Counseling male spouse abusers: characteristics of treatment completers and dropouts

This article examines differential demographic and personality characteristics of completers (n = 88) and dropouts (n = 68) from a spouse abuse abatement counseling program. Chi-square analyses on categorical data and multivariate analyses of variance on personality test data revealed several predicted findings. In general, treatment dropouts were younger and had lower employment levels than treatment completers. Dropouts also had higher pretreatment levels of police contact than completers for alcohol- and drug-related offenses, as well as miscellaneous offenses, but not for violent offenses. Personality data indicated greater borderline and schizoidal tendencies among dropouts, compared to completers, as measured by the Millon Clinical Multixial Inventory (MCMI). Moreover, completers evidence lower levels of overall psychopathology than dropouts. Discriminant function analyses correctly predicted 71% of dropouts with the following variables: volunteer status, race, employment, MCMI-Alcohol scale and pretreatment miscellaneous criminal offenses. The results of the present study are discussed in terms of victim safety planning and program policy implications.