An event-level examination of intimate partner violence perpetration: Effects of alcohol, instigation, and regulatory mechanisms

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PROJECT SUMMARY Intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, including physical, psychological, and sexual aggression by a dating partner, is a significant public health concern, costing the U.S. over $5.8 billion per year. Despite burgeoning research addressing this epidemic, rates of IPV perpetration remain high, especially among young adult men and women. Alcohol is a significant factor; there is a robust association between acute alcohol intoxication and IPV perpetration. The I3 model of aggression provides an empirical framework for understanding instigating (i.e., contextual experiences that increase one’s urge to aggress), impelling (i.e., a disposition toward aggression given adequate instigation), and inhibiting (i.e., an ability to override urges to aggress) factors that are proposed to interact to predict IPV perpetration in a given situation. Specifically, this study aims to comprehensively investigate the perfect storm theory, which postulates that IPV perpetration is most likely when instigating and impelling factors are strong and when inhibiting factors are weak. Although the I3 model remains prominent in IPV research, investigators have examined these risk factors disparately rather than synergistically, and only via self-report despite a plethora of behavioral tasks that may provide more valid measurement of impelling factors. The proposed research aims to provide a comprehensive, multi-method assessment of the confluence of instigating (e.g., relationship conflict), impelling (e.g., emotion regulation), and inhibiting (e.g., alcohol intoxication) I3 factors predicting physical, psychological, and sexual IPV perpetration utilizing a daily diary design. Event-level research provides a richness of data not fully utilized by previous investigations of alcohol and IPV perpetration. In addition to augmenting our understanding of proximal relations between I3 factors and aggression perpetration, event-level research allows for an examination of how within-person variability in I3 factors, such as alcohol intoxication, impact likelihood of same-day IPV perpetration. Moreover, within-person variability in alcohol intoxication may interact with greater impelling and greater instigating factors to predict aggression. Thus, in service of galvanizing intervention and prevention efforts, the proposed study aims to extend and evaluate the I3 scientific framework for understanding why and under what circumstances men and women perpetrate IPV. This proposal is commensurate with the candidate’s desire to develop a research program aimed at understanding the confluence of mechanisms underpinning alcohol-related IPV perpetration. Through the proposed research and training plan, the applicant will develop the skills and expertise necessary to make a substantive contribution to the field of alcohol and aggression research as an independent clinical scientist.