Lack of response inhibition does not predict intimate partner violence perpetration
Key takeaways:
- Response inhibition deficits did not predict current or future intimate partner violence perpetration.
- More research is needed to understand response inhibition in intimate partner violence perpetration.
WASHINGTON — Deficits in response inhibition did not predict the perpetration of intimate partner violence, according to a poster presented at the Anxiety and Depression Association of America Conference.
“Alcohol use has been correlated with increased frequencies of intimate partner violence perpetration and we were interested if innate response inhibition deficits also mimicked these findings,” Bryce Arseneau, MS, a graduate student in the department of psychology and an associate research specialist in the Anxiety Disorder Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, told Healio.
“Our lab uses response inhibition tasks to explore how executive function deficits affect maladaptive behaviors in other disorders including OCD, trichotillomania and excoriation disorder,” Arseneau said. “Our colleague Dr. Ryan Shorey, who primarily studies alcohol use and intimate partner violence in various populations, collaborated with our lab by placing this task within their study protocol.”
Arseneau and colleagues analyzed data from a preexisting cohort of 207 LGBQ+ adults (mean age, 22 years) who had data on intimate partner violence (IPV) collected at baseline and 3 months. The researchers used the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationship Inventory to measure IPV perpetration frequency and the Stop Signal Task to assess response inhibition deficits, specifically stop-signal reaction time.
Covariates were measured using the UPPS-P Short Version, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test, the DSM-5 PTSD Checklist and the Internalized Homophobia Scale.
Most participants were white and assigned female at birth.
Adjusting for covariates, response inhibition deficits did not predict current or future physical, sexual or psychological IPV perpetration.
“We were surprised to not find any relationship between IPV perpetration frequency and response inhibition deficits; however, other factors may be at play which dictates the frequency of IPV perpetration,” Arseneau told Healio. “For example, a propensity towards anger would likely have to be a part of the process of increased instances of IPV perpetration within the context of response inhibition deficits.”
Current research is examining whether response inhibition-based training for perpetrators may reduce IPV, and other research focuses may revolve around emotional stimuli, according to Arseneau.
“One of the aspects of response inhibition tasks that has been getting more attention is adding emotional stimuli to provide an environmentally similar situation in which response inhibition is required. In this case, adding frustrating or aggression related stimuli may provide contextual stimuli which are more similar to instances of IPV,” Arseneau told Healio. “Therefore, a ‘hot’/emotional, as opposed to ‘cold’/unemotional, response inhibition task may better predict how response inhibition deficits are related to instance of IPV perpetration.”
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Arseneau B, et al. The relationship between response inhibition deficits and intimate partner violence perpetration. Presented at: Anxiety & Depression Association of America Conference; April 13-16, 2023; Washington, D.C.
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