Neurocognitive Performance Among Alcohol Dependent Men With and Without Physical Violence Toward Their Partners: A Preliminary Report

OBJECTIVE: There are high rates of co-occurring alcohol dependence and intimate partner violence (IPV) among men seeking substance abuse treatment. The authors examined neurocognitive performance among treatment-seeking alcohol dependent men with (IPV+) and without reported physical violence (IPV-). METHOD: Twenty-five subjects participated in this pilot study. All participants underwent a neurocognitive battery including, Continuous Performance Test (CPT), California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), Digit Span, Iowa Gambling Test (IGT), Wisconsin Card Sort (WCST), Trail Making Test, Parts A & B, a visuospatial memory (VSWM) task and the Stroop Color Word Test (SCWT). RESULT: Alcohol dependent participants with IPV (IPV+; n = 9) had more severe deficits in attention, concentration, cognitive flexibility compared to controls (n = 7). Both the alcohol dependent (IPV-; n = 9) and IPV+ groups had significantly more impairments on tasks of impulsivity than the smoking controls. The IPV- group had significantly more impairments on executive functioning compared to smoking controls, but was not significantly different than the IPV+ group. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary results suggests that IPV+ males have more severe neuropsychological impairments compared to the smoking control group than did the IPV - group. The implications of these findings are discussed.