Emotion Dysregulation, Aggressive Expectancies, and Alcohol: Predicting Intimate Partner Violence in College Students

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is prevalent among college students and associated with serious psychological and academic consequences. Although prior research has identified individual risk factors, the combined influence of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral contributors is understudied. This study applies the I3 (I-Cubed) model to examine how two impelling forces, emotion dysregulation and alcohol-related aggressive expectancies, and a disinhibitory force, alcohol use, interact to predict psychological and physical IPV perpetration. Participants were 1086 undergraduates in romantic relationships who completed self-report measures. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression analyses tested main and interaction effects, controlling for age and gender. Psychological IPV was reported by 63% of participants; 14% reported physical IPV in the past year. Aggressive expectancies predicted greater psychological and physical IPV perpetration, though these associations were not moderated by alcohol use. Alcohol use moderated the relationship between emotion dysregulation and psychological IPV, such that emotion dysregulation was linked to greater IPV at lower, but not higher, levels of alcohol use. Findings suggest that alcohol’s role in IPV may vary based on individuals’ baseline regulation abilities and drinking motives. Prevention efforts may benefit from integrating skills-based interventions targeting aggressive beliefs and emotion regulation into campus-based services to support healthier college relationships.