U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala has described domestic violence as an """"""""unacknowledged epidemic in our country."""""""" The broad extent of this health problem is illustrated by the 1985 National Family Violence Resurvey estimate of 8.7 million U.S. couples experiencing one or more physically violent episodes from one another over the previous year. This level of spousal violence is of particular concern when directed at women, for whom violent assault is often repeated and is likely to result in greater injury. Experimental research suggests that substance use not only is associated with increased. aggression, but is also a risk factor in spousal violence. In addition, neuropsychological status and personality characteristics are associated with spousal violence as well as substance abuse. Because recovering substance abusers are at high risk for spousal abuse and often display both decrements in cognitive functioning and impulsive personality characteristics, it is important to examine these areas of individual functioning in relation to spousal violence in this population. Pilot data for this study suggests that recovering substance abusers are a high risk group for spousal violence, and that cognitive functioning is strongly associated with spousal violence. The primary aim of this study is to test models that may predict spousal violence from measures of cognitive functioning and impulsive personality characteristics in men who are recovering from multiple substance abuse.
The specific aims and hypotheses are as follows: 1. Lower performances on neuropsychological tests of abstract reasoning, visuospatial skills, and learning and memory ability are predicted to be associated with higher levels of husband-to-wife violence. 2. Higher levels of impulsive personality characteristics in men recovering from multiple substances are predicted to be associated with higher levels of husband-to-wife violence. 3. A replication of an existing model will be attempted relating lower levels of cognitive performance in the husbands to higher levels of violence reported from the previous year, over and above the husbands' affective functioning and other confounding influences. This previous model will be extended to predict violence prospectively. 4. Two comprehensive, longitudinal models will be tested relating the husband's impulsivity and cognitive functioning to husband-to-wife violence, after controlling for other confounding factors. One model to be tested will be mediational, in which lower cognitive performances are predicted to effect an increase in violence through increased impulsivity. The second model tests direct and interactive effects of cognitive functioning and impulsivity on violence. 5. Low concordance between the spouses in their self reports of violence is predicted to be related to poorer cognitive functioning in the husbands.
| Medina, Krista Lisdahl; Shear, Paula K; Schafer, John (2006) Memory functioning in polysubstance dependent women. Drug Alcohol Depend 84:248-55 |
| Medina, Krista Lisdahl; Shear, Paula K; Schafer, John et al. (2004) Cognitive functioning and length of abstinence in polysubstance dependent men. Arch Clin Neuropsychol 19:245-58 |
| Schafer, J; Fals-Stewart, W (1997) Spousal violence and cognitive functioning among men recovering from multiple substance abuse. Addict Behav 22:127-30 |
