Putting coercive actions in context: reconceptualizing motives for intimate partner violence perpetration

Despite a growing number of studies exploring perpetrator's motives for intimate partner violence (IPV), methodological and conceptual issues evident in current research continue to limit our understanding of such motives. In an effort to address these issues, Flynn and Graham (2010) developed a conceptual model of perceived reasons for IPV; however, this model presents several limitations. Drawing on the social interactionist theory of coercive actions (Tedeschi & Felson, 1994) and the event process model of family violence (Stairmand, Polaschek, & Dixon, 2019), we propose an alternative conceptual framework for motives for physical and psychological IPV. The proposed conceptual framework addresses existing limitations of motives research and conceptual models by differentiating motives from the contextual factors that may influence their selection, and by providing a temporal framework from which to better understand the dynamic nature of IPV events. This paper provides an overview of the proposed conceptual framework and discusses its implications for research and clinical practice. Further research is required to determine the utility of the framework for understanding motives for sexual IPV and non-IPV forms of family violence (e.g., child-maltreatment).