This article is a continuation of the series in the ATSA FORUM’s Researchers’ Corner. Each article highlights recent published scientific research and summarizes it in a way that seeks to make it intelligible to clinicians. This article is about Chopin et al. (2023)’s investigation of whether men who commit sexual violence against their intimate partners differ from men who commit solely non-sexual violence against their partner.

Intimate Partner Sexual Violence (IPSV) consists of unwanted, nonconsensual, sex imposed by someone on their intimate partner. According to Bachman and Saltzman (1995) about a quarter of all sexual assaults may be IPSV. Chopin et al.’s research attempted to address two questions:

• Are those who engage in IPSV different from those who engage in non-sexual forms of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)? It is certainly plausible to suppose that IPSV is simply an extension of the factors that lead to any IPV.
• Whether those who engage in IPSV typically follow the same criminal trajectory, as opposed to their having diverse criminal careers?

In investigating these questions Chopin et al. employ the “criminal career paradigm”. This attends to the sequence of criminal acts the individual engages in over time. Key concepts include onset, duration, and desistance, as well as escalation and specialization.

Chopin et al.’s study draws on a Canadian database covering all IPV crimes reported to the authorities in the Canadian province of Quebec. Data relating to 12,458 males who were involved in IPSV and 32,474 individuals were involved in non-sexual intimate partner violence were extracted by crime analysts who specialize in IPV.  Following Blumsteain et al. (1986), 12 continuous variables were extracted for each case. Eight variables described the number of offenses of particular kinds (homicide, violent, property, liberty violation such as kidnapping, breaches of conditions, drug offenses, and (non-IPV) sex offenses, and other offenses). They also determined the number of different types of offenses, the average number of offenses per year, the average gravity (seriousness) score, and age at first criminal offense (reported to the authorities).

Chopin et al. analyzed these data with univariate non-parametric comparisons and then with binary logistic regression. Examination of the result of their logistic regression indicated that those who had engaged in IPSV were more likely to have another kind of sexual offense in their record, and more likely to have breaches of conditions but less likely to have non-IPV violence, property or drug offenses in their records. Their offenses were more homogeneous and begun at an older age.

Chopin et al. followed up by applying latent profile analysis to those who had engaged in IPSV. The four-profile solution had the best fit of those examined. Profile 1 consisted of men who had only engaged in IPSV. Profile 2 consisted of men who in addition to engaging in IPSV had also engaged in a low number of non-IPV criminal behaviors. Profile 3 consisted of men who in addition to engaging in IPSV had also engaged in a medium amount of offending split over multiple kinds of crime. Profile 4 consisted of men who in addition to engaging in IPSV had also engaged in a high amount of offending split over multiple kinds of crime.

Differences between the four profiles were confirmed by comparing them on variables not included in the original analyses. These were generally supportive of the typology. For example, those with more prolific involvement in non-IPV crimes (profiles 3 and 4) tended to have more different victims in a domestic context and profile 4 had more sexual assaults involving a weapon and more domestic violence involving injury.

Chopin et al. pull out their key findings as being:

• Those who engaged in IPSV tended to be more specialized in this kind of offense and less involved in other kinds of crime except for other kinds of sex offenses.
• Among those who engage in IPSV there are meaningfully different profiles, based largely on the individuals’ involvement in non-IPV crimes.
• While most of those who engaged in IPSV show substantial specialization, a minority’s involvement in IPSV is part of a more general pattern of diverse forms of crime and violence, and the latter are more likely to have mental health issues.

The primary practical implication of their finding identified by Chopin et al. is that the bulk of those who engage in IPSV are better addressed with programs relevant to sexual offending rather than programs relevant to general violence. The results also imply that when IPSV is part of a general pattern of nonsexual violence then a broader mental health assessment may be helpful.

The methodology of this paper is in some respects impressive. The sample size and the use of what seems like a sample representative of those who come to official attention for IPSV make the results liable to generalize. The conclusions drawn seem reasonable and are certainly relevant to those planning services for men who are being managed within a criminal justice system following the commission of IPSV offenses.

A limitation that is worth noting is that latent profile analysis assumes that individual differences between those who have engaged in IPSV arise from different underlying types (the latent profiles). An alternative view would be to individual differences as simply reflecting underlying dimensions such as degree of involvement in sexual offending and degree of involvement in non-sexual offending.

References

Bachman, R., & Saltzman, L. E. (1995). Violence against women: Estimates from the redesigned survey. US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice.

Chopin J, Fortin F, Paquette S, Guay JP, Péloquin O, Chartrand E. (2023). Violent Partners or a Specific Class of Offenders? A Criminal Career Approach to Understanding Men Involved in Intimate Partner Sexual Violence. Sexual Abuse. 2023 Dec 27:10790632231224356. doi: 10.1177/10790632231224356. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38149656.