Neuropsychological and psychophysiological profile of intimate partner violence perpetrators menthe role of alcohol

Resumen

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) represents a serious public health problem worldwide. In recent years, growing evidence has established a significant relationship between IPV perpetration and heavy alcohol use. However, the scientific literature has not analyzed the effects of this alcohol consumption on neuropsychological and psychophysiological variables in IPV perpetrators. Alcohol might predispose perpetrators to cognitive alterations that affect emotional and behavioral regulation, and then predispose them to carrying out violent behavior in stressful or tense situations that are difficult for them to manage. Although attempts have been made to classify IPV perpetrators based on Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) reactivity to acute stress, subsequent studies have failed to replicate this classification. Notably, the classifications proposed have neglected the role of chronic alcohol abuse in ANS dysregulation and the fact that this dysregulation involves an abnormal stress response. Hence, this thesis aims to establish the neuropsychological profiles of IPV perpetrators and characterize the psychophysiological response to a laboratory task, analyzing the influence of different patterns of alcohol consumption. The sample was composed of a group of men sentenced to less than two years in prison for IPV from the Contexto Program with different levels of alcohol consumption (two groups), another group of men without IPV but with a history of alcohol use disorder (AUD), and a last group of control men without a history of IPV or AUD. A complete neuropsychological assessment was carried out, and the psychophysiological response was registered for the entire sample. Our results indicated that IPV perpetrators, specifically those with a high-risk level of alcohol use, showed greater cognitive deficits, mainly in executive functions, attention switching, memory, and empathic skills from perpetrators with a low-risk of alcohol use and non-violent men, and a higher parasympathetic predominance than perpetrators with a low risk of alcohol use. Moreover, non-violent men with AUD history also showed deficits in some executive, attentional and mnesic cognitive functions, but without empathic skill alterations and with a higher sympathetic predominance than controls. These findings offer broader knowledge about alcohol’s effects on the neuropsychological variables of IPV perpetrators, in addition to characterizing their psychophysiological functioning in response to a laboratory task. Thus, this information could be useful in the development of coadjutant intervention programs more adapted to their characteristics, thus reducing the future risk of IPV recidivism.