Christopher I Eckhardt

• Professor at Purdue University West Lafayette

Objective: In this Perspectives article, we outline a collaborative research program aimed at a more refined understanding of the proximal factors involved in alcohol-facilitated intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. Method: We provide a summary of our research experiences and offer recommendations regarding studies aiming to understand wha...

Objective: Sexual and gender diverse (SGD) individuals are at heightened risk for intimate partner aggression (IPA) perpetration relative to their heterosexual and cisgender peers. Alcohol is a well-established cause of IPA perpetration in cisgender, heterosexual couples; however, minimal research has investigated the alcohol-IPA perpetration link...

Background: Sexual intimate partner violence (S-IPV) commonly occurs within the contexts of committed romantic relationshops. Prior research has demonstrated the existence of a robust link between alcohol use and S-IPV. Despite this, few research studies have explored the etiological underpinnings of alcohol-related S-IPV perpetration, specifically...

Objective: This study investigated the impact of relational provocation on intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration as a function of alcohol intoxication and individuals’ emotion differentiation (ED; i.e., the ability to differentiate between positive and negative emotions). We hypothesized that provocation and acute intoxication would be assoc...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health concern that affects millions of individuals each year. As such, research informing its prediction and prevention is paramount. Etiological models of IPV perpetration and empirical findings suggest that emotion regulation (ER) is associated with IPV perpetration. Further, research has s...

This study examined the inter-relationships among posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, cognitive bias, executive functioning deficits, and intimate partner violence (IPV) outcomes in a sample of 104 military veterans who had served in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Veteran participants completed questionnaires, a neuropsychological as...

Experiences of sexual violence are commonplace among individuals within the LGBTQIA+ communities, with more than 63% of sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals experiencing victimization. Despite high rates of victimization, few individuals experiencing sexual assault seek services post-assault, with even fewer individuals within the LGBTQIA+...

In this paper, we examine the empirical and theoretical support for the idea that experiences of isolation can intensify substance use, even among those in committed close relationships, and can increase the likelihood of negative conflict behaviors, including intimate partner violence (IPV). Cross-section, longitudinal, and laboratory-based resear...

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the significant and varied losses that couples can experience during times of global and regional disasters and crises. What factors determine how couples navigate their close relationships during times of loss? In this paper, we elaborate and extend on one of the most influential frameworks in relationship sci...

In this multisite study, we examined whether aggressive cognitions and facial displays of negative affect and anger experienced during provocation mediated the association between alcohol intoxication and intimate-partner aggression (IPA). Participants were 249 heavy drinkers (148 men, 101 women) with a recent history of IPA perpetration. Participa...

The I³ Model is a meta-theoretical framework that posits intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration is the product of three interactive factors: instigators, impellors, and inhibitors. The present study examined the effects of trait anger (an impellor), psychological flexibility (a disimpellor), and alcohol intoxication (a disinhibitor) on IPV pe...

Ostracism – being excluded and ignored – has received considerable attention in social psychology in the past few decades. Experimental evidence suggests that negative psychological reactions to ostracism are robust and widespread. Initially, ostracism is detected quickly as painful and reduces the satisfaction of four fundamental needs: belonging,...

The Instigating-Impelling-Inhibiting model of intimate partner violence (IPV) etiology, or “I ³ Model,” is presented as a meta-theoretical alternative to traditional perspectives regarding treatment models for perpetrators of IPV. The I ³ Model is a meta-theoretical approach to understanding IPV risk that, when applied to IPV intervention programs,...

Objective: Ostracism is distressing to those who experience it and people are motivated to find ways to cope, including self-medication or aggression. However, we know little about how alcohol intoxication may affect individuals' reactions to ostracism. This study investigates predictions informed by Alcohol Myopia Theory to observe how alcohol in...

Decades of research has identified alcohol use as a contributing cause of intimate partner aggression (IPA) perpetration; however, there have been fewer studies that seek to identify mediators of the relation between alcohol use and IPA perpetration. Building on research showing a positive association between problematic drinking and relationship d...

Intimate partner aggression (IPA) is a complex construct composed of the means and the motivations by which a person harms his or her intimate partner. Existing measures only assess forms of IPA perpetration while neglecting to measure the motivations for aggressing. The present study sought to fill this lacuna by adapting and validating an existin...

