It is estimated that upward of 15.5 million children live in homes where they are exposed to physical and psychological intimate partner violence (IPV). Research indicates that IPV can have deleterious effects on children, including a variety of psychosocial problems, although there is much variability in outcomes of children exposed to IPV. Individual characteristics of the parents involved in IPV may be an important predictor of negative psychosocial outcomes for children. The current study expanded upon prior research and examined the simultaneous associations of paternal characteristics, including paternal IPV perpetration, and child psychosocial functioning (i.e., externalizing, internalizing, and attentional problems) among 153 men arrested for domestic violence and court ordered to attend batterer intervention programs. Analyses examined the relations between paternal alcohol and drug use, antisocial personality traits, hostility, posttraumatic stress symptoms, distress tolerance, IPV perpetration, and men's ratings of their child's psychosocial functioning. Results indicated that poor overall child psychosocial functioning was positively related to paternal antisocial personality symptoms and hostility. Subscale analyses revealed that child attentional problems were positively related to paternal hostility. Child externalizing problems were positively associated with paternal antisocial personality symptoms. The implications of these findings for future research and intervention are discussed.

Psychological aggression is a devastating and prevalent problem in college dating relationships. In fact, most students in dating relationships experience psychological aggression each year. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of research on proximal risk factors for psychological aggression among females specifically. Knowing the conditions under which psychological aggression is most likely to occur will aid researchers and clinicians in developing and implementing more effective prevention programs. The current study descriptively examined proximal factors to psychological aggression perpetration among female undergraduate students (N = 97). Findings showed that most psychological aggression occurred during the period from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., while participants were alone with their partners, and on the weekend. Participants reported a diverse number of motivations for perpetrating psychological aggression, with a lack of emotion regulation being an especially prominent motivation. Implications of these findings for future research and prevention programming are discussed.

Recent evidence suggests that victims of dating violence consume alcohol at greater rates than their nonvictimized peers, placing them at risk for the negative consequences produced by alcohol use. Thus, research that examines factors that protect victims from consuming alcohol is needed. Toward this end, the present study sought to examine whether perceived support served as a stress-buffering (moderating) variable on the relationship between dating violence victimization and alcohol problems among a sample of currently dating college students (N = 440). Partial support was found for the stress-buffering effect of perceived support, but this varied depending on the type of victimization examined. Implications of these findings for victim interventions and dating violence prevention programming are discussed.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health problem. Research and theory suggests that emotion dysregulation is an important correlate of IPV and thus may be a fruitful target of intervention efforts. However, examination of emotion dysregulation among women arrested for domestic violence, an understudied population, is nonexistent. The current study extended prior research by examining what components of emotion dysregulation related to IPV perpetration while controlling for substance misuse and antisocial traits, two robust correlates of IPV, in women arrested for domestic violence and court-ordered to batterer intervention programs (N = 71). In the current study, the emotion dysregulation component of Impulse Control Difficulties was significantly associated with the perpetration of physical IPV. Findings suggest a link between impulse control during negative emotional experiences and the perpetration of IPV among women arrested for domestic violence. Implications regarding findings and future research and intervention applications are discussed.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious, devastating, and prevalent problem. IPV places women at risk for negative health consequences, including increased mental health disorders. The majority of research to date has focused on mental health disorders among women in domestic violence shelters, and research is needed that examines mental health disorders among a broader range of women experiencing IPV. Therefore, this study examined the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and substance abuse disorders in a community sample of IPV victims (N = 94) using diagnostic interviews. Results showed that the majority of women met diagnostic criteria for a mental health disorder, with PTSD being the most common mental health disorder. Furthermore, psychological abuse was a significant predictor of both PTSD and depression, whereas physical aggression did not predict these outcomes. Implications of these findings for treatment and intervention work with battered women are discussed.

Dating abuse (DA) victimization, alcohol use, and marijuana use are some of the most prevalent public health concerns among adolescents, particularly among Latinx adolescents. DA victimization was a robust predictor of subsequent alcohol and marijuana use among white and Black/African American adolescents, but existing longitudinal studies have not examined these relations among Latinx adolescents. The present study examined whether Latinx adolescents’ psychological and physical DA victimization predicted their alcohol and marijuana use one year later. We also explored sex differences in these relationships across time. A school-based sample of 315 Latinx adolescents (M age = 15.06 years; 52.6% girls) completed baseline, self-report assessments (Time 1 [T1]) and 89.6% of the sample completed follow-up assessments one year later (Time 2 [T2]). Results of a path analysis revealed that paths did not vary by sex. T1 psychological DA victimization predicted T2 alcohol use, but not T2 marijuana use. T1 physical DA victimization did not predict T2 alcohol or marijuana use; however, T1 marijuana use predicted T2 physical DA victimization. Latinx adolescents’ DA victimization may have important implications for subsequent substance use. Targeting alcohol use, marijuana use, and DA in culturally-grounded intervention programs may reduce Latinx adolescents’ continued victimization and substance misuse.

Dating violence is a prevalent problem among female college students. Several researchers have called for a continued investigation of risk and protective factors for aggression that can be modified through prevention programming. Mindfulness, the ability to be aware and open to the present moment in a nonjudgmental manner (Kabat-Zinn, 1994), may be one such protective factor. However, we are unaware of research that has examined whether individuals higher in mindfulness report less dating violence perpetration. This study investigated this question within a sample of female undergraduate students (N = 379). Findings demonstrated that several facets of mindfulness, particularly describing, acting with awareness, and nonreactivity, were associated with less psychological or physical aggression perpetration in the previous year. Moreover, several mindfulness facets were able to differentiate individuals with a history of perpetration relative to individuals without a history of perpetration. These findings provide preliminary evidence that mindfulness may play an important role in dating violence. Directions for future research on the relation between mindfulness and dating violence are discussed.

Research has attempted to elucidate men and women’s proximal motivations for perpetrating intimate partner violence (IPV). However, previous research has yet to clarify and resolve contention regarding whether motives for IPV are gender-neutral or gender-specific. Thus, the purpose of this study was to compare motives for physical IPV perpetration among a sample of men (n = 90) and women (n = 87) arrested for domestic violence and court referred to batterer intervention programs. Results demonstrated that the most frequently endorsed motives for IPV by both men and women were self-defense, expression of negative emotions, and communication difficulties. With the exception of expression of negative emotions and retaliation, with women endorsing these motives more often than men, there were no significant differences between men and women’s self-reported reasons for perpetrating physical aggression. The implications of these findings for future research and intervention programs are discussed.