The Role of Mindfulness and Angry Rumination in Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

Researchers have identified that angry rumination may mediate the association between mindfulness and aggression. The current investigation aims to replicate and extend prior work by including a clinical sample of partner-violent men and by focusing on intimate partner violence rather than aggression aimed at an unspecified other. This investigation tested the hypothesis that angry rumination would mediate the association between mindfulness and two forms of intimate partner violence: emotional abuse and physical assault. Study 1 consisted of 237 undergraduate students (74.68% identified as women, 24.89% men, and 0.42% other; 1.69% identified as American Indian/Alaskan Native, 34.18% Asian-American, 19.41% Black/African-American, 11.39% Hispanic/Latino, 1.27% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 37.13% White/European-American, 6.75% Other; Mage = 21.18) and Study 2 consisted of 132 men (0.69% identified as American Indian/Alaskan Native, 3.37% Asian, 34.03% Black/African-American, 12.50% Hispanic/Latino, 0% Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian, 32.64% White/Caucasian, 4.86% other, 4.17% multiethnic/multiracial; Mage = 35.98) who attended a community-based treatment program for the perpetration of IPV and completed measures prior to treatment. Angry rumination mediated the association between mindfulness and emotional abuse in both samples, but angry rumination did not mediate the (proposed) association between mindfulness and physical assault in either sample. It is notable that mindfulness was significantly associated with physical assault in the clinical sample, but that it was not significantly associated with physical assault in the undergraduate sample. Analyses continued to indicate that angry rumination statistically mediated the association between mindfulness and emotional abuse above and beyond demographic control variables in each sample. Analyses also continued to indicate that angry rumination did not statistically mediate the proposed association between mindfulness and physical assault above and beyond demographic control variables in either sample. Findings support recent efforts to tailor mindfulness-based interventions to target emotional abuse and highlight the importance of further investigating angry rumination and mindfulness in the context of IPV.