Dispositional and communicated dyadic perspective-taking during conflicts and intimate partner violence perpetration...

Understanding others' thoughts and feelings (i.e., perspective-taking) has consistently been recognized as a crucial protective factor against intimate partner violence (IPV). However, previous research has predominantly focused on dispositional perspective-taking, assessed through self-report measures, and has often overlooked communicated perspective-taking, assessed through observational measures, even though it may play a critical role in preventing romantic conflicts from escalating into violence. The current study used a dyadic observational design to examine the associations between (1) self-reported dispositional and (2) observed communicated dyadic perspective-taking during an actual couple conflict discussion and psychological, physical and sexual IPV perpetration in an inclusive sample of young adult community couples (n = 178). Findings revealed distinct associations between dispositional and communicated perspective-taking across IPV forms. Both dispositional and communicated perspective-taking were negatively associated with the individual's own and their partner's psychological IPV perpetration. Dispositional perspective-taking was negatively associated with the individual's own physical IPV perpetration, while communicated perspective-taking was negatively associated with the partner's physical IPV perpetration. Dispositional perspective-taking was negatively associated with one's own and their partner's sexual IPV perpetration. Secondary analyses also showed significant interactions between partners' perspective-taking in association with IPV. Our findings highlight the overlapping yet unique and inherently dyadic contributions of dispositional and communicated perspective-taking to IPV dynamics in young adult couples.