Mental health of perpetrators of intimate partner violence

Abstract

Purpose Intimate partner violence (IPV) represents a widespread social and public health problem. Researchers have been shown association between IPV and mental health problems. The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the literature on relationship between wide ranges of mental health problems. Design/methodology/approach Research papers related to mental health problems among IPV perpetrators and published in leading academic journals in UK and abroad from 1987 to 2017 were identified and reviewed. Findings Although there were some equivocal findings, the authors found that most of the available research suggests that there is a variety of psychological health problems among IPV perpetrators. Specifically, there was evidence of a significant relationship between anger problems, anxiety, depression, suicidal behaviour, personality disorders, alcoholism or problem gambling and perpetration of IPV. Results from analysed studies identified high rates of co-morbid disorders in IPV perpetrators. Practical implications The findings highlight the need for treatment services to undertake screening and assessment of wide range of psychological difficulties to be able to provide best treatment approaches. Originality/value To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic review that has included studies evaluating various psychological health problems among perpetrators of IPV.

Intimate partner violence by men living with HIV in Cameroon: Prevalence, associated factors and implications for HIV transmission risk (ANRS-12288 EVOLCAM)

“…Although this association has, to our knowledge, not been previously highlighted in MLVIH, in another study conducted in women living with HIV (WLHIV) using the EVOLCam data, perceived HIV-related stigma was associated with IPV victimization [ 47 ]. Suffering from social rejection or isolation due to positive HIV status probably impairs the mental quality of life of MLHIV, which is a predictor for perpetrating IPV [ 48 , 49 ]. In our study, the three forms of IPV were either significantly associated or tended to be associated (at the 10% level) with a lower mental quality of life score in univariate analysis, something which may possibly mediate the relationship between IPV perpetration and perceiving HIV-related stigma.…”

Innovative Proposal Concerning the Human Factors Shaping Institutional Responses to Domestic Violence – the IMPRODOVA Project

“…There is a significant relationship between anger problems, anxiety, depression, suicidal behaviour, personality disorders, alcoholism or problem gambling and perpetration of domestic violence (Sesar et al, 2018). Substance abuse issues of perpetrator/victim Both the abuser's access to a firearm and their use of illicit drugs are strongly associated with intimate partner femicide.…”

Cluster B Personality Traits and Psychological Intimate Partner Violence: Considering the Mediational Role of Alcohol

“…As Sesar et al. (2018) indicated in their recent review of studies, antisocial and borderline personality traits are strongly related to IPV (see also Spencer et al., 2019), while the relation between narcissistic personality traits and IPV is less consistent, and there are limited studies on the link between this form of violence and histrionic personality traits (see also Lowenstein et al., 2016).…”

“…The empirical study of violent men—both in general and against their female partners—has produced abundant empirical evidence on their main psychological characteristics. An important part of these studies has given special attention to the analysis of the role of psychopathological personality traits and personality disorders (PDs) in the explanation of both general violence (see Bayes & Parker, 2017; Coid et al., 2017) and IPV (see Cascardi et al., 2018; Sesar et al., 2018). The analysis of the potential explanatory role of Cluster B personality traits (antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic) in IPV is remarkable.…”