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Skin conductance rises in preparation and recovery to psychosocial stress and its relationship with impulsivity and testosterone in intimate partner violence perpetrators.

Authors :
Romero-Martínez A
Lila M
Williams RK
González-Bono E
Moya-Albiol L
Source :
International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology [Int J Psychophysiol] 2013 Dec; Vol. 90 (3), pp. 329-33. Date of Electronic Publication: 2013 Oct 16.
Publication Year :
2013

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators were categorized into 2 groups using Gottman et al.'s (1995) typology depending on their skin conductance (SC) reactivity to stress. Overall, type I perpetrators tend to show autonomic underarousal, whereas type II perpetrators present a preparatory hyperreactivity to confront stress. Moreover, impulsivity traits and testosterone (T) levels may modulate SC responses to increase the risk of proneness to violence. In this study, SC response to stress was assessed by comparing IPV perpetrators with non-violent controls while performing a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Subjects with a history of IPV demonstrated higher non-specific SC responses during the recovery period than the non-violent controls. Nonetheless, there were no differences between groups in the case of mean SC levels. Furthermore, impulsivity and baseline T levels were associated with higher SC level reactivity during a preparation period only in IPV perpetrators, with both relationships being mediated by anger expression. Our results confirm that the IPV perpetrators correspond physiologically to type II and support the validity of SC as a diagnostic indicator for IPV classification. Our findings contribute to the development of effective treatment and prevention programs that could benefit from the use of biological indicators for analyzing the risk of recidivism in IPV perpetrators.<br /> (© 2013.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1872-7697
Volume :
90
Issue :
3
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
24140253
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2013.10.003