Big ideas series: self-regulation shift theory: trauma, suicide, and violence

BACKGROUND

Traumatic stress, suicide, and impulsive violence arguably are three of the most consequential problems facing societies today. Self-regulation shift theory is introduced to capture the underlying coping dynamics involved in these three grave challenges.

OBJECTIVES

Self-regulation shift theory, based in a nonlinear dynamical systems framework, focuses on critical psychological self-regulation thresholds and the role of cognitive self-appraisals in human adaptation to help understand these three significant societal challenges.

METHODS

This essay reviews existing evidence within the posttraumatic adaptation process utilizing SRST for understanding dynamic self-regulation. This is followed by integrating SRST within existing current theoretical models for suicidal behaviors and violent outbursts.

CONCLUSIONS

The essay concludes with methodological suggestions for future research applying SRST and how this research offers important opportunities to develop early warning systems that promote hope when hope seems impossible.

Maintenance in relationships, satisfaction, jealousy, and violence in young couples: a network analysis

BACKGROUND

The study explores the associations among Relationship Maintenance, Satisfaction, Jealousy, and Violence in young Peruvian couples, particularly in a post-pandemic context, using a network analysis.

METHODS

Eight hundred thirty-two participants aged 18-30 (M = 20.94, SD = 2.29), with 645 females (77.50%) and 187 males (22.50%), were involved. The study aimed to discern relationships among network nodes, emphasizing the link between Relationship Maintenance dimensions and Jealousy and Violence. The research also sought the central node in the network and examined gender-specific node connections, using the SMOTE algorithm for gender data balance.

RESULTS

Findings revealed a direct connection between Complementarity and Jealousy, implying intense shared interests can lead to unhealthy dependence. An inverse relationship was seen between Companionship and Violence. Satisfaction was pivotal, showcasing its importance in romantic relationship success. Additionally, the study shows men prioritize Companionship and Sharing, possibly due to cultural norms, while women focus on the Companionship-Complementarity bond, indicating mutual support.

CONCLUSIONS

The research emphasizes the critical role of maintenance variables in determining Satisfaction, Jealousy, and Violence in relationships. The pandemic's influence on romantic dynamics is evident, emphasizing the importance of Satisfaction. Future studies should focus on gender equity and further explore these relationships.

A Systematic Review of Systems Science Approaches to Understand and Address Domestic and Gender-Based Violence

Purpose

We aimed to synthesize insights from systems science approaches applied to domestic and gender-based violence.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review of systems science studies (systems thinking, group model-building, agent-based modeling [ABM], system dynamics [SD] modeling, social network analysis [SNA], and network analysis [NA]) applied to domestic or gender-based violence, including victimization, perpetration, prevention, and community responses. We used blinded review to identify papers meeting our inclusion criteria (i.e., peer-reviewed journal article or published book chapter that described a systems science approach to domestic or gender-based violence, broadly defined) and assessed the quality and transparency of each study.

Results

Our search yielded 1,841 studies, and 74 studies met our inclusion criteria (45 SNA, 12 NA, 8 ABM, and 3 SD). Although research aims varied across study types, the included studies highlighted social network influences on risks for domestic violence, clustering of risk factors and violence experiences, and potential targets for intervention. We assessed the quality of the included studies as moderate, though only a minority adhered to best practices in model development and dissemination, including stakeholder engagement and sharing of model code.

Conclusions

Systems science approaches for the study of domestic and gender-based violence have shed light on the complex processes that characterize domestic violence and its broader context. Future research in this area should include greater dialogue between different types of systems science approaches, consideration of peer and family influences in the same models, and expanded use of best practices, including continued engagement of community stakeholders.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10896-023-00578-8.

Daily Reports of Aggressive Behaviors in Interpersonal Conflicts

Interpersonal conflicts are inevitable, but the probability that conflicts involve aggressive behavior varies. Prior research that has tended to focus on victimization in intimate partnerships reported through retrospective designs. Addressing these limitations, the current study examines daily reports of behaving aggressively in any conflict across relationships in a sample of 512 young adults drawn from the nationally representative iCOR cohort. Respondent attitudes and affective measures were collected at the end of the daily data collection period. Regression methods were applied to examine the probability and frequency of aggression, investigating early and recent exposure to adversities, attitudes, self-control, affect and emotional states, and alcohol use behavior. Recent adversities and the propensity to endorse a defensive honor code attitude, consistent with theory and retrospective studies of aggression, predicted both prevalence and frequency of aggressive behavior. The associations of childhood maltreatment and self-control with the prevalence of behaving aggressively were as expected, but these constructs were significantly associated with the frequency of aggression with unexpected, inverse directionality. Moreover, respondents' affect and other emotional states were only associated with the frequency, not the prevalence, of aggressive behavior. Overall, this daily data collection constructively distinguished risk and protective factors for behaving aggressively more often. Further research is needed to disentangle the extent to which affective states drive or is a consequence of frequent aggressive behavior.

