Emotion Regulation and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration in Undergraduate Samples: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration increases throughout young adulthood and is particularly widespread among college students, resulting in mental health and academic consequences. Deficits in emotion regulation (ER) are an important factor associated with IPV perpetration; the developmental tasks and challenges associated with college, including relationship stressors and hazardous alcohol use, implicate ER as a particularly relevant risk factor for IPV perpetration. Thus, college presents an important opportunity for intervention in order to change the trajectories of IPV perpetration across young adulthood. The purpose of this review was to synthesize findings regarding ER and psychological, physical, and sexual IPV perpetration among college students. Twenty-one articles met inclusion criteria. Studies were organized into five categories: (a) direct associations of ER with IPV perpetration, (b) qualitative assessment of ER and IPV, (c) ER in indirect effects models, (d) ER in moderation models, and (e) experiments with ER instructional sets. Overall, ER emerged as an important inhibiting factor for IPV perpetration, particularly impulse control and access to ER strategies. ER deficits in the context of impelling (e.g., negative affect, trauma history) and instigating (e.g., provocation) factors emerged as consistent predictors of psychological and physical IPV perpetration for both male and female students. Deficits in ER were associated with sexual IPV perpetration among men; however, very few studies examined sexual IPV. Experimental paradigms suggest cognitive reappraisal may reduce IPV perpetration, while suppression may, in some contexts, increase perpetration. Methodological strengths and weaknesses and implications for IPV prevention and interventions programming for college students are discussed.

Preliminary efficacy of a web-based alcohol and emotion regulation intervention on intimate partner aggression among college women.

“…Specifically, there were significant declines of about 50% in psychological IPA from baseline to 6-month follow-up for women in the treatment condition, whereas there were no changes for women in the control condition. These findings are in line with theoretical approaches (e.g., I 3 Model; Finkel, 2014;Finkel & Eckhardt, 2013;Slotter & Finkel, 2011) and prior research (e.g., Fruzzetti & Levensky, 2000;Neilson et al, 2021;Stappenbeck, Davis, et al, 2016;Waltz, 2003) linking the current treatment targets (alcohol use, ER, and distress tolerance) and IPA. In fact, a prior evaluation of this intervention (see Stappenbeck et al, 2021) showed a reduction in heavy drinking and improvements in ER and distress tolerance skills.…”

“…The ability to access and use one’s inhibitory capabilities is impacted by disinhibitory factors , including heavy drinking. Emotion regulation (ER) has emerged as an inhibitory factor, with ER deficits consistently and robustly associated with IPA, particularly in the context of other risk factors for IPA such as heavy drinking (Neilson et al, 2021). Indeed, ER difficulties have been shown to moderate the association between heavy drinking and IPA such that the positive relation between heavy drinking and IPA was stronger for those with greater impulse control difficulties and more limited access to ER strategies (Stappenbeck, Davis, et al, 2016).…”

Preliminary Efficacy of a Cognitive Restructuring Intervention for Intimate Partner Aggression: Emotional Clarity as a Mechanism of Change

“…The findings regarding psychological IPA likelihood are in line with theoretical approaches (e.g., Finkel, 2011Finkel, , 2014Finkel & Eckhardt, 2013) and prior research (e.g., Neilson et al, 2023) linking emotional clarity and IPA. Using the CR skills taught in the intervention may have helped men in effectively overcoming aggressive urges due to improved ability to clarify what they were feeling, thereby resulting in decreased psychological IPA likelihood following the intervention.…”

“…Although participants were not selected based on a history of IPA, there are findings showing that individuals who perpetrate one form of aggression are likely to perpetrate multiple forms (Wilkins et al, 2014). Given known associations between CR, emotional clarity, and IPA (Neilson et al, 2023), the goal of this study was to preliminarily examine whether the intervention would also be helpful in reducing the likelihood of IPA through bolstered inhibition. Specifically, as suggested by the I 3 Model, we hypothesized that improved CR abilities would increase men's emotional clarity, thereby decreasing their likelihood of perpetrating IPA due to better control of aggressive urges.…”

“…According to this model, risk for IPA is determined by three factors: instigation (i.e., experiences that increase one’s urges to aggress), impellance (i.e., dispositional factors that strengthen urges to aggress), and inhibition (i.e., one’s ability to resist or override urges to aggress). Emotion regulation is an empirically supported inhibitory factor that has been consistently and robustly associated with IPA (Neilson et al, 2023). Among men, emotional clarity, which reflects the extent to which individuals know the emotions they are experiencing (Gratz & Roemer, 2004), appears to be particularly predictive of IPA perpetration, possibly due to masculine socialization processes (Berke et al, 2019).…”