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Gepubliceerd in: Cognitive Therapy and Research 3/2008

01-06-2008

Aggressive Cognitions of Violent Versus Nonviolent Spouses

Auteurs: Kahni Clements, Amy Holtzworth-Munroe

Gepubliceerd in: Cognitive Therapy and Research | Uitgave 3/2008

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Abstract

This study extends previous research on the relationship between aggressive cognition and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration by comparing the aggressive cognitions of both husbands and wives (not just husbands) in an actual (not hypothetical) relationship problem discussions across three groups of couples—bi-directionally violent (V), nonviolent but maritally distressed (NVD), and nonviolent and nondistressed (NVND). Further extending previous work, across these groups, we also compared spouses’ inferences of aggressive cognitions in their partners’ thoughts and objective observers’ inferences of aggressive cognitions. Violent spouses, whether male or female, had significantly more aggressive cognitions than NVD and NVND spouses. Findings are discussed in relation to how they extend past research and their clinical implications.
Voetnoten
1
When considering the relationship between anger, hostility, and IPV, an important issue is the theoretical difference between anger and hostility. Anger usually refers to a subjective, phenomenological, emotional state, while hostility refers to aggressive cognitions involving an attitude that includes dislike and negative evaluation of others, cynicism, and mistrust (e.g., see discussion of this distinction by Eckhardt, Barbour, & Stuart, 2007; Eckhardt, Norlander, & Deffenbacher, 2004). However, many available measures assess both constructs, without clear differentiation between them, and not much data exist regarding the independence of these constructs (Eckhardt et al.,2004). Similarly, many IPV researchers have included measures of both anger and hostility, without differentiating between these constructs, in their studies. Thus, despite theoretical differences between anger and hostility, at the current time, available data do not allow a clear determination of whether one of these constructs is more useful in understanding IPV than the other. In addition, most of the available research findings do not differentiate between theoretically different dimensions of anger (e.g., physiological, cognitive, phenomenological, and behavioral aspects of anger; see Eckhardt et al., 2004). Thus, at this time, it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions regarding whether certain dimensions of anger, but not others, are related to IPV.
 
2
We received phone messages from 265 individuals expressing an interest in the study. Of these, 68 couples never completed the phone screening interview. Among couples who did complete the interview, 102 were ineligible for the study (e.g., were not married or cohabiting, did not meet our criteria for either the violent or the nonviolent groups). Twenty-four couples completed the screening interview and met study inclusion criteria but declined to participate, could not be contacted to schedule an appointment, could not find time to come to lab, or did not attend their lab appointment. Twenty-five couples attended only one assessment session, in part due to scheduling and technical difficulty (n=9) and in part due to attrition between the first and second lab sessions (n=16).
 
3
There is potentially much heterogeneity in the violence experiences of couples recruited in the manner used in the present study (i.e., including all couples who experienced any physical violence in the past year in the V group). One concern is that there may be inherent differences between couples experiencing only husband violence and couples experiencing bi-directional, or mutual, physical aggression. Thus, in the present study, we only included couples experiencing bi-directional violence in our V group, dropping five couples in which only the husband had perpetrated physical aggression and six couples in which only the wife had been violent. Another concern is that severity level of violence may be an important differentiator of violence experiences. To explore this possibility in our sample, we conducted a series of ANOVAs comparing the couples who had experienced only minor levels of relationship violence in the past year to the couples who had experienced severe levels of violence in the past year on each of study dependent variables (e.g., self-reports of aggressive cognitions). In the first set of analyses, we used standard CTS definitions of minor versus severe violence (see Straus & Gelles, 1990) to form our groups. The group effect did not reach statistical significance for any study variable. In the second set of analyses, we compared couples who experienced minor versus severe violence, using a median split to define minor and severe levels of violence. Again, the group effect did not reach statistical significance for any study variable. Although the lack of minor versus servere violence group differences could be due to the small sample sizes, none of the group effects showed even a trend toward statistical significance.
 