Catastrophe Theory Applied to Neuropsychological Data: Nonlinear Effects of Depression on Financial Capacity in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia

Financial incapacity is one of the cognitive deficits observed in amnestic mild cognitive impairment and dementia, while the combined interference of depression remains unexplored. The objective of this research is to investigate and propose a nonlinear model that explains empirical data better than ordinary linear ones and elucidates the role of depression. Four hundred eighteen (418) participants with a diagnosis of amnestic MCI with varying levels of depression were examined with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), the Functional Rating Scale for Symptoms of Dementia (FRSSD), and the Legal Capacity for Property Law Transactions Assessment Scale (LCPLTAS). Cusp catastrophe analysis was applied to the data, which suggested that the nonlinear model was superior to the linear and logistic alternatives, demonstrating depression contributes to a bifurcation effect. Depressive symptomatology induces nonlinear effects, that is, beyond a threshold value sudden decline in financial capacity is observed. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Exposure to intimate partner aggression during childhood is associated with blunted skin conductance recovery following stress in early adulthood

This study examines skin conductance level (SCL) trajectories and childhood exposure to intimate partner aggression (IPA) committed between parents in a sample of college students. Although IPA among parents does not directly involve children, children frequently see or are exposed to IPA first-hand when it occurs. This exposure to IPA increases risks for psychopathology and emotional or behavioral difficulties for children or adolescents later in life. However, research has not yet examined the stress response patterns of individuals exposed to IPA, nor how reactivity to stress may be altered based on this exposure. Participants included 161 college students who completed questionnaires assessing demographics, mental health, and exposure to IPA, and also reported on family functioning and parental drinking habits. Additionally, participants completed a three-minute mirror tracing task followed by a three-minute recovery period while SCL was monitored. Multilevel modeling was used to assess whether frequency or level of exposure to IPA was related to trajectories of SCL. Neither variable was related to SCL trajectories during the mirror-tracing task. However, both frequency and level of exposure were related to SCL trajectories during the recovery period, such that for participants reporting higher levels of either IPA exposure variable, SCL trajectories during recovery declined less rapidly and did not decline to as low of a level compared to participants reporting lower levels of IPA exposure. This blunted SCL recovery may be due to wear and tear from repeated innervation, or a calibrating of the SCL response to adapt to a volatile home environment.

When Child Welfare Caseworkers Intervene, Do Women Surviving IPV Obtain Recommended Services?

This study looked at 991 women surviving intimate partner violence (IPV), exploring several factors in their receipt of IPV services through the child welfare system. A secondary data analysis, the research used longitudinal data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II, was conducted to evaluate the relationship between receiving IPV services and child welfare intervention and between such receipt and demographic characteristics. Women in the sample had been substantiated for maltreatment and had lifetime experience of IPV; 15% of these women had received IPV services. Generalized estimation equation results showed likelihood of receiving services increased when the case plan specified needed IPV services. Biological/adoptive mothers retaining custody of children were relatively unlikely to receive IPV services, as were lower income women. Receipt of services was relatively unlikely at the third-wave interview compared with the first-wave interview, but no difference in likelihood of receiving services was found between first- and second-wave interviews. In addition, likelihood of receiving services was not associated here with the number of recent IPV episodes, IPV maltreatment, mother's perceived engagement with caseworker, and mother's race/ethnicity, employment, and education. Some implications for practice are discussed.

