Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is an immediate public health matter that has recently been redefined to include “physical violence, sexual violence, stalking and psychological aggression (including coercive tactics) by a current or former intimate partner” (Breiding, Basile, Smith, Black, & Mahendra, 2015). In this updated government document, the definition of an intimate partner is also reconsidered due to the need to address the intimate relationships of teens and young adults. Therefore, this updated definition allows inclusion of “spouses (married spouses, common-law spouses, civil union spouses and domestic partners), boyfriends/ girlfriends, dating partners and ongoing sexual partners”, which may include individuals that are adolescents

However, there also seems to be a consistency among these differences concerning the subtypes emerging within the research (Gondolf, 1988; Gottman et al., 1995; Hamberger, Lohr, Bonge, & Tolin, 1996; Holtzworth-Munroe & Stuart, 1994; Johnson, 1995; Tweed & Dutton, 1998). The most prominent and consistent typologies were characterized by Holtzworth-Munroe & Stuart in their 1994 literature review of male batterers. These three subtypes established by Holtzworth-Munroe & Stuart (1994) were operationally defined as generally violent/ antisocial (AS), borderline/ dysphoric (BD) and family only/ low psychopathology. The AS group was identified by males who engaged in moderate to severe martial violence as well as extra familial violence, had the most extensive criminal records and were most likely to have Antisocial Personality Disorder or Psychopathy. The BD subtype also engaged in moderate to severe martial violence, but with less extra familial violence and criminal behavior. However, the BD group was also the most psychologically distressed and emotionally volatile. On the other hand, individuals in the LP group engaged in the least severe marital violence, with this violence generally aimed at family members. Furthermore, these individuals were least likely to have a personality disorder or some form of psychopathology (Holtzworth-Munroe & Stuart,

We see this etiological role in the previously discussed subtypes of generally violent/ antisocial (AS), borderline/ dysphoric (BD) and family only/ low psychopathology. However, personality research proposes that personality disorders are simply extreme variants of normal personality and this distinction between normal and abnormal personality may be arbitrary (O’Connor, 2002;