How useful are indices of personality pathology when assessing domestic violence perpetrators?

Abstract

There has been considerable debate about profiling personality pathology when assessing and treating male perpetrators of domestic violence (DV). This study used the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III) to explore the severity and diversity of male perpetrator personality pathology and response bias in a group of DV perpetrators being assessed for a treatment program (N = 177). We analyzed the sample using the interpretive guidelines of White and Gondolf (2000); 54% of profiles in our sample fell into categories indicative of a personality disorder, and 37% of the total sample provided profiles indicative of severe personality pathology. These percentages were higher than White and Gondolf's findings but lower than some others. There was considerable diversity of personality pathology as well, supporting the contention that there is no one male DV perpetrator profile. Because of debate concerning the manner of responding on self-report instruments, we paid special attention to response biases in our sample. Twenty-six percent of our sample exaggerated (12%) or minimized (14%) their responses. We also found that response biases on the MCMI-III Modifying Indices were related to self-reported severity of psychopathology. This suggests that assessing severity of psychopathology is inadequate without reference to such biases.

Taking Responsibility: Psychological and Attitudinal Change through a Domestic Violence Intervention Program in New South Wales, Australia

“…Higher prevalence of psychological issues (including elevated distress and psychopathology) have been widely reported amongst men who have used domestic violence (Declercq, Willemsen, Audenaert, & Verhaeghe, 2012;Gibbons, Collins, & Reid, 2011;Wallinius, Nilsson, Hofvander, Anckarsä ter, & Stå lenheim, 2012). The first phase of the present study further supports this, with men commencing the Taking Responsibility course reporting significantly higher levels of psychological distress than those reported in the general population (Broady et al, 2014).…”

Consumo de alcohol en hombres penados por violencia contra la pareja: factores individuales y contextuales

“…En primer lugar, aunque los maltratadores no se caracterizan necesariamente por tener un perfil psicopatológi-co (Gibbons, Collins y Reid, 2011), aquellos que beben alcohol en grandes cantidades sí que pueden presentar mayor número de síntomas. Lo que no podemos saber a partir de nuestros datos es si existe una relación de causa y efecto entre consu-mo abusivo de alcohol y mayor presencia de síntomas clínicos, ni en qué dirección se daría tal relación.…”

Are batterers different from other criminals? An fMRI study

“…The absence of such differences may be related to the batterers' response bias for social desirability. Social desirability has not been previously reported in emotional tasks, but it has been measured in personality questionnaires (Gibbons et al, 2011). This important concern, referred to as explicit subjective measures in batterers, has motivated the development of new implicit tasks to measure attitudes in batterers.…”