Violence towards women and their decisions to take action: A complex systems approach

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a blight on society. Our traditional understanding suggests that interventions should be straightforward, leading to predictable positive results. However, these assumptions do not reflect the reality of IPV, which continues to frustrate physicians. While IPV research has thoroughly described the developmental risks and impacts of IPV, the violent incident itself remains largely unstudied and poorly understood. Although this lack of research may partially explain physician frustration and the limitations of our interventions, the greater problem may be our reliance upon the wrong paradigm in guiding our understanding. Complexity science says that systems are globally understandable, but not completely knowable. Our hypothesis is that IPV needs to be viewed as a complex adaptive system if we are to understand the phenomenon, identify expectations and appropriately intervene. When viewed through the lens of complexity science, IPV becomes less knowable and predictable, suggesting that interventionists should expect variable response. Research has indeed demonstrated that partner violence is a complex phenomenon with multiple, interdependent factors and a nonlinear trajectory. This nonlinearity/unpredictability can impact outcomes in IPV, often more so than the frequency or severity of the violence. Similarly, women's decision-making concerning the violence is also a nonlinear process dependent upon multiple factors and catastrophic influences. Once recognized, complexity science offers a novel approach to explain IPV's obfuscation and resistance to predictable change. Using the tempered expectations of a systems lens, the violent interdependencies can be clarified, the obscure causes of events can be visualized, and the temporal irregularities can be mapped. Not only can the disruptive tipping points, system feedforward propagations, powerful attractors and discontinuities compromise reasoned intervention, but these same factors, if understood, can be harnessed to foster and magnify circumstances that enable positive change.

Act Scholarly! Embrace your inner behavioral scientist

Fifty years of scholarship by behavioral science faculty shaped the training and practice of family physicians. One can trace behavioral science influence from the philosophical underpinnings of family medicine (whole-person, patient-centered, biopsychosocial care), to the translation of psychotherapy skills into tools for family physicians, to the discovery of successful, integrated healthcare teams of family physicians and behavioral science professionals. Family medicine as we know it today rests on the shoulders of scholars who collaborated to conceive, experiment, evaluate, improve, and innovate. The purpose of this paper is to recruit you - behavioral science professionals - to continue this tradition of scholarship in Family Medicine. To advance your scholarly efforts, start by understanding that "scholarship" is not limited to research. "Scholarship" is sharing your good work with other professionals; through that interchange, you and they can improve. Next, surround yourself with people who will help you learn and succeed: mentors, collaborators, and helpers. Select a focus for your scholarship and read scientific literature for a thorough understanding of the topic. Identify a methodology that fits your values, interests, skills and resources. Start small, then grow. Sharpen your skills in writing and, if necessary, in statistics. Finally, Act Scholarly! by sharing your work with other behavioral science scholars.

Cognitive predictors of reactive and proactive aggression in a forensic sample: A comparison with a non-clinical sample

This study aimed at examining cognitive predictors of reactive and proactive aggression in a forensic-psychiatric (n = 80) and a non-clinical sample (n = 98; Brugman et al., 2015). Three different cognitive predictors were incorporated: (1) attentional bias towards aggressive stimuli (measured with Emotional Stroop task) and towards angry faces (measured with a visual search task); (2) interpretation biases (measured with Aggressive Interpretative Bias Task (AIBT) and a vignette task), and (3) implicit self-aggression association (measured with a Single-Target Implicit Association Task). To measure aggression, the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ) and the Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP) were used. An automatic self-aggression association positively predicted proactive aggressive behavior on the TAP in both samples. Furthermore, this self-aggression association predicted, increased self-reported proactive aggression (RPQ) in the forensic sample only. Pain, injury, and danger interpretations reported on the vignettes, negatively predicted self-reported proactive aggression in both samples. A stronger aggressive interpretation bias on the AIBT predicted more reactive aggressive behavior (TAP) in the non-clinical sample only. Taken together, findings show both common and distinct mechanisms in reactively vs. proactively driven aggressive behavior.

Background and Clinical Knowledge of Intimate Partner Violence: A Study of Primary Care Residents and Medical Students at a United States Medical School

Purpose: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health issue that affects the physical and mental health of victims. However, residents and medical students may not receive adequate training to effectively identify and intervene with patients who may be victims of IPV. The purpose of this study is to examine the background and clinical knowledge of IPV among primary care residents and medical students in the United States of America. Methods: Third and fourth year medial students (n=65) and primary care residents (n=60) participated in an online survey in 2013. Results: While the majority of the participants reported IPV was an important and relevant issue for their practice, approximately half of them had never talked about IPV with patients. Residents reported higher levels of background and knowledge of IPV than medical students. Knowing a victim of IPV, confidence about talking to patients about IPV, and talking to patients about IPV would be helpful to increase levels of background and knowledge of IPV. Conclusions: This study found that background and clinical knowledge of IPV can potentially affect physicians' approach with IPV victims. This study also demonstrated the need for future research in the development of effective programs and trainings to help bridge the gap between knowledge and implementation in medical practice.