The I ³ Model posits that intimate partner violence (IPV) is determined by the relative strength of instigatory, impellance, and inhibitory factors. Although much research has examined nonsexual IPV, few studies have used the I ³ Model to examine sexual IPV. This study investigated the effects of sexual IPV victimization (an impellor) and psycholog...

Intimate partner aggression (IPA) is a critical public health problem that requires clear and testable etiological models that may translate into effective interventions. While alcohol intoxication and a pattern of heavy alcohol consumption are robust correlates of IPA perpetration, there has been limited research that examines this association fro...

Previous research has demonstrated a significant association between alcohol and aggression. However, the precise mechanisms underlying this relationship have yet to be fully elucidated. In the present study, we examined alcohol’s effects on an attentional bias toward aggressogenic cues as the first step in a possible mediation model of alcohol-fac...

Relationship dissatisfaction is a known risk factor for intimate partner aggression (IPA). However, the possible effect of weak emotion regulation skills on this association is unclear, particularly in couples at risk for violence who drink alcohol heavily. This study examined the moderating effect of emotion regulation on the association between r...

Objective: In the present study, we examined whether intimate partner aggression (IPA) could be predicted by variables corresponding to the I3 model’s “perfect storm” theory (“I-Cubed”; Finkel & Eckhardt, 2013). Accordingly, we investigated whether IPA was predicted by an interaction of three processes: presence of instigatory cues (interpersonal p...

This study examined implicit and explicit attitudes toward the use of violence and their capacity to predict past and future partner-directed aggression in a college dating sample. Implicit and explicit intimate partner violence (IPV) attitudes were measured and compared based on how well they identified self-reported past IPV and predicted express...

Background: This study tested a moderated-mediational model whereby dimensions of impulsivity (i.e., negative urgency, positive urgency, sensation seeking, lack of premeditation, and lack of perseverance) differentially predict perpetration of physical intimate partner aggression through problematic drinking in intoxicated and non-intoxicated heav...

Objective: Previous research has demonstrated a significant association between trauma and intimate partner aggression (IPA) perpetration. However, the precise mechanisms underlying this relationship have yet to be fully elucidated. In the present study, we examined the impact of several key factors implicated in Ehlers and Clark's (2000) cognitiv...

A randomized clinical trial tested the hypothesis that a flexible, case formulation–based, individual treatment approach integrating motivational interviewing strategies with cognitive-behavioral therapy (ICBT) is more efficacious than a standardized group cognitive-behavioral approach (GCBT) for perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV). For...

Objective: Intimate partner violence refers to verbal and physical aggression occurring between people who are, or were formerly, in an intimate relationship. Using the I3 model framework, we examined the interactive influences of negative urgency (i.e., the tendency to act rashly when in a bad mood), relationship quality, and cognitive reappraisal...

There is little debate that alcohol is a contributing cause of aggressive behavior. The extreme complexity of this relation, however, has been the focus of extensive theory and research. And, likely due to this complexity, evidence-based programs to prevent or reduce alcohol-facilitated aggression are quite limited. We integrate I³ Theory and Alcoh...

Introduction and aims: Problematic drinking and executive functioning deficits are two known risk factors for intimate partner aggression (IPA). However, executive functioning is a multifaceted construct, and it is not clear whether deficits in specific components of executive functioning are differentially associated with IPA perpetration general...

This meta-analysis was the first study of which we are aware to investigate the association between Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) PTSD symptom clusters and parent, child, family, and marital/partner functioning problems (e.g., intimate partner violence [...

This study examined social skills deficits as a mediator of the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and use of intimate partner aggression (IPA) among returning veterans. Prior research with veterans has focused on PTSD-related deficits at the decoding stage of McFall’s (1982) social information processing model, and...

This study examined whether laboratory exposure to traumatic reminders potentiated the relationship between veterans’ posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and intimate partner aggression (IPA) articulations elicited during an anger-induction task. The sample included 82 male Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom veterans. The...

Alcohol use and impulsivity are 2 known risk factors for intimate partner violence (IPV). The current study examined the independent and interactive effects of problematic drinking and 5 facets of impulsivity (i.e., negative urgency, positive urgency, sensation seeking, lack of premeditation, and lack of perseverance) on perpetration of physical IP...

Background: Although readiness to change is associated with mandated partner violence treatment compliance and subsequent violent behaviour among male offenders (e.g. Scott and Wolfe, 2003; Eckhardt et al., 2004), our understanding of the factors associated with pretreatment change remains limited. Offender research indicates that individual and d...

