Intimate Partner Violence Within Law Enforcement Families

Abstract

Using data from the Baltimore Police Stress and Domestic Violence study, the authors examined how exposure to stressful events on the job affects law enforcement employees’ physical aggression toward domestic partners, evaluating the role of negative emotions and authoritarian spillover in mediating the impact of such task-related stress. The authors consulted general strain theory and angry aggression theory to explain domestic violence in police families. Significant positive effects on physical aggression toward an intimate partner were found for variables measuring authoritarian spillover and negative emotions. However, these effects were different for different gender and racial groups.