Psychopathy & Domestic Violence

The Connection between Antisocial Personality and Domestic Abuse

Nov 6, 2007

Are individuals who have psychopathic traits more likely to be domestic abusers, are they a different type of abuser, and how might all this impact treatment?

A recent study published in the October issue of Law and Human Behavior examined the relationship between psychopathic traits and domestic violence. The researchers hypothesized that domestic violence perpetrators could be categorized into distinct subgroups and that a particular subgroup of batterers would show distinct, clinically meaningful psychopathic characteristics.

Background

Previous research (Holtzworth-Munroe 1994) has found that domestically violent batterers form three distinct subtypes:

Family-only batterers are largely free of psychopathology, commit the least severe partner violence and are unlikely to generalize their violence.

Borderline dysphoric batterers are characterized by depression and anger, likely to perpetrate more domestic violence than the family-only batterers and are prone to commit some generalized violence as well.

Generally violent/antisocial (GVA) batterers engage in more antisocial behavior, express more generalized violence, and perpetrate more severe violence as compared to the family only or the dysphoric borderline batterer.

Researchers in the current study (Huss et al 2007) proposed that the generally/violent antisocial subgroup of batterers may exhibit sufficient levels of psychopathy to warrant special attention of clinical and legal professionals.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the degree to which the three-subgroup batterer typology would emerge in an outpatient clinical sample of batterers and whether psychopathic characteristics exist in a clinical sample of batterers who presented for domestic violence treatment.

Methods

One hundred and thirty-one men were examined, having either been court-referred (59%) or self-referred (41%) for treatment as a result of partner assault.

Participants were interviewed to establish their relevant social, familial, educational, criminal, and substance abuse history. Additional information for each man was obtained through several sources including parole/probation reports, correctional records, mental health records, hospital records, and Child Protective Services reports.

Participants were administered several psychological measures including the Psychopathy Checklist, a measure of psychopathic traits developed by Dr. Robert Hare, as well as the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III).

The MCMI-III is a psychological assessment tool intended to measure both Axis I and Axis II disorders from DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association 2000). There were also a number of other clinical tools utilized; those specifically designed to assess anger, substance abuse and depression.

Results & Discussion

Unlike the results obtained by Holtzworth-Munroe, this study revealed the presence of four, rather than three, distinct subgroups of batterers:

The low-level antisocial batterers were less severe in their violence and antisocial traits than were the generalized violent antisocial abusers.

It was hypothesized that batterers in the four clusters could be distinguished on the basis of the violence they committed both against their partner and society.

GVA batterers consistently reported more severe alcohol and drug abuse, with FO batterers exhibiting the lowest levels of abuse. The LLA batterers and BD batterers generally fell between the GVA and FO batterers numerically with no statistical differences between one another. These findings suggest drug and alcohol treatment may be more beneficial for some subtypes of batterers.

The four subgroups of batterers also differed in regard to their depressive symptoms. As expected, the borderline dysphoric batterers scored the highest on the depression measures, followed by the GVA batterers. The FO and LLA batterers reported fewer depressive symptoms.

GVA batterers reported the most anger, followed BD, LLA, and FO batterers. Although LLA batterers reported greater levels of partner and generalized violence than did BD batterers, BD batterers reported, as expected, greater emotional dysregulation in the form of anger.

Conclusions

These results suggest possible differences in the predictive mechanisms associated with domestic violence and generalized violence within a clinical sample of batterers.

This study found a great deal of overlap between the GVA batterers and many dimensions of psychopathy, which may prove useful in assisting mental health and criminal justice professionals better understand response to treatment and recidivism in this group. Being able to meaningfully distinguish distinct types of batterers may result in treatment programs more subtype-specific and effective.

More Information on Psychopathy or Antisocial Personality Disorder & Domestic Abuse

This article is a summary of one study of psychopathy and domestic violence. The contents of this article are not meant to be a substitute for professional help and counseling.

Sources

Holtzworth-Munroe, A., & Stuart, G. L. (1994). Typologies of male batterers: Three subtypes and the differences among them. Psychological Bulletin, 116.

Huss, M. and Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J. (2007) Assessing the Generalization of Psychopathy in a Clinical Sample of Domestic Violence Perpetrators. Law and Human Behavior, October.

Millon, T., Davis, R., & Millon, C. (1997). MCMI-III Manual (2nd ed.). Minneapolis, MN: National Computer Systems.

The copyright of the article Psychopathy & Domestic Violence in Personality Disorders is owned by Tami Port. Permission to republish Psychopathy & Domestic Violence in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.