Background Anger and problematic alcohol use have been established as individual risk factors for intimate partner violence (IPV) victimisation and perpetration, but it is unknown how these factors convey risk for IPV perpetration for men and women within the context of mutually violent relationships. HypothesesAnger and problematic alcohol use wer...

We examined social information processing factors that could represent pathways through which posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms relate to anger expression and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration in returning U.S. veterans. The sample included 92 male Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans, primarily Caucasi...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a critical public health problem that requires clear and testable etiological models that may translate into effective interventions. While alcohol intoxication and a pattern of heavy alcohol consumption are robust correlates of IPV perpetration, there has been limited research that examines the mediating mechanis...

Treatment programs for intimate partner violence (IPV) evidence high rates of noncompliance, which is associated with repeat offending. Problematic alcohol use is reported in approximately half of all partner violent offenders and represents a strong risk factor for treatment noncompliance. However, previous research with IPV offenders mandated to...

The problem of intimate partner violence (IPV) is increasingly being studied among military populations, although there is a dearth of research examining IPV perpetrated against male veterans by their female partners. Returning veterans and their partners face several unique difficulties, including psychological and relationship distress, which may...

In the current study, 20 dating violent and 27 non-violent college males provided verbal articulations and self-report data regarding cognitive biases, change in affect, and aggressive reactions following anger induction through the articulated thoughts in simulated situations paradigm. Violent, relative to non-violent, males articulated more cogni...

Alcohol is commonly used to cope with social pain, but its effectiveness remains unknown. Existing theories offer diverging predictions. Pain overlap theory predicts that because alcohol numbs physical pain it should also numb people to the negative effects of ostracism. Alcohol myopia predicts that because alcohol intensifies salient emotions it s...

The present study examined the associations among implicit attitudes toward factors related to intimate partner violence (IPV) and objective, behavioral outcomes of participants legally mandated to attend partner violence interventions. Twenty-six male offenders, adjudicated within the past month on IPV charges, completed three sets of gender and v...

There is a growing research base focusing on intimate partner aggression (IPA) in combat veterans, although little work has focused on IPA assessment. In the current study, the authors investigated IPA assessment among 65 male Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) combat veterans and their female partners. Specifically,...

The Instigating-Impelling-Inhibiting model of intimate partner violence (IPV) etiology, or ‘I3 theory’, is presented as an alternative to traditional treatment models for perpetrators of IPV. I3 theory is a meta-theoretical, process-interaction model of IPV risk that, when applied to IPV intervention programs, incorporates components of therapeutic...

Although research suggests that both negative affect and alcohol use are related to the risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) in male samples, less is known about the status of these risk factors in female samples. Forty-three college-age females who reported a recent history of IPV perpetration submitted 6 weeks of Online daily reports pertainin...

This article presents a systematic review of intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention studies. Using electronic databases and standard search methods, 19 studies met inclusion criteria for the review. These studies targeted partner violence victimization and/or perpetration, included a comparison or control group, and measured IPV behavior or out...

In this review, we provide a descriptive and detailed review of intervention programs for intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators and survivor-victims. Given the extensive personal, interpersonal, and societal costs associated with IPV, it is essential that services being offered by the criminal justice, mental health, and medical communities...

The current study evaluated the efficacy of a single-session brief motivational enhancement (BME) interview to increase treatment compliance and reduce recidivism rates in a sample of 82 recently adjudicated male perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV). Batterer intervention program attendance and completion as well as re-arrest records ser...

Whereas cognitive variables are hypothesized to play an important role in intimate partner violence (IPV) etiology and intervention, cognitive assessment methods have largely targeted offenders’ explicit, controlled cognitive processing using paper-and-pencil questionnaires prone to social desirability biases. Using an implicit measure of attitudes...

We examined the moderating effect of dispositional aggressivity on the relationship between alcohol intoxication and aggressive verbalizations. Using a laboratory anger-induction task that simulated an interpersonal conflict as a method to assess aggressive verbalizations (the articulated thoughts in simulated situations paradigm), 70 participants...

In the present study, the authors clustered a pretreatment sample of 190 perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) mandated to attend group counseling based on State–Trait Anger Expression Inventory scores and examined whether these profiles were associated with differential outcomes 1 year postadjudication. Cluster analysis revealed 3 groups...

