| Summary: | Research on the causes of male intimate assault has typically focused on
personality disorders (e.g. Dutton, 1994a; Dutton, 1998), social learning theory (e.g.
Dutton, 1998), sociological feminism and patriarchy (e.g. Bograd, 1988; Dobash &
Dobash, 1979), and sociobiology (e.g. Daly & Wilson, 1988; Buss, 1994; Strachan &
Dutton, 1992). To date, there is no literature specifically addressing the relationship
between battering and emotional intelligence, a concept that captures the success, or lack
thereof, of a person's functioning in their immediate environment. Forty-four men
convicted of spousal assault completed the Emotional Quotient-Inventory (EQ-i; Bar-On,
1997), the Propensity for Abusiveness Scale (PAS; Dutton, 1995b), and the Balanced
Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR; Paulhus, 1984, 1988, 1991). Results indicate
that batterers score significantly lower than the general population on all components of
the EQ-i. Additionally, for 9 of 16 EQ-i subscales, scores correlate negatively and
significantly with scores on the PAS, suggesting that deficits in various components of
emotional intelligence are related to an increase in the propensity to be abusive.
Implications for batterer treatment are discussed. === Arts, Faculty of === Psychology, Department of === Graduate
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