Risk factors for intimate partner violence in prison inmates

Abstract

Etiological models of intimate partner violence (IPV) identify general risk factors in delinquency (sociodemographic, delinquent, and psychopathological) and specific factors in this type of aggression (characteristics of the couple relationship and attitudes favoring IPV). The goal of the present work is to study these factors in individuals convicted for drug trafficking and/or theft, so-called common delinquents (n = 89), comparing them with a group of partner aggressors (n = 50). Assessment was carried out with a mixed method, reviewing case files, clinical interviews for personality disorders, and self-reports. The results show a similar profile in sociodemographic and criminal characteristics and in attitudes favoring IPV. The differences emerge in variables of the couple relationship and psychopathological variables, finding higher prevalence of the antisocial disorder in common delinquents and of the borderline disorder in aggressors. The final model identifies the level of relationship satisfaction, control over the partner, blaming female victims, and incidence of borderline personality disorder as relevant variables. The implications of these results for penitentiary treatment as a preventive measure of IPV, both in IPV aggressors and in the general prison population, are discussed.