Intimate partner violence: Are the risk factors similar for men and women, and similar to other types of offending?

Abstract

We studied intimate partner violence (IPV) within a framework of other violent and nonviolent offending, to explore whether the risk factors for offending were similar across the different offense categories, and also for men and women. A comprehensive measure of offending behavior was administered to 184 men and 171 women, together with measures of anger, self-control, and psychopathic traits. The measure, the nonviolent and violent offending behavior scale (NVOBS), assesses IPV, general violence, and nonviolent offending behavior. Men perpetrated higher levels of general violence and nonviolent offenses than women, whereas women perpetrated significantly more IPV than men. Regression analyses showed that the predictors of offending behavior are generally similar for men and women, with the exception of IPV, where self-control was a better predictor of IPV for men and anger was a better predictor of IPV for women. Limitations of the present sample and suggestions for future work are discussed.