General Offending and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration in Young Adulthood: A Dutch Longitudinal Study

• Author: Janna Verbruggen,Arjan A. J. Blokland,Amanda L. Robinson,Christopher D. Maxwell
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211022657
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Date: 01 December 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211022657

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2022, Vol. 66(16) 1796 –1820

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X211022657

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Article

General Offending and

Intimate Partner Violence

Perpetration in Young

Adulthood: A Dutch

Longitudinal Study

Janna Verbruggen1, Arjan A. J. Blokland2,

Amanda L. Robinson3,

and Christopher D. Maxwell4

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between general offending and intimate

partner violence (IPV) perpetration in young adulthood, using a Dutch longitudinal

study. Young adults were followed over four waves, and self-reported data on

general offending, IPV perpetration, and a number of individual characteristics

were collected. Results of random effects models demonstrated that young adults

involved in more diverse offending behavior reported higher levels of different

types of IPV perpetration, even when individual factors were taken into account.

Moreover, logistic regression analyses showed that general offending was also

related to an increased likelihood of continuity in IPV perpetration. Taken

together, the findings indicate that it is useful to view IPV perpetration as part of

a broader criminal career.

Keywords

intimate partner violence, general offending, young adulthood

1Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2Leiden University, The Netherlands

3Cardiff University, UK

4Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

Corresponding Author:

Janna Verbruggen, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Law, Vrije Universiteit

Amsterdam, Initium Building, De Boelelaan 1077, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Email: J.Verbruggen@vu.nl

1022657IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X211022657International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyVerbruggen et al.

research-article2021

Verbruggen et al. 1797

Introduction

Intimate partner violence (IPV), which can consist of a range of behaviors including

physical aggression, psychological abuse, and sexual coercion, is a serious social

problem (World Health Organization, 2017). Research conducted in the EU countries

has shown that on average 20% of women have suffered from physical IPV, 43% have

reported psychological abuse, and 7% have experienced sexual IPV, since the age of

15 (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights [FRA], 2014). Dutch research

indicated that 6% of adults have experienced physical, sexual, and/or psychological

IPV over the past 5 years, with significantly more women (8%) than men (5%) experi-

encing victimization (Van der Veen & Bogaerts, 2010). Moreover, prevalence rates of

IPV perpetration and victimization are highest among young adults (Desmarais et al.,

2012; FRA, 2014). Despite relatively high rates of IPV in young adulthood, longitudi-

nal studies have also demonstrated that in general, rates of IPV perpetration tend to

decrease throughout young adulthood (Johnson et al., 2015; Kim et al., 2008; Shortt

et al., 2012). To illustrate, Johnson et al. (2015) studied the development of IPV per-

petration from ages 13 to 28, and found that prevalence of IPV perpetration peaks

around age 20, and then declines throughout young adulthood.

Thus, it appears that the development of IPV perpetration mirrors the development

of general antisocial and offending behavior, which has also extensively been shown

to be prevalent during the teenage years, but decrease throughout young adulthood

(e.g., Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990; Sweeten et al., 2013). However, thus far the field

of IPV research has developed largely separate from life course criminological research

on the development of general offending behavior. Research has only recently begun

to examine IPV perpetration as part of a broader general criminal career, and this body

of work points to an overlap between general offending and IPV perpetration (e.g.,

Capaldi et al., 2012; Piquero et al., 2006). Therefore, the aim of this paper is to add to

this burgeoning area by examining the association between general offending and IPV

perpetration in young adulthood.

The Association between General Offending and

IPV Perpetration

Traditionally, IPV-focused scholars have viewed this form of violence as largely unre-

lated to general offending, and have instead emphasized the importance of gender

inequality and gender roles (Dobash & Dobash, 1979), or focused on family-related

processes including power dynamics, family conflict, and stress (Straus et al., 1980).

Subsequently, more integrated, multi-factor models for understanding IPV have

emerged that recognize an association between general antisocial or violent behavior

and IPV perpetration. In these models, general antisocial behavior is identified as a

risk factor for IPV perpetration, along with other factors, such as relationship dynam-

ics, a partner’s traditional gender ideology, and other proximal triggers and stressors

(Bell & Naugle, 2008; Capaldi & Clark, 1998; Capaldi et al., 2005; DeMaris et al.,

2003). Furthermore, researchers who have proposed typologies have indicated that a