4
Coders for the present study were different individuals than the empathic accuracy coders in Clements et al. (in press). For the present study, undergraduate research assistants were trained to use the coding system for 5–8 weeks. During the training period, coders met individually each week, for 1–2 h, with the first author to discuss questions and problems and receive feedback. In addition, coders met for a 2-hour weekly supervision meeting with the first author to discuss any questions or difficulties that may have arisen. During training, research assistants practiced using the coding system by coding “fake” thoughts/feelings (written by the authors) and the thoughts/feelings of pilot study participants (whose data was not included in the main study).
 
5
These global ratings were an adaptation of Eckhardt et al (1998)’s coding system. Eckhardt had coders rate each of the four types of irrational beliefs and six types of cognitive biases individually, whereas coders in the present study were instructed to consider all of the subcategories to make one irrational beliefs global score rating and one cognitive bias global score rating. Based on Ellis and Dryden (1987), Eckhardt’s coding manual outlined four types of irrational beliefs: (1) awfulizing/terriblizing/horriblizing (labeling an event as “the worst that could possibly happen”); (2) low frustration tolerance (a severe intolerance for discomfort and strong desire to avoid pain, discomfort, and inconvenience); (3) demandingness (rigid “beliefs that certain things must or must not happen and that conditions such as success or approval are necessary”); and (4) self-other ratings (labeling the negative “total value or worth” of oneself or another person “based a specific behavior or attribute”, such as “worthless” or “jerk”). Eckhardt’s coding manual also outlined six types of cognitive biases, as described by Beck et al. (Beck, 1976; Beck, et al., 1979): (1) causal thinking/ arbitrary inferences (drawing negative conclusions in absence of supporting evidence and assuming others’ distressing behaviors are intentionally malevolent); (2) overgeneralization (constructing a general rule based on a isolated incidents; “always,” “never”); (3) magnification (“overestimating the significance of an event and reacting incongruously to the present situation”); (4) personalization (self-referent thinking in situations that have little or nothing do to with the self and vigilantly scrutinizing the motives of others for evidence that one may be a target); (5) demandingness (similar to the demanding subcategory in irrational beliefs, but for demanding cognitive bias code, words such as “must,” “should” could be inferred); and (6) absolutistic/dichotomous thinking (all-or-none thinking).
 
6
Cronbach alphas for the global irrational beliefs ratings were .78 for husbands’ self-reports, .82 for wives’ self-reports, .78 for wives’ inferences regarding husbands’ thoughts/feelings, .80 for husbands’ inferences regarding wives’ thoughts/feeling, .72 for objective observers’ inferences regarding husbands’ thoughts/feelings, and .64 for objective observers’ inferences regarding wives’ thoughts/feelings. Cronbach alphas for the global cognitive biases ratings were .79 for husbands’ self-reports, .83 for wives’ self-reports, .76 for wives’ inferences regarding husbands’ thoughts/feelings, .80 for husbands’ inferences regarding wives’ thoughts/feeling, .74 for objective observers’ inferences regarding husbands’ thoughts/feelings, and .66 for objective observers’ inferences regarding wives’ thoughts/feelings.
 
7
Due to videotape problems (i.e., observers were unable to hear the wife), objective observers were unable to code the tapes of three wives (1 NVND and 2 NVD wives). In addition, an occasional study participant did not answer specific questions (e.g., a few couples would not provide income information). For these reasons, there are varying degrees of freedom across the analyses in this study.
 
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Metagegevens
Titel
Aggressive Cognitions of Violent Versus Nonviolent Spouses
Auteurs
Kahni Clements
Amy Holtzworth-Munroe
Publicatiedatum
01-06-2008
Uitgeverij
Springer US
Gepubliceerd in
Cognitive Therapy and Research / Uitgave 3/2008
Print ISSN: 0147-5916
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-2819
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-007-9139-9

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