The current study examined how antisocial personality disorder (APD) and substance use disorder contributed to partners' reports of physical partner violence among single and dual substance-abusing couples. Participants were 69 heterosexual couples entering treatment in which one or both partners met criteria for substance use disorder. APD diagnosis of the male partner was linked to significantly higher maleto-female and female-to-male perpetration of physical partner violence and victimization. Female partner's APD diagnosis was associated with women's reports of victimization by their male partners. Dual substance use diagnosis emerged as a moderator, in which the effect of men's APD diagnosis on men's perpetration of physical partner violence and victimization was significantly reduced if both partners had substance use disorder. Findings underscore the importance of both partners' APD diagnosis and substance use status for understanding physical partner violence among single and dual substance-abusing couples.Keywords Physical partner violence . Antisocial personality disorder . Drug use disorder . Alcohol use disorder Physical partner violence is a serious public health problem. Estimates from the National Intimate Partner and SexualViolence survey indicate that 31.5 % of women and 27.5 % of men have been the victim of physical violence by a relationship partner during their lifetime (Breiding et al. 2014). Although these estimates are high, physical partner violence is typically found to be between 50 % and 65 % of those entering substance abuse treatment (e.g., Burnette et al. 2008;Chermack et al. 2001;Chermack et al. 2010;Kaufmann et al. 2014; see Murphy and Ting 2010, for a review). Antisocial personality disorder (APD), a pervasive disorder with onset prior to age 15 characterized by breaking the law, lying and manipulation, impulsive and irresponsible behavior, and anger and aggression (American Psychiatric Association 2013), is a robust predictor of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration for men with (e.g., Taft et al. 2010) and without (e.g., Stuart et al. 2006) substance use disorder. Studies that have examined associations between physical partner violence, APD, and drug and alcohol disorders typically focus on substance-abusing men or on one partners' report of substance use, personality traits, and IPV. In the present study, we investigated associations between physical partner violence and APD among single and dual substance-abusing treatment-seeking couples.
Literature ReviewSubstance Use Disorders, Physical Partner Violence, and Antisocial Personality Disorder For both men (see Foran and O'Leary 2008 for a review; Jose et al. 2014; see Murphy and Ting 2010 for a review) and women (Stuart et al. 2013) alcohol consumption and disorders have a robust association with physical partner violence. For instance, interviews with men with alcohol use disorders and their partners revealed that blood alcohol concentration and