Profiling men who perpetrate intimate partner violence in Albania: Emotion regulation, aggressiveness, and developmental adversity

AbstractIntroduction: Intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration among men is a pressing public-health concern globally and in post-transition societies such as Albania. Beyond socio-demographics, fewer studies have jointly examined psychological and developmental predictors. This study assessed prevalence, correlates, and multivariable predictors of men’s IPV perpetration in Albania.Methods: A cross-sectional survey of adult men (N = 365; community participants and court-mandated perpetrators) measured IPV with a five-item, severity-weighted Abuse Severity Index (ASI-5: verbal, psychological, threats/property destruction, physical, and sexual). Psychological/developmental variables included attachment orientations (ECR-RS), emotion regulation (DERS-Impulse), adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), alcohol use (AUDIT), cognitive flexibility (CFI-Control), and Big Five traits (TIPI). Group differences, correlations, and binary logistic regression analyses were performed.Results: Over half reported psychological IPV, while physical assaults (21.9%) and sexual coercion (16.4%) occurred only among IPV perpetrators. Several socio-demographic risks (e.g., lower education/income, unemployment) were associated with IPV, though in multivariable models only age 45+ remained predictive. The strongest psychological predictors were ACEs (OR = 1.26 per unit), avoidant attachment (OR = 1.61), and impulse-control difficulties (OR = 1.10); alcohol use showed a marginal positive association. Protective tendencies (emotional stability, conscientiousness, agreeableness, cognitive flexibility) correlated negatively with IPV but did not retain significance in regression. Overall, psychological and developmental predictors explained 55% of the variance in IPV perpetration.Discussion: Findings support a developmental-attachment pathway to IPV perpetration: early adversity, insecure (avoidant) attachment, and emotion-regulation deficits increase risk, compounded by alcohol use. Results highlight the need for trauma-informed, attachment-based, and self-regulation interventions, with attention to alcohol misuse, and offer practice implications for risk stratification and perpetrator programming in resource-constrained, Southeastern European settings.Keywords: emotion regulation; intimate partner violence perpetration; attachment avoidance; impulse control; cognitive flexibility; alcohol misuse; adverse childhood experiences; Albania.