Psychopathological profile of men convicted of gender violence: a study in the prisons of Spain

Abstract

In this paper a description of the demographic, penal and psychopathological characteristics of 54 men, who are in prison because of having committed a serious offence of gender violence, was carried out. Furthermore, a comparison in all the variables studied among the subjects with homicide and those without homicide was done. The results showed the existence of irrational beliefs both about women and about violence as a strategy to cope with everyday difficulties, as well as of general inadaptation to daily life. However, from a psychopathological point of view, in spite of not being observed a high degree of symptomatology in the whole sample, the psychiatric and penal antecedents and current emotional instability were much more frequent and severe in people that had not committed homicide. Therefore two possible differential profiles among the violent men are presented.