Self-Projected Protection Order Violations across Contexts, History, and Emotion Regulation: A Brief Report

Abstract

The effectiveness of protection orders (PO) from abuse vary by objective and subjective metrics, including victims’ perceptions and legal outcomes. It is unclear how defendants perceive PO violations and evaluate decisions to violate POs. This study examined how context, emotion regulation, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) were related to the decision to violate a PO. A general community sample (N = 300) recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk completed a demographics questionnaire, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), ACEs Questionnaire, and a study-specific vignette and measure asking their projected likelihood of verbally/physically violating the PO. The context in each vignette was randomized to include control (providing information about the PO and ex-partner), custody (alluding to child custody disputes), or significant other conditions (introducing the complainant’s new partner). PO context was not significantly related to projected physical or verbal violations. DERS and ACEs were significantly associated with projected total and physical violations in all contexts. DERS scores were also associated with verbal violations. Certain violation types were related to endorsement of specific ACEs items: self-reported sexual abuse and household abuse were each associated with projected total and physical PO violations. Preliminary data suggest that emotion regulation and ACEs may be more noteworthy than the situation in which the PO was issued. Given the impact of ACEs on emotion dysregulation and offending behavior (e.g. domestic violence), research is needed on effective early interventions and to determine when/where POs may fail to prevent future harm.