Who are those guys? Toward a behavioral typology of batterers

This paper reviews a cluster analysis of batterer abuse and antisocial variables drawn from intake interviews with battered women in Texas shelters. A substantial portion of severely abusive and extremely antisocial batterers are identified in the cluster solution. A typology, based on cross-tabulations of the clusters and descriptive variables, includes three types of batterers: sociopathic, antisocial, and typical batterers. These findings suggest that research on batterer characteristics needs to direct attention to the differentiation of batterers, and that intervention with especially the sociopathic and antisocial batterers needs to go beyond court-mandated counseling and anger control treatment.