Problems of Forensic Sciences 2011 Vol. 84 (LXXXIV) 336-355
INTERACTION MODEL OF THE CONDITIONS FOR VIOLENT ACTS IN THE FAMILY
Danuta RODE
Department of Clinical and Forensic Psychology, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
Streszczenie
The aim of the research conducted by the author was to determine what factors may condition the use of violence in the family by an offender and, of these, which have a significant influence on the occurrence of violent acts and which are of no significance in this respect. It was expected that certain characteristics of personality and temperament, such as aggressiveness, hostility, emotional reactivity and sense of control, would influence the behaviour of violent offenders and also that personality characteristics would interact to exert an influence on the situation and how it is perceived as well as on the coping strategies. The research embraced 325 men sentenced on the basis of article 207 § 1, 2 for family abuse. On the basis of the literature it was decided to examine the following personality characteristics of perpetrators of violence: sense of control, self-acceptance, aggressiveness, hostility, intelligence quotient and, as characteristics of temperament, emotional reactivity and activity. The study used the following research techniques: Wechsler’s Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R), the Self-Acceptance Scale by E. M. Berger, the “Delta” Locus of Control Questionnaire by R. Ł. Drwal, the Buss-Durkee Aggression Scale (SABD), the Formal Characteristics of Behaviour – Temperament Questionnaire (FCZ-KT) by B. Zawadzki and J. Strelau, the version of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) by R. S. Lazarus and S. Folkman, the Assessment of the Situation Questionnaire (KOS) by K. Wrześniewski, A. Jakubowska-Winecka and D. Włodarczyk, as well as a categorised interview and a Legal Files Guidebook. The results obtained concerning the mechanism of the conditions for physical violence in family relations prove that personality variables, such as aggressiveness, external locus of control, hostility and perception of a difficult situation as one of harm or loss have the strongest direct causative effect. The variables of aggressiveness, low intelligence quotient and the inability to use and apply coping strategies – including drawing on the support of others – have a total causative effect for the variable of psychological violence. The variables of temperament (reactivity and activity) were found to have no influence on the conditions for violence, while emotional reactivity influences the ways offenders cope with difficult situations.
Słowa kluczowe
Violence; Mechanism of violence; Personality characteristics; Characteristics of temperament.