The goals of this study were to explore the prevalence of childhood family violence (CFV) (both suffered and witnessed) among male batterers in treatment, and to analyze the specific psychological profile of those perpetrators with CFV. A sample of 1,421 men recruited from a specialized batterer treatment program was assessed. A description of the sociodemographic, violence, and psychopathological characteristics of the sample was carried out. Moreover, a comparison of all the variables studied between batterer men with and those without CFV was conducted. The results showed that 35.2% ( n = 500) of the sample reported having been victims of CFV (67.2% of them directly suffered abuse, and 32.8% witnessed violence between their parents, mainly from father to mother). Batterers with CFV presented with more irrational beliefs both about women and about violence as a strategy to cope with everyday difficulties. Moreover, they had significantly higher scores than batterers without CFV on all psychopathological symptoms as assessed by the SCL-90-R, as well as on most of the STAXI-2 subscales. In the logistic regression analysis, the main variables related to having a history of CFV were low education level, voluntary access to the program, having a previous psychiatric history, being an immigrant, having children, and presenting a greater number of psychopathological symptoms. According to these results, batterers with CFV showed a higher severity in most of the variables studied than those without CFV. Consequently, these findings highlight the importance of tailoring batterer treatment programs to their specific characteristics, particularly those regarding childhood victimization.
In this article, the impact of a court-mandated psychological treatment program for men who had committed an offense of intimate partner violence is tested. The sample consisted of 235 men who received a suspended sentence after being charged and sentenced for an offense in relation to intimate partner violence. The success rate in the posttreatment period was 37.4%, and the improvement rate was 48.1%. Therefore, in 85.5% of cases, the treatment program was effective. Results after 12 months of follow-up were almost identical. Moreover, there was a significant decrease in associated psychopathological symptoms. Regarding prediction of therapeutic results, batterers who were older, who had more distorted thoughts about violence, and who had not been victims of childhood abuse were at a significantly greater risk of treatment failure.
This paper describes the demographic, gender violence and psychopathological characteristics of 399 men in a specialized treatment programme for gender violence. Furthermore, a comparison of all the variables studied among the subjects referred by the court to the treatment programme (n= 276) and those who were imprisoned (n= 123) was conducted. The results showed the existence of numerous statistically significant differences between groups, primarily in psychopathological variables and in cognitive bias about women and violence use. In general, imprisoned batterers showed more irrational beliefs both about women and about violence as a strategy to cope with everyday difficulties. Moreover, batterers in prison had significantly higher scores on all psychopathological symptoms as assessed by SCL-90-R, as well as in most of STAXI-2 subscales. According to these results, batterers in prison showed a higher severity in variables studied than those who were referred by the court to the treatment programme. Implications of these results for further research and clinical practice are also commented on.
Purpose. This study assessed the differential long-term effectiveness of a standard treatment programme for intimate partner violence male perpetrators (IPV-P), depending on the presence of childhood family violence (CFV).Methods. A sample of 1,008 male IPV-P were included in the study. Comparisons between men with CFV (n = 339) and without CFV (n = 669) on sociodemographic characteristics and psychopathological variables were carried out at pre-treatment. The differential effectiveness of the treatment was assessed at post-treatment and at 1-year follow-up.Results. The pre-treatment assessment showed that IPV-P with CFV had a lower level of education, higher rates of previous psychiatric history, and more voluntary access to the treatment. Moreover, they began the treatment programme with more psychopathological symptoms, assessed by the SCL-90-R and STAXI-2. Regarding treatment results, the attrition rates did not reach significant differences between groups. The repeated-measures ANOVA evidenced statistically significant improvement in psychopathological symptoms on most of the variables for both groups. However, comparisons between groups on psychopathological symptoms showed that IPV-P with CFV were affected to a significantly higher degree on many variables at post-treatment and follow-up, although no differences were found in the global rates of treatment outcomes.Conclusions. This investigation highlights the heterogeneity of IPV-P and the differential progression along the treatment programmes according to the presence of CFV.Intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration has received much attention in the literature due to the relevance of its consequences. One of the most critical challenges for practitioners working with IPV male perpetrators (IPV-P) is to reduce the risk of recidivism. Researchers have made an effort to assess the effectiveness of different treatment programmes, obtaining inconsistent findings and small effect sizes (
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