Anger Experience and Expression Among Male Dating Violence Perpetrators During Anger Arousal

Abstract

The relationship between dating violence and anger experience and expression were investigatedin samples of 17 men who reported at least one incident of physical aggression toward afemale dating partner (DV) and of 16 men who reported a nonviolent interaction history (NV).Participants completed the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) and performed thearticulated thoughts during simulated situations (ATSS) paradigm while listening to anger-arousingaudiotapes. Participants' thought articulations were coded for anger-related affect,other negative emotions, and aggressive verbalizations. Results indicated that relative to NVmen, DV men scored significantly higher on STAXI Trait Anger, Anger In, and Anger Out scalesand lower on STAXI Anger Control. DV men articulated more aggressive verbalizations duringATSS anger arousal than did NV men. However, the groups did not differ on the number of angryverbalizations. The findings are interpreted in the context of social learning theories of partnerviolence.