Abstract

LILA, Marisol; GRACIA, Enrique  and  MURGUI, Sergio. Psychological adjustment and victim-blaming among intimate partner violence offenders: the role of social support and stressful life events. The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context [online]. 2013, vol.5, n.2, pp.147-153. ISSN 1989-4007.  https://dx.doi.org/10.5093/ejpalc2013a4.

Intimate partner violence offenders often use victim-blaming attributions to explain their own violent behavior. These attributions represent an important challenge for intervention programs for intimate-partner violence offenders. The main objectives of this study were to analyze both the influence of social support and stressful life events on the psychological adjustment (self-esteem and depressive symptomatology) of intimate partner violence offenders and the relationship between offenders' psychological adjustment and their victim-blaming attributions. The sample consists of 314 men convicted of intimate partner violence who were referred to a community-based intervention program. Results from a structural equation model showed that social support and stressful life events were related to psychological adjustment. Psychological adjustment also was related to victim-blaming attributions among intimate partner violence offenders. A better understanding of the relationships between psychological adjustment of intimate partner violence offenders and its determinants, as well as its impact on victim-blaming attributions, may provide support to new intervention strategies. Implications of these results for improving the effectiveness of intervention programs are discussed.

Keywords : Intimate partner violence offenders; Psychological adjustment; Social support; Stress; Victim-blaming.

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