Stigma and Emotion Regulation in Intimate Partner Violence: A Pilot Exploratory Study with Victims, Offenders and...

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Gender Studies
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Social constructionism in gender-based violence research examines how stereotypes and discourse affect individuals.
• Intimate partner violence (IPV) victim narratives frequently involve emotion regulation challenges, including shame, guilt, and fear.
• Understanding how victim and offender roles are narrated is crucial for effective clinical interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the terms used to describe victim and offender roles in gender-based violence.
• To analyze how these terms are conveyed across different groups (victims, offenders, experts).
• To explore the hypothesis that all groups categorize roles using fixed emotional categories.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory study using ad hoc open-ended questionnaires administered to 35 respondents at an Italian anti-violence center.
• Respondents included IPV victims, offenders, and healthcare experts.
• Content analysis performed using MADIT (Methodology for the Analysis of Computerised Text Data) and IRaMuTeQ software.

Main Results:

• Victims, offenders, and experts consistently depict victim and offender roles as immutable.
• Victims are described using terms associated with fear and self-guilt.
• Offenders are characterized by words related to anger and pathology.

Conclusions:

• The study confirms the hypothesis that roles are perceived as fixed and categorized emotionally.
• A framework for clinical intervention is proposed to broaden narratives, reduce psychological impact on victims, and modify offender behavior.
• Fostering narrative change is key to addressing the psychological and behavioral aspects of IPV.