Kenneth Corvo

Toward Evidence-Based Practice with Domestic Violence Perpetrators

ABSTRACT This review examines the policy and practice of interventions with male perpetrators of domestic violence in light of the widely accepted principles of evidence-based practice. Thus far, these policies and practices have enjoyed immunity from the external, empirical accountability available through implementing the findings from evaluations research and other empirical practice analyses. This immunity is supported by a policy framework where, for example, the state certifying agencies may presumptively forbid methods of intervention, with no obligation to empirically assess their efficacy or safety, that contradict the approved model. Based on the review of findings from both explanatory research and interventions research, evidence-based recommendations for policy and program change are proposed.

Violence, Separation, and Loss in the Families of Origin of Domestically Violent Men

The intergenerational transmission of domestic violence is most commonly studied from the perspective of social learning theory, with the consequence that variables external to that perspective are often overlooked. This study was undertaken in an effort to broaden the theoretical basis of intergenerational transmission of domestic violence by assessing if incorporating variables from attachment theory (measures of separation and loss) with exposure to violence in family of origin would increase predictive power of a multiple regression model. Subjects (N = 74) were men in treatment for domestic violence. Separation and loss variables were found to exert effects on respondents’ violent behavior greater than or comparable to those from exposure to family of origin violence. Findings supported a need to broaden theoretical views of the etiology of domestic violence perpetration.

Do Duluth Model Interventions With Perpetrators of Domestic Violence Violate Mental Health Professional Ethics

In spite of numerous studies of program outcomes finding little or no positive effect on violent behavior, the Duluth model remains the most common program type of interventions with perpetrators of domestic violence. In addition, Duluth model programs often ignore serious mental health and substance abuse issues present in perpetrators. These and other issues of possible threat to mental health professional ethics are reviewed in light of the court-mandated, compulsory nature of most Duluth model programs and client and victim expectations for program efficacy.

Variation by Race in Children's Alcohol Expectancies

The purpose of this study was to further investigate a post-hoc finding on racial differences in childrens alcohol expectancies. This was a secondary analysis of data originally collected for an evaluation study of longitudinal effects of a pre-school substance abuse prevention program in Cleveland. OH. Ss were second and third grade students who had received intervention services 3 years earlier and a matched comparison group who had not. The samples were combined for a total N = 69. Independent samples t-tests were used to assess differences in alcohol expectancy scores (on the Childrens Alcohol-Related Expectancies (CARE) questionnaire). Data analysis revealed significantly higher CARE scores for black children than for whites. Most of the variance was in a sub-scale, which measures beliefs on how alcohol effects arousal and aggression. The finding that black children more often reported beliefs that alcohol intensifies feelings and makes fighting easier may suggest differential exposure to models of behavior. Alternatively, the finding may reflect aspects of alcohol marketing in African American communities.

Frontal lobe deficits and alcohol abuse : Possible interactions in predicting domestic violence

ABSTRACT This study is a secondary analysis of data presented by Westby and Ferraro (1999), who examined the relationship between performance on neuropsychological measures of frontal lobe deficits and domestic violence. Their results suggest that men who commit domestic violence perform more poorly than controlled counterparts on measures related to frontal lobe deficits. The purpose of this re-analysis is to further explore the associations among frontal lobe deficits, alcohol abuse, and domestic violence. Findings from the re-analysis suggest that the effects of frontal lobe deficits on domestic violence may be most pronounced in cases of severe violence. The effects of alcohol abuse per se on domestic violence may be mediated by neuropsychological factors. The well-documented association between alcohol abuse and domestic violence may need to be re-evaluated to include neurological vulnerability.

