Typologies of Intimate Partner Violence: Evaluation of a Screening Instrument for Differentiation

Given the prevalence and impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) in both community and therapeutic settings, it is vital
that the varying typologies of IPV be identified and treated accordingly. The present study sought to evaluate the efficacy
of a screening instrument designed to differentiate between characterologically violent, situationally violent, and distressed
non-violent couples; focus was placed on identifying situationally violent couples so that they could be invited to participate
in a conjoint pyschoeducational workshop. Couples from two samples were assessed to achieve this goal. Situationally violent
couples (N = 115) from Sample 1 were screened into the study via a phone interview and participated in an in-home assessment, which
assessed self-reported relationship violence. These couples were compared to a previously collected sample (Sample 2; Jacobsen
et al. 1994) of characterologically violent, distressed non-violent, and situationally violent couples. The main hypotheses stated that
couples from Sample 1 would report less severe relationship violence than characterlogically violent couples from Sample 2,
and would report greater amounts of low-level violence than distressed non-violent couples from Sample 2. Additionally, similar
rates of both self-reported violence would be seen for situationally violent couples from Samples 1 and 2. Multivariate analyses
supported this with the exception that situationally violent couples from Sample 1 did not differ significantly across all
domains from distressed non-violent couples in Sample 2. Implications for the screening instrument’s utility in clinical and
research settings are discussed.