Dyadic Emotion Processes in the Prediction of Intimate Partner Violence

The authors tested Actor Partner Interdependence Models within HLM to investigate actor and partner effects of interaction-induced anger, trait anger and thoughts regarding intent to control emotion in the prediction of intimate partner violence. A community sample of 156 heterosexual married and/or cohabiting couples completed measures of violence and marital satisfaction and engaged in two discussions of problematic incidents within the relationship. Participants rated affectively intense moments of the interaction for specific emotions, intention and attributions they had experienced. Both interaction-induced anger and intention to control emotion showed equally strong actor and partner effects in the prediction of violence, controlling for marital satisfaction. Findings provide evidence of the non-independence of partners’ affective experiences and behaviors in the prediction of IPV and indicate that angry affect is an important predictor of one’s own and a partner’s level of perpetrated violence. Additionally, our results suggest that positive affect may help regulate the negative affective states that are linked with violence