Men court-mandated to attend a batterer's intervention program (BIP) were evaluated to determine whether pre-BIP readiness to change and the presence of partner violence subtypes predicted BIP completion, criminal recidivism, and postadjudication partner violence 6 months post-BIP. Of the 199 subject sample, 40% did not complete BIP. Four readiness...

Recent interest in the construct of motivation to change among male perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) has led to development of two self-report measures of this construct: the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment for Domestic Violence (URICA-DV; Levesque et al. 2000) and the Safe at Home Inventory (SAH; Begun et al. 2003). We...

Cluster analysis of 139 partner violent men's self-reports on the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory identified profiles reflecting pathological anger (PA), low anger control (LAC), and normal anger (NA). The PA group self-reported higher pretreatment partner abuse, interpersonal dysfunction, distress, and substance abuse and had lower treatmen...

The author investigated the acute effects of alcohol intoxication on anger experience and expression among 46 maritally violent (MV) and 56 maritally nonviolent (NV) men randomly assigned to receive alcohol, placebo, or no alcohol. Participants completed an anger-arousing articulated thoughts in simulated situations (ATSS) paradigm and imagined mar...

In this article, the authors consider the empirical status of batterer intervention programs (BIPs) for male perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV). Recent reviews have reported only small average effect sizes for BIPs, with the small number of randomized trials showing little benefit of BIP attendance in preventing future abuse. The most...

The Transtheoretical Model has been recently applied to men seeking services at battering intervention and prevention programs (Eckhardt, Babcock, & Homack, 2004; Murphy & Baxter, 1997). This study considers whether women arrested for intimate partner violence differ from male perpetrators in terms of stages of change and processes of change. No ge...

There has been significant interest in, and controversy about, whether anger and hostility problems are meaningfully related to male-to-female intimate partner violence (IPV). In this meta-analytic review, we empirically evaluated whether the constructs of anger and hostility discriminated between IPV perpetrators and nonviolent comparison males. T...

The current study investigated the reliability of a new self-report questionnaire assessing stimuli that would likely elicit intimate partner violence. The Proximal Antecedents to Violent Episodes (PAVE) scale is a 30-item, Likert-type measure designed to assess situations that would reportedly precede the use of violence. In Study 1, an explorator...

Researchers have recently suggested that the Transtheoretical Model of behavior change (TTM; Prochaska, J. O. DiClemente, C. C., and Norcross, J. C., 1992, Am. Psychol. 47: 1102–1114) might help in understanding the mechanisms through which partner assaultive men attempt to change their abusive behavior. In the present study, we present data from 2...

While the emotion of anger has become an increasingly important part of clinical assessment, the theoretical and psychometric adequacy of the instruments used to assess anger and hostility have long been questioned. In the present review, we first provide definitions of anger and hostility in order to provide a theoretical context from which to eva...

The relationship between dating violence and anger experience and expression were investigated in samples of 17 men who reported at least one incident of physical aggression toward a female dating partner (DV) and of 16 men who reported a nonviolent interaction history (NV). Participants completed the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI)...

The relationship between dating violence and anger experience and expression were investigatedin samples of 17 men who reported at least one incident of physical aggression toward afemale dating partner (DV) and of 16 men who reported a nonviolent interaction history (NV).Participants completed the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) and...

The cognitive correlates of anger arousal and dating violence were investigated in samples of 17 males who reported at least one incident of physical aggression toward a female dating partner (DV), and 16 males who reported a nonviolent interaction history with their dating partners (NV). Participants performed the Articulated Thoughts during Simul...

The empirical search for psychological characteristics that differentiate maritally violent men (MVM) from their nonviolent counterparts has led researchers toward the role of cognitive factors in marital violence. In the present review, we outline the theoretical rationale for such research and examine the accumulated empirical evidence. Researche...

The purpose of the present investigation was to evaluate whether perpetrators of dating violence could be differentiated from their nonviolent counterparts on measures of anger and cognitive distortion, specifically Ellis's (1994) irrational beliefs and Beck's (1976) dysfunctional attitudes. Of the 95 male and 152 female undergraduates surveyed, 27...

In response to the case of Mary, a moderately depressed woman who also reports frequent “anger attacks,” I suggest that Mary's dysphoric mood is primarily related to problems in managing her frequent and intense episodes of anger arousal. These episodes have resulted in social contacts reacting negatively toward her, employers terminating her, and...

