations present in existing research on AAA (i.e. assessing both male and female IPV perpetrators, using a more comprehensive measure of AAA, and controlling for other known correlates of IPV to determine the relative importance of AAA perpetration to IPV perpetration). Applications of IPV theories, implications for better understanding IPV perpetrators, for intervention programs, interagency reporting of animal abuse, and domestic violence shelters, as well as directions for future research, are discussed

Arrest History and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration in a Sample of Men and Women Arrested for Domestic Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious and prevalent problem throughout the United States. Currently, individuals arrested for domestic violence are often court mandated to batterer intervention programs (BIPs). However, little is known about the arrest histories of these individuals, especially women. The current study examined the arrest histories of men (n = 303) and women (n = 82) arrested for domestic violence and court-referred to BIPs. Results demonstrated that over 30% of the entire sample had been previously arrested for a non-violent offense, and over 25% of the participants had been previously arrested for a violent offense other than domestic violence. Moreover, men were arrested significantly more frequently for violence-related and non-violent offenses than their female counterparts. In addition, men were more likely than women to have consumed binge-levels of alcohol prior to the offense that led to their most recent arrest and court-referral to a BIP. Lastly, arrest history was positively associated with physical and psychological aggression perpetration against an intimate partner for men only, such that more previous arrests were associated with more frequent aggression. These results provide evidence that many men and women arrested for domestic violence have engaged in a number of diverse criminal acts during their lifetimes, suggesting that BIPs may need to address general criminal behavior

Alcohol Use, Alcohol-Related Outcome Expectancies, and Partner Aggression Among Males Court-Mandated to Batterer Intervention Programs: A Brief Report

Additional work is needed to determine how and/or why the relationship between alcohol use and increased risk of partner aggression (PA) exists. Researchers have begun to examine whether alcohol-related outcome expectancies (i.e., beliefs about the cognitive and behavioral effects of alcohol) are associated with PA irrespective of alcohol use. We examined the relationship between alcohol use, alcohol expectancies, and PA among 360 males arrested for a domestic violence offense and court-mandated to treatment. Results indicate that certain alcohol expectancies do play a role in the relationship between alcohol use and some forms of PA