Psychology, Department of
Date of this Version
2014
Citation
WATKINS, ET AL. , AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR 40 (2014)
Abstract
To date, research identifying moderators of the alcohol–intimate partner aggression (IPA) relation-ship has focused almost exclusively on male‐perpetrated aggression, without accounting for the dy-adic processes of IPA. The current study examined hazardous alcohol use and impulse control diffi-culties as predictors of IPA among a sample of 73 heterosexual dating couples. Both actor and partner effects of these risk factors on physical and psychological aggression were examined. Results indi-cated that impulse control difficulties were an important actor and partner predictor of both physical and psychological aggression. Findings supported the multiple threshold model such that the inter-action between impulse control difficulties and hazardous alcohol use significantly predicted phys-ical aggression severity. These results suggest the importance of targeting impulse control difficulties and hazardous alcohol use in IPA treatment, as well as the advantages of examining risk factors of IPA within a dyadic rather than individual framework.