What Differentiates Batterer Men with and without Histories of Childhood Family Violence?

Abstract

The goals of this study were to explore the prevalence of childhood family violence (CFV) (both suffered and witnessed) among male batterers in treatment, and to analyze the specific psychological profile of those perpetrators with CFV. A sample of 1,421 men recruited from a specialized batterer treatment program was assessed. A description of the sociodemographic, violence, and psychopathological characteristics of the sample was carried out. Moreover, a comparison of all the variables studied between batterer men with and those without CFV was conducted. The results showed that 35.2% (n = 500) of the sample reported having been victims of CFV (67.2% of them directly suffered abuse, and 32.8% witnessed violence between their parents, mainly from father to mother). Batterers with CFV presented with more irrational beliefs both about women and about violence as a strategy to cope with everyday difficulties. Moreover, they had significantly higher scores than batterers without CFV on all psychopathological symptoms as assessed by the SCL-90-R, as well as on most of the STAXI-2 subscales. In the logistic regression analysis, the main variables related to having a history of CFV were low education level, voluntary access to the program, having a previous psychiatric history, being an immigrant, having children, and presenting a greater number of psychopathological symptoms. According to these results, batterers with CFV showed a higher severity in most of the variables studied than those without CFV. Consequently, these findings highlight the importance of tailoring batterer treatment programs to their specific characteristics, particularly those regarding childhood victimization.