The Interaction between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Neuropsychological Deficits for Explaining Dropout and Recidivism of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators

Abstract

Even though previous research has identified the negative impact of the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, less is known regarding the moderator factors that explain this association. In this study, we first aimed to assess whether there would be differences in terms of specific neuropsychological variables (e.g., IQ, working memory, executive functioning, and emotion decoding) between different groups of IPV perpetrators, affected or not by ADHD, and also compared with non-violent men (without ADHD). Second, we evaluated differences in dropout and recidivism among the subgroups of IPV perpetrators. Third, we assessed whether ADHD interacts with neuropsychological functioning to explain treatment compliance (dropout) and official recidivism among IPV perpetrators. Method: We administered a set of neuropsychological tests and self-reports to a group of IPV perpetrators with ADHD (n = 161), without ADHD (n = 163), and non-violent men (n = 103). Data on IPV perpetrators' treatment compliance and official recidivism were collected after treatment. Results: Our results indicated that all the groups of IPV perpetrators presented worse performance in all cognitive domains than controls. Furthermore, ADHD IPV perpetrators also showed worse performance in all cognitive domains than IPV perpetrators without ADHD, except for emotion decoding abilities. Most importantly, the combined subtype of ADHD IPV perpetrators presented the highest rate of dropout and official recidivism. Lastly, ADHD diagnosis and neuropsychological impairments separately offered a considerable explanation of treatment compliance and recidivism but their combination did not increase the amount of explained variance. Conclusions: Our study highlights the need to implement good screening processes for correctly diagnosing IPV perpetrators and, consequently, designing more effective intervention programs. La interacción entre el trastorno por déficit de atención e hiperactividad y los déficits neuropsicológicos para explicar el abandono prematuro de la intervención y la reincidencia de los maltratadores R E S U M E NObjetivo: Existen múltiples investigaciones que han identificado el impacto negativo del trastorno por déficit de atención e hiperactividad (TDAH) en la perpetración de la violencia contra la mujer en las relaciones de pareja. Sin embargo, existen menos evidencias sobre los factores moderadores que explicarían la asociación entre dichas variables. Por lo tanto, el primer objetivo de este estudio ha sido valorar si existen diferencias en variables neuropsicológicas específicas (p. ej., cociente intelectual, memoria de trabajo, funcionamiento ejecutivo y decodificación de las emociones) entre diferentes grupos de hombres que ejercen violencia contra la mujer en las relaciones de pareja (o maltratadores), afectados o no por el TDAH, y también en comparación con hombres no violentos (sin TDAH). En segundo lugar, evaluamos las diferencias en el abandono prematuro de la intervención y la...

The role of intimate partner violence perpetrators' resting state functional connectivity in treatment compliance and recidivism

“…Therefore, it would be relevant to measure whether this intrinsic resting-state activity is linked to previous research in this field. Concretely, if it is connected to alterations in emotion decoding processes or other cognitive alterations such as executive dysfunctions, which have been related to IPV proneness 33 , 34 . Furthermore, we emphasize the importance of analyzing this spontaneous brain activity along with other relevant factors of IPV perpetration, such as emotion regulation, which has also been linked to IPV perpetration 3 .…”

“…The calculation of the intelligence quotient (IQ) was based on the application of the Spanish validated version of the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test 31 . It has been previously noted that this instrument is effective at measuring both verbal and nonverbal intelligence with good sensitivity and specificity 32 and has been applied to measure these in IPV perpetrators and non-violent men 33 , 34 .…”

“…This tool shows a high level of sensitivity and specificity to distinguish between individuals who have misused cannabis and cocaine and those who have not 42 , 43 . Furthermore, it has been previously employed with IPV perpetrators to measure cannabis and cocaine misuse 33 , 34 .…”