Coercive control during the transition to parenthood: An overlooked factor in intimate partner violence and family wellbeing?

A key criticism of research on intimate partner violence (IPV) is that a sole focus on physical or psychological acts of aggression fails to account for other forms of manipulative behavior that may have serious consequences for partner and family functioning. The current study examines coercive control, or behavior designed to constrain or compel an intimate partner in some way, in a longitudinal community sample of 98 heterosexual couples assessed in the third trimester of pregnancy as well as at 1 and 2 years postpartum. We found that the majority of couples reported at least some coercive controlling behavior during the transition to parenthood, that coercive control was highly bi-directional between partners, and that women were more likely than men to engage in coercive control before parenthood. Using multilevel actor-partner interdependence modeling, we found that women's coercive control predicted their own as well as men's perpetration of IPV across the transition to parenthood. Controlling for IPV perpetration by both partners, women's coercive control was longitudinally predictive of men's depression, harmful alcohol use, relationship dissatisfaction, poor co-parenting, low perceived parenting competence, and perceptions of toddler problem behavior. Men's coercive control was longitudinally predictive of women's relationship dissatisfaction and parenting stress, as well as women's perceptions of infant problem behavior. Men's coercive control was associated with their own use of ineffective parenting behavior. These findings suggest that coercive control is common in community samples during the transition to parenthood and that coercive control predicts lower early family functioning.

Hostility, flooding, and relationship satisfaction: Predicting trajectories of psychological aggression across the transition to parenthood.

Psychological aggression has been shown to have harmful effects on both partners, sometimes above and beyond the effects of physical aggression. However, very little is known about psychological aggression during the transition to parenthood. The transition to parenthood is a time where relationship satisfaction often declines and stress increases, which may put the couples at higher risk for psychological aggression. The purpose of this study was to examine if prenatal risk factors related to interpersonal style (specifically, emotional flooding and hostility) predict changes in psychological aggression from pregnancy to 2 years postpartum. Ninety eight couples took part in this study. The couples completed self-report questionnaires during pregnancy, 1 year postpartum, and 2 years postpartum. Both partners were asked about perpetrating and experiencing psychological aggression in their current relationship. Two level Hierarchical Linear Models (HLMs) were used to examine longitudinal associations between hostility, flooding, and psychological aggression. For women, hostility during pregnancy was a significant longitudinal predictor of psychological aggression. For men, flooding was a significant longitudinal predictor of psychological aggression. For both men and women, relationship satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between flooding/hostility and psychological aggression, indicating that women's hostile attitudes and men's tendency to be flooded tend to erode relationship quality, leading to increases in psychological aggression. This may represent a classic demand-withdraw dynamic in couples. The results indicate hostility for women and flooding for men are potential prenatal risk factors for future psychological aggression. Implications and future research directions are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 42:134-148, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.