Long-Term Drug Misuse Increases the Risk of Cognitive Dysfunctions in Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators: Key Intervention Targets for Reducing Dropout and Reoffending

Abstract

Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is a major public health problem, with an important mortality rate in women across the world. In this regard, it has been well-established that drug misuse explains (at least in part) an increased risk of IPVAW perpetration. Even though alcohol is the most widely studied drug underlying IPVAW, other drugs, such as cannabis and cocaine also seem to be significant indicators of this type of violence. Nonetheless, little is known about mediators, such as cognitive domains that facilitate proneness to violence after drug consumption. Therefore, the primary objective of the present study was to compare drug misuse patterns and cognitive performance in a carefully selected sample of IPVAW perpetrators (n = 63) and a group of non-violent men (control group; n = 39). Second, we also aimed to study the association between different patterns of drug misuse and cognitive performance and several facets of IPVAW perpetration (i.e., severity of injuries and type of aggression). Our results revealed that IPVAW perpetrators showed considerably higher levels of sustained drug misuse (alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and heroin) for years and worse cognitive performance than controls. Moreover, the highest drug misuse sustained over time was related to the worst cognitive performance and the highest IPVAW severity. Finally, alcohol and cocaine seemed to be related to IPVAW and risk of reoffending. Whereas, cannabis, heroin, and MDMA were related to the existence of a previous criminal record (delinquency without violence). Hence, research in this field would help to develop coadjutant treatments and intervention packages to reduce drug misuse in the initial stages, which in turn would reduce cognitive impairments in IPVAW perpetrators. These expected improvements might produce an increase in treatment adherence and a decrease in the risk of future IPVAW reoffending.

Factors in Assessing Recidivism Risk in Young Offenders

“…Along similar lines, Ref. [16] recommend an action-response model of protective factors, underlining how useful it is in treating adolescent populations [63,64], especially considering that [25] report that adolescents are highly receptive to prosocial changes. Finally, investigations such as those by [3,45] highlight how important it is for us to increase our knowledge of the influence of protective factors because their impact is greater in predicting prosociality, thereby reducing patterns of criminal behavior [65].…”

Aggressive behaviours associated with MDMA and psychedelics: a narrative review

“…Several studies included only males (N = 9) and did not report on ethnicity (N = 10). Sixteen studies focused on ages 16-50 (Gerra et al, 2000;Gerra et al, 2001;Verheyden et al, 2002;Verheyden et al, 2003;Bond et al, 2004;Curran et al, 2004;Hoshi et al, 2004;Hendrickson and Gerstein, 2005;Hoshi et al, 2006;Hoshi et al, 2007;Reid et al, 2007;Feingold et al, 2008;Scott et al, 2013;Vaughn et al, 2015;Walsh et al, 2016;Romero-Martínez et al, 2019). However, one study included participants over the age of 50 (Thiessen et al, 2018).…”

“…However, one study included participants over the age of 50 (Thiessen et al, 2018). Of the 17 studies, 14 focused on MDMA (Gerra et al, 2000;Gerra et al, 2001;Verheyden et al, 2002;Verheyden et al, 2003;Bond et al, 2004;Curran et al, 2004;Hoshi et al, 2004;Hendrickson and Gerstein, 2005;Hoshi et al, 2006;Hoshi et al, 2007;Reid et al, 2007;Scott et al, 2013;Vaughn et al, 2015;Romero-Martínez et al, 2019). Out of the three non-MDMA studies, only one study (Thiessen et al, 2018) assessed classic psychedelics as the main substance of research focus whereas the other two grouped hallucinogens into a broad category encompassing both classic and non-classic psychedelics (Feingold et al, 2008;Walsh et al, 2016).…”

“…This team found that among arrestees, ecstasy users compared to non-ecstasy users, were less likely to be charged with assault (OR = 0.682, p < 0.10) or burglary (OR = 0.498, p < 0.05) but more likely to be charged with drugrelated crimes (OR = 1.29, p < 0.05) (Hendrickson and Gerstein, 2005). The second study (n = 102) reported that among male perpetrators of IPV against women, MDMA use was related to the existence of a previous criminal record without violence (Romero-Martínez et al, 2019). The third study (N = 19,067) found that, compared to non-MDMA users, MDMA users participated significantly more in criminal and violent behaviour, even after controlling for covariates such as lifetime substance use, sociodemographic factors and parental antisocial behaviours and substance use characteristics (Vaughn et al, 2015).Lastly, data collected from 260 ecstasy users showed higher levels of violent behaviour among users with high levels of lifetime ecstasy use (Reid et al, 2007).…”

“…We identified four studies (Hendrickson and Gerstein, 2005;Reid et al, 2007;Vaughn et al, 2015;Romero-Martínez et al, 2019) investigating potential associations between MDMA use and IPV, criminality and violent behaviour. The first study had a sample of 17,558 subjects consisting of arrestees and a matched sample of men who had not been arrested.…”