Psychodynamics of violence

To explore the dynamics of partner and stranger violence, 66 college student men who had been in a relationship with a partner during the past year were placed into one of four groups based on their conflict resolution tactics in the past year (Straus, 1980, Conflict Tactics Scale): nonviolent (n=17), partner violent (n=15), stranger violent (n=17), or panviolent (violent with partners and strangers; n=17). Violent men minimally "kicked, bit, or hit with a fist" another person. The men responded to 10 cards of the Thematic Apperception Test, scored for castration anxiety (Schwartz, 1955), and object relations (Westen, Barends, Leigh, Mendel, & Silbert, 1990; included to replicate an earlier study) and completed the MMPI-2 (for levels of alcohol-related problems, number of elevations on the clinical scales, and anxiety content scale). Alcohol-related problems assessed by the MMPI-2, MAC-R and the proportion of elevations on the clinical scales on the MMPI-2 were included based on previous literature and to help differentiate between the meaning of castration anxiety and general anxiety or psychopathology. Differences associated with the dimensions of partner or stranger violence were assessed with MANOVA tests, with ANOVA tests, chi square and subsequent follow-up tests as warranted.

Partner violent men had significantly higher levels of castration anxiety than others. Castration anxiety has to do with concerns about bodily damage, particularly aroused in an intimate relationship theoretically due to anxiety of bodily differences between men and women. Stranger violent men, including the panviolent men, reported significantly more alcohol-related problems (MMPI-2, MAC-R) than nonviolent and partner-only violent men. Object relation scores (four dimensions of mental representations of people and relationships between people) differed as a function of partner violence, with partner violent men reporting more benevolent views of relationships than nonviolent and stranger violent men. Indications of psychopathology and general anxiety (MMPI-2, proportion of elevations on the clinical scales and anxiety content scale) did not differ between groups.