Emotion Dysregulation and Intimate Partner Violence During Pregnancy: Leveraging Both Partners’ Experiences with Dyadic Data

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) occurring during pregnancy is associated with negative birth outcomes including low birth weight, pre-term birth and increased risk of fetal death. Most research on predictors of IPV during pregnancy uses self-report data from one person, overlooking the experiences of both partners. This presentation utilizes dyadic data to examine the association between actors’ (participants) and partners’ emotion dysregulation and IPV during pregnancy as reported and perpetrated by both members of the couple. Participants were 113 ethnically-diverse, low-income, heterosexual couples including pregnant women/mothers of the baby (MOBs) in their second (67%) or third (33%) trimester (Mage = 27.50 years, SDage = 5.53, range¬age = 19-40; 38% White, 25% Latinx, 16% African American, 14% biracial/multiracial, 4% Asian American/Pacific Islander, 3% Native American) and the biological fathers of the baby (FOBs; Mage = 29.83 years, SDage = 7.61, rangeage = 18-55; 38% White, 22% African American, 20% Latinx, 18% biracial/multiracial, 1% Asian/Pacific Islander, 1% other). Most couples lived together (85%) and were currently romantically partnered (95%). The Revised Conflict Tactics Scale was used to assess IPV victimization and perpetration during pregnancy. Two dichotomous summary IPV variables were created per couple: physical or sexual violence perpetrated by the actor and physical or sexual violence perpetrated by the partner. Maximum dyadic report was used such that, if the actor self-reported physical or sexual victimization, the summary variable considered victimization to be “present” in the dyad even if the partner did not self-report perpetrating physical or sexual violence. Emotion dysregulation was measured using the total dysregulation score from the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. An Actor-Partner Independence Model (APIM; see Figure 1) was used to examine both actors’ and partners’ outcomes as a function of their own and their partner’s causal variables (emotional dysregulation scores) while allowing for the interdependence of the two individuals’ responses. It was hypothesized that a) higher levels of actors’ emotion dysregulation would be significantly associated with higher levels of actors’ IPV perpetration during pregnancy (actor effect), b) higher levels of partners’ emotion dysregulation would be significantly associated with higher levels of actors’ IPV perpetration during pregnancy (partner effect), and c) the interaction of actors’ and partners’ levels of emotion dysregulation would be associated with higher levels of actors’ IPV perpetration. Results indicate that 36.4% of couples endorsed violence perpetrated by MOBs against FOBs and 22.2% of couples endorsed violence perpetrated by FOBs against MOBs. MOB’s total DERS score was significantly associated with IPV perpetrated by MOBs and IPV perpetrated by FOBs, such that levels of MOB’s (but not FOB’s) emotion dysregulation were higher in couples that reported violence perpetrated by either member of the couple. Findings suggest that MOB’s emotion dysregulation affects not only the violence she perpetrates, but also the violence FOBs perpetrate. This presentation will highlight the utility of APIM analyses to clarify how one’s own emotion dysregulation and one’s partner’s emotion dysregulation jointly influence IPV perpetration during pregnancy.

Authors

• Victoria Atzl, University of Rochester
  Presenting Author

• Angela J Narayan, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author