The cognitive correlates of anger arousal were investigated in community-based samples of maritally violent (MV), maritally distressed-nonviolent (DNV), and maritally satisfied-nonviolent (SNV) husbands. Participants performed the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations (ATSS) paradigm while listening to anger-arousing audiotapes. Trained rate...

The cognitive correlates of anger arousal were investigated in community-based samples of maritally violent (MV), maritally distressed-nonviolent (DNV), and maritally satisfied-nonviolent (SNV) husbands. Participants performed the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations (ATSS) paradigm while listening to anger-arousing audiotapes. Trained rate...

We examined the experience and expression of anger in community samples of 31 maritally violent (MV), 23 maritally dissatisfied-nonviolent (DNV), and 34 maritally satisfied-nonviolent (SNV) men. Two methods were used to assess anger. First, participants completed the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), which assesses respondents' level...

A substantial amount of data has accumulated demonstrating that emotionally disor-dered subjects are prone to bias their attention toward threatening, emotionally rel-evant stimuli. Little attention has been reserved for the study of cognitive processes involved in anger arousal. In the present study, we investigated whether mood-congru-ent attenti...

Twenty maritally violent (MV) and 20 maritally satisfied, nonviolent men (SNV) participated in an Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations (ATSS) assessment. Participants listened to audiotaped interpersonal interactions and articulated their thoughts at 30-second intervals. As predicted by Holtzworth-Munroe's (1992) information processing mode...

A substantial amount of data has accumulated demonstrating that emotionally disordered subjects are prone to bias their attention toward threatening, emotionally relevant stimuli, Little attention has been reserved for the study of cognitive processes involved in anger arousal. In the present study, we investigated whether mood-congruent attentiona...

We examined the possible universality of Spielberger's (1988) model of anger by validating a Russian State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI). In Eckhardt, Kassinove, Tsytsarev, and Sukhodolsky (1995), support was found for all STAXI factors except anger-in, using students from St. Petersburg State University. In the present study, 346 studen...

Attentional biases toward mood-congruent, task-irrelevant stimuli have previously been demonstrated in anxious and depressed subjects using the emotional Stroop procedure. We used a variation of this method to investigate basic information processing mechanisms underlying anger arousal. Eightyeight undergraduates classified as high or low trait ang...

Marital violence researchers have generally used the terms anger and hostility interchangeably. However, there are important differences between anger and hostility that may be vital to understanding the relationship between these constructs and marital violence. The present manuscript highlights the advantages of distinguishing between anger and h...

Spielberger's (1988) State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory represents a conceptual advance over previous anger measures. It measures both immediate anger experiences and longer term dispositions to experience anger, as well as modes of anger expression. In American samples, the inventory has been shown to be both internally consistent and conceptu...

offer a comprehensive theoretical framework of clinically intense anger to serve as a basis for the concept of an anger disorder / review the current status of the diagnostic assessment of anger, focusing especially on the surprising lack of official diagnostic attention given to anger problems / offer a new approach to clinical research on anger a...

This article proposes that while violent behavior has received much attention, the emotion of anger that may underlay violence, has relatively been ignored in the psychological literature. The status of anger in the psychological and medical literatures is reviewed. A criteria for a proposal of anger disorder for inclusion in DSM are presented. Psy...

This article proposes that anger has received less attention in the behavior therapy literature than other emotional disorders. Little research exists to guide clinical practice on the effectiveness of interventions to treat anger. Suggestions are made for treating angry clients. These suggestions are presented as researchable hypotheses. It is pro...

We investigated the levels of irrational thinking and self-reported negative and positive affects, and the relationships between these variables, in a sample of 382 college students in Russia and America. The Russian students were generally more rational than the American students, with some indication that American men score higher than American w...

We examined the perceived intensity of common emotion words. 369 undergraduates rated the intensity of verbal stimuli which represented hypothesized inappropriate/appropriate negative affect tokens (depressed/sad, anxious/concerned, angry/annoyed, and guilty/regretful) and positive affect tokens. Each stimulus was presented with the modifiers "very...

Obtained survey data from 147 members and fellows of the American Psychological Association regarding their endorsement of religion and science as sources of knowledge and their self-perceived conflict between these 2 orientations. A 37-item questionnaire examined religiosity, religious ideology, scientific thinking, and self-perceived conflict. Ss...

Typescript. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Hofstra University, 1994. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-199).