Exploration of self-reported motivation for females’ use of intimate partner violence in Scotland
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Forrest2016.doc (1.892Mb)
Date
29/11/2016Author
Forrest, Lauren
Metadata
Abstract
Background: The perpetration of intimate partner violence by women remains a
controversial issue with historical focus on males as perpetrators and females as
victims. The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (2004) in the United
Kingdom emphasised the importance of arresting domestic violence perpetrators
regardless of gender and this has resulted in significant arrests of female perpetrators
of IPV. This has been paralleled by a growing interest in understanding these
offenders. Central to this, is gaining an understanding of the aetiology of this
population of offenders and their motivations for perpetrating IPV. Investigating this
empirically may inform understanding of females’ pathways into perpetrating IPV
and may also inform treatment pathways and risk management of these offenders.
Design/Methodology: Aims are addressed separately in two journal articles. In
journal article 1, systematic searches of bibliographic databases, in addition to hand
searches of various articles was conducted to identify any association between
personality psychopathology and the perpetration of IPV in females. Journal article
2 describes an empirical investigation of motivation in 8 female IPV perpetrators
through semi-structured interviews. The data was transcribed and analysed using
interpretative phenomenological analysis.
Results: The results of the systematic review revealed an association with
personality psychopathology and female perpetration of IPV, in particular cluster B
traits. In relation to motivations the results revealed the value of considering offence
supportive cognitions which underpin females’ motives for IPV, in addition to the
context of women’s lives and the dynamic of the relationship.
Conclusions: The relevance of personality psychopathology identified in journal
article 1 is discussed in relation to assessment and intervention, in addition to
limitations of the synthesis and clinical and empirical utility. The offence supportive
cognitions identified in journal article 2 are discussed in relation to other offending
behaviour groups, in addition to their clinical implications in the development of
assessment and management of this population and of the development of effective
interventions.