The Role of Executive Function Deficits in Domestic Violence Perpetration

Of the probable psychological or neuropsychological vulnerabilities or risks in domestic violence perpetration, deficits in executive function may be one of the least explored. This integrative review contains overviews of domestic violence theory, the literature on psychological and neuropsychological risk for violence, the literature on executive function, and the literature on coping. The neuropsychology and neuroanatomy of violence typically involves deficits in the frontal lobes and their role in cognition and impulse control and/or excessive activation of the limbic structures with their role of mediating primary emotions and drive-related behavior. Domestic violence perpetration can be understood as maladaptive and destructive coping, symptomatic of disorders of impulsivity, neuropsychological impairment, and emotional dysfunction activated within the context of intimacy or primary relationships, often (if not usually) exacerbated by substance abuse or dependency. Conceptualizing domestic violence perpetration as maladaptive coping, impaired by executive deficits, psychopathology, often worsened by substance abuse, opens up a wide range of alternative intervention strategies. Instead of assuming (often incorrectly) that a perpetrator’s intentions are only patriarchal domination, careful assessment of neuropsychological vulnerability and coping abilities can lead to both a more accurate picture of risk as well as guided change strategies. Assessment of executive function can provide a framework for understanding and improving both the cognitive capabilities of perpetrators to form and use adaptive strategies as well as their abilities to manage or inhibit affective arousal to violence.

An Eye for an Eye: Gender Revanchisme and The Negation of Attachment in Domestic Violence Policy

Domestic violence policy and practice occupy a unique, complex, and often paradoxical cultural and legal space. The criminalization of domestic violence stands in stark contrast to greater social tolerance for violence among other family role sets, particularly those involving children. Debates concerning the role of gender in domestic violence emphasizing either male perpetration toward females or broadening the analysis to include mutuality of violence, female perpetration, and same-sex partner violence miss both key latent sociopolitical functions of policy and the greater complexity of gender across other forms of family violence. Harsher criminal penalties for offenders and current Duluth model inspired treatment approaches have not produced any evidence of commensurate declines in domestic violence. We have substituted vengeance for efficacy in our zeal to displace societal responsibility for domestic violence to scapegoated “batterers.”

Longitudinal trajectory of adolescent exposure to community violence and depressive symptoms among adolescents and young adults: understanding the effect of mental health service usage

Research on the impact of exposure to community violence tends to define victimization as a single construct. This study differentiates between direct and indirect violence victimization in their association with mental health problems and mental health service use. This study includes 8947 individuals from four waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and examines (1) whether sub-types of adolescent victimization are linked to depressive symptoms; (2) whether adolescent victimization is linked with mental health service use; and (3) the role of mental health service use in attenuating symptoms arising from victimizations. Adolescents witnessing community violence were more likely to experience depressive symptoms during adolescence but not during their young adulthood; direct exposure to violence during adolescence does not predict depressive symptoms in adolescence but does in adulthood. Use of mental health service mediates report of depressive symptoms for adolescent witnessing community violence.

Neurotransmitter and Neurochemical Factors in Domestic Violence Perpetration: Implications for Theory Development

Research on neurotransmitters and behavior is a vital and expanding area of study. As in other areas of empirical study of domestic violence, this remains an underdeveloped field of inquiry. Although a rigorous literature exists indicating a much broader range of neuropsychological risk factors for violence in general, policies regarding the study and treatment of domestic violence perpetration often disregard or forbid considerations of those factors. This current effort at theory development is a continuation of several prior works where the conceptual and empirical rationale for a broader explanatory theoretical framework for domestic violence perpetration is put forth. In this review, links between neurochemical anomalies, dysfunctional coping, and domestic violence perpetration are reviewed in light of their contribution to a biopsychosocial theory of domestic violence perpetration.

Attachment Security Priming and Domestic Violence: Augmenting Biopsychosocial Treatment of Perpetrators

In spite of an inhospitable policy and funding environment for domestic violence perpetrator treatment, efforts in theory development and practice innovation have persisted. Among them are efforts to understand and treat domestic violence using attachment theory. General principles of attachment theory, as well as concepts more directly connected to violence between intimates and other family members, suggest approaches to working with perpetrators that show promise for emotional growth and behavioral change. One such approach is attachment security priming involving the clinical or experimental activation or evocation of secure attachment style through the use of various prompts or stimuli. Evidence supporting positive results from attachment security priming with potential for addressing domestic violence includes: diminished fear reactions, improved creative problem-solving, reduced psychological pain, persistence in managing uncomfortable feelings, more positive relationship expectations, less attachment anxiety, and modulation of threat-related amygdala reactivity.