Relapse prevention for men who have assaulted a partner

Abstract

The present study assessed the value of Relapse Prevention (RP; Marlatt & Gordon, 1985; Pithers, 1990; Ward, 1992) as a basis for explanations of the offence cycle of men who have assaulted a partner. A key RP construct, the abstinence violation effect (AVE), and attributions and emotions across the offence chain were examined. Fifteen men who assaulted a partner were assessed using the Four Attributional Dimensions Scale (Benson, 1989), and the Differential Emotions Scale 4 (Izard, Doughty, Bloxom & Kotsch, 1974), at four points of the offence chain - background factors, high risk situations, lapse and relapse. The subjects also responded to two questions about restraint and self-efficacy at the first two points of the offence chain. Concurrently, they listened to an audio taped recording of their most recent or typical offence. Seven subjects each experienced three different types of AVE at the lapse and relapse points respectively. There were also ten subjects who experienced an AVE at both the lapse and relapse points. For some subjects, perceptions of low restraint and self-efficacy were early determinants of an AVE. Three subjects experienced a not abstinence violation effect (NAVE which is the antithesis of an AVE), at the lapse point and four at relapse. Five subjects at lapse and four at relapse obtained scores in an "unclassifiable" category. There were some changes in attributions across the offence chain. There were increases for an internal locus of control, decreases for stability and globality and no significant changes found for the controllability dimension. There were no significant differences found in attributions for subjects experiencing an AVE versus those who did not. There were significant increases in some negative emotions and decreases in joy and interest across the offence chain. There was significantly higher disgust, guilt, sadness and shyness, but not surprise, contempt, hostility, fear, shame and anger. The subjects experiencing an AVE reported increasing fear at the relapse point compared to all other subjects. There was also support for heterogeneity in emotions and attributions across the offence chain. Reasons that subjects gave for their offending were characterised by dysfunctional cognitions. The implications of these results were discussed, recommendations were made for future research, and implications for clinical work with batterers were briefly considered.