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Emotion Regulation Moderates the Association Between Proximal Negative Affect and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

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Abstract

Negative affect is a central component of many theories of aggressive behavior. Though understudied, it is likely that proximal negative affect increases the odds of aggression perpetration when individuals have poor emotion regulation, but not when individuals have more adaptive emotion regulation. Thus, the current study examined (1) the proximal effect of various indicators of negative affect (e.g., anger, hostility, depression) on intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and (2) whether poor emotion regulation moderated these associations. For up to 90 consecutive days, male college students (N = 67) in a current dating relationship completed daily surveys on their negative affect and IPV perpetration. Results demonstrated that emotion regulation moderated many of the associations between proximal negative affect and physical aggression perpetration, such that negative affect was associated with increased odds of violence when poor emotion regulation was high but not low. This is the first study to demonstrate the moderating role of emotion regulation in the link between proximal negative affect and IPV perpetration. As such, these findings have important implications for existing theories of IPV and emotion regulation and suggest that interventions may effectively reduce IPV by targeting emotion regulation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported, in part, by grants F31AA020131 and K24AA019707 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) awarded to the first and last authors, respectively. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIAAA or the National Institutes of Health.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Ohio University, 239 Porter Hall, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Ryan C. Shorey

  2. Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    James K. McNulty

  3. University of Tennessee—Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Todd M. Moore & Gregory L. Stuart

Authors
  1. Ryan C. Shorey
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  2. James K. McNulty
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  3. Todd M. Moore
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  4. Gregory L. Stuart
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Correspondence to Ryan C. Shorey.

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Shorey, R.C., McNulty, J.K., Moore, T.M. et al. Emotion Regulation Moderates the Association Between Proximal Negative Affect and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration. Prev Sci 16, 873–880 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-015-0568-5

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