Objective The current study examined how teaching an interpersonal validation‐oriented skill from dialectical behavior therapy affects behavioral and biological indices of self‐inflicted injury (SII) risk among self‐injuring adolescents and their mothers (n = 30 dyads), and typical control mother–daughter dyads (n = 30). Method Behavioral indicators of family functioning (e.g., cohesion, coercion, and invalidation) and a physiological index of emotion dysregulation (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) were examined across two conflict tasks (pre‐ and postskills training). Results Dyads’ subjective affect and observed behavior generally improved when practicing validation. Findings indicate mother‐, daughter‐, and dyad‐level behavior accounted for significant variance in RSA reactivity. Conclusions Results demonstrate that teaching a single skill on one occasion can have detectable effects on biosocial functioning, with important implications for the etiology and treatment of SII.

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Deficits in executive functioning have been associated with aggressive and violent behavior toward intimate partners. However, it is unclear what specific mechanisms are being affected by cognitive deficits that increase an individual’s tendency to become aggressive. The current study examined empathy as a mediating factor between deficits in working memory and perpetration of intimate partner aggression and violence. Men in heterosexual relationships (N = 49) were administered a measure of visual-spatial working memory, and questionnaire measures of head injury and empathy. During a second session, men participated in a conflict discussion with their female partner that was coded for aggressive behavior. Female partners also reported on men’s physical and psychological abuse. Working memory was positively related to cognitive and affective empathy, and negatively related to men’s physical abuse perpetration and observed aggression during the conflict discussion. The effects of working memory on observed aggression during the conflict were fully mediated by cognitive and affective empathy. Additionally, the effects of working memory on reported physical IPV frequency were fully mediated by affective empathy. Deficits in working memory may decrease men’s ability to use empathetic processes, resulting in increased aggression and violence toward their intimate partners. Clinically, incorporating empathy training in battering intervention programs may be helpful, especially among men with deficits in cognitive functioning.

Intimate partner violence refers to the threatened, attempted or completed physical or sexual assault, and emotional abuse within a romantic relationship (Saltzman, Fanslow, McMahon, & Shelley, 1999). Studies have reported that physical assault intimates partner violence perpetration prevalence rates as high as 30% (Stets & Straus, 2017). High prevalence rates identified across the U.S. reveal intimate partner violence to be a significant public health issue (Breiding, Black, & Ryan, 2008). Victims of intimate partner violence often suffer from both long and short-term physical and

Emotional abuse is a form of intimate partner violence that can have detrimental effects on both individual well-being and relationship outcomes. However, differences in definitions and forms of emotional and psychological abuse have led to difficulties in its measurement. The Multi-Dimensional Measure of Emotional Abuse (MMEA) is an emotional abuse index that differentiates several different forms of psychological abuse. The current study sought to validate subscales of the MMEA by examining their relation to emotionally abusive behavior observed during interpersonal conflict. Additionally, the Conflict Tactics Scale Psychological Aggression scale and its severity subscales (CTS-PA) were compared to the MMEA. Heterosexual couples ( N = 167) participated in a conflict discussion task. Conflict discussions were coded for belligerence, contempt, domineering, and stonewalling behavior. Women completed the MMEA and CTS-PA questionnaire about their own and their partners’ emotional abuse perpetration. Results indicated that the total MMEA score for men and women was associated with belligerence, whereas the CTS-PA total score was associated with women’s contempt. The restricted engulfment subscale was associated with men’s dominance and contempt, and woman’s belligerence. The minor CTS-PA scale was associated with men and women’s contempt, and women’s stonewalling. The severe CTS-PA scale was only associated with women’s contempt. Additionally, we found significant associations between men’s stonewalling and contempt and their partner’s MMEA and CTS-PA subscales. For women, stonewalling was associated with their partner’s restricted engulfment. Men’s hostile withdrawal scale was also associated with their partner’s dominance during the conflict. Our results suggest that the MMEA multi-dimensional subscales appear to capture a wider range specific abusive behaviors compared to the CTS-PA’s severity constructs.