Traditional Gender Roles and Emotion Dysregulation as Risk Factors for Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration Among College Men

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent public health issue in the United States that affects millions of individuals each year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2019). Throughout their lifetime, 43 million women will experience psychological aggression (CDC, 2019). However, a gap in the literature on traditional gender role beliefs (TGRB) and IPV poses potential expansion on our understanding of individuals who perpetrate violence and adhere to traditional gender roles. The present study investigated whether emotion dysregulation moderated the relationship between TGRB and IPV perpetration among 132 undergraduate men. We hypothesized that TGRB would positively associate with psychological and physical IPV perpetration among men with high, but not low, emotion dysregulation. TGRB positively associated with psychological IPV among men with high and average, but not low, emotion dysregulation. Emotion dysregulation, but not TGRB, positively related to physical IPV perpetration. Results suggest that emotion dysregulation may be an important target for college IPV interventions, particularly for men who endorse TGRB.