Cognitive and Affective Mediators of Alcohol-Facilitated Intimate-Partner Aggression

Abstract

In this multisite study, we examined whether aggressive cognitions and facial displays of negative affect and anger experienced during provocation mediated the association between alcohol intoxication and intimate-partner aggression (IPA). Participants were 249 heavy drinkers (148 men, 101 women) with a recent history of IPA perpetration. Participants were randomly assigned to an alcohol or no-alcohol control-beverage condition and completed a shock-based aggression task involving apparent provocation by their intimate partner. During provocation, a hidden camera recorded participants’ facial expressions and verbal articulations, which were later coded using the Facial Action Coding System and the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations paradigm. Results indicated that the positive association between alcohol intoxication and partner-directed physical aggression was mediated by participants’ aggressive cognitions but not by negative affect or anger facial expressions. These findings implicate aggressogenic cognitions as a mediating mechanism underlying the association between the acute effects of alcohol and IPA perpetration.

Proximal associations among college students’ alcohol use and cyber partner abuse perpetration.

“…Future research should also examine the extent to which cyber PA perpetration increases the likelihood of subsequent drinking, and distal and contextual factors that may moderate this association. Recent investigations of the effects of alcohol intoxication on lab-based PA perpetration (e.g., Eckhardt et al, 2021; Watkins et al, 2015) could be extended to this line of research by developing methods to approximate cyber PA perpetration in a laboratory setting, which would allow investigators to assess the effects of acute intoxication on cyber PA, as well as the effects of cyber PA on alcohol craving. Investigators may also consider recruiting a sample of higher risk populations (e.g., those with a PA perpetration history) and couples to better approximate moderators of, and actor–partner effects within, the alcohol–cyber PA relationship.…”

Emotion differentiation and intimate partner violence: Effects of provocation and alcohol intoxication.

“…The hypotheses tested in this research are based on data drawn from a larger investigation of the effects of acute alcohol intoxication on IPV. Twelve empirical articles have been published from this data set to date (Bresin et al, 2020, 2022; Eckhardt et al, 2021; Grom, Crane, et al, 2021; Grom, Maloney, et al, 2021; Halmos et al, 2021; Leone et al, 2016; Massa, Eckhardt, et al, 2019; Massa, Subramani, et al, 2019; Parrott et al, 2017; Sprunger et al, 2015; Subramani et al, 2017). The ED construct used in the present research has not previously been investigated within this data set, the present hypotheses are novel, and the analytic plan was developed specifically to address these aims.…”

Do couple drinking episodes lead to intimate partner aggression? An ecological momentary assessment study of same-sex and mixed-sex couples.

“…In a study of dating couples, aggression toward partner after provocation was higher after alcohol administration than placebo (Watkins et al, 2015). Similarly, Eckhardt et al (2021) found that administered alcohol increased physical aggression toward one's intimate partner after provocation, an effect that was mediated via increased aggressive cognitions.…”

“…Sexual minority individuals experience as much if not more IPA victimization than heterosexual individuals (Edwards et al, 2015;Klostermann et al, 2011), and IPA victimization and perpetration in same-sex couples have many of the same risk factors as IPA in mixed-sex couples, including alcohol consumption (Hughes et al, 2014;Leone et al, 2022;Mason et al, 2016, see Kimmes et al, 2019, for a review). There are some intensive longitudinal studies currently in the field that involve samples of same-sex couples and will permit consideration of the temporal effects of substance use on IPA (Heron et al, 2019;Parrott, 2018Parrott, -2021Shorey et al, 2020). However, there is no published research on the temporal associations between alcohol and IPA among sexual minority populations (Shorey et al, 2019) nor any intensive longitudinal studies comparing same-sex with mixed-sex couples.…”

“…Within the alcohol myopia framework, alcohol is thought to restrict the range of cues to which one can attend and the ability to process cues in a situation in which there is response conflict. Thus, in a disagreement with one’s partner, an intoxicated person may focus only on anger or aggressive cognitions (Eckhardt et al, 2021), failing to recognize or process inhibitory explanations or cues as the person might do when sober. Within the I 3 framework (Finkel, 2014), aggression is most likely to occur when there is a perfect storm of instigation (provocation), impellance toward aggression (e.g., among people with a history of aggression, e.g., Giancola et al, 2012), and failure of inhibition.…”