Association between personality characteristics of adult male severe physical abuser and childhood abuse

Objective To explore the correlation between personality characteristics of adult male abuser and childhood abuse,to provide theoretical foundation for severe intra-familial physical violence intervention.Methods Thrty-eight participants with severe intra-familial physical violence(SIFPV) and 38 non-domestic violence(nDV) control participants from a community in Mianyang city,Sichuan province were selected referring to domestic violence records by local public security,juridical department and women's federation.All participants were assessed by face-to-face interview and questionnaire survey.Results SIFPV group got significantly higher scores of physical,emotional,sexual abuse and emotional neglect than that of nDV group in childhood.SIFPV group got significantly higher scores of novelty-seeking(NS),harm-avoidence(HA),impulsivity than that of nDV group(t=2.015,2.070,3.545,P<0.05).In SIFPV group,scores of physical abuse were positively correlated with impulsive score,NS added score,debauchery score(r=0.394,0.378,0.435;P<0.05 or P<0.01).The scores of childhood Trauma Questionnaire-28 Item Short Form were positively correlated to scores of debauchery and added scores of Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11,pessimistic score(r=0.366,0.197,0.345,P<0.05 for all).Conclusion Childhood abuse are related with adulthood personality characteristics of adventure,novelty-seeking,debauchery,impulsive,dependence,difficulty to persevere,pessimism,especially childhood physical abuse.Novelty-seeking and impulsive personality characteristics may be one of mesomerism factors of childhood abuse and adult male SIFPV.