Stress and Intimate Partner Aggression

Evidence suggests that stressed couples also tend to be aggressive couples. Chronic external stresses interact with individuals' dispositional and regulatory deficiencies, resulting in a spillover of these stresses into the relationship. High individual stress in combination with problematic interaction styles and problem-solving abilities increases the likelihood of IPA. We applied the I³ Model to better organize the instigating, impelling, and inhibiting factors and processes that moderate the stress-IPA association. Evidence suggests that certain forms of stress, such as IPA victimization, reliably instigate IPA perpetration, with weak inhibitory processes and impaired problem solving moderating the stress-IPA association. More research is needed that specifies the 'perfect storm' of factors that increase our understanding of how, and for whom, stress increases IPA risk.