Autores de Violência Doméstica: Personalidade e Tendências Agressivas

Abstract

Personality can be understood as the combination of an individual's characteristic traits developed throughout human development by various factors, such as genetic, cultural, environmental, educational and social interactions, and is a concept from psychology that studies the human being in its entirety and complexity. It is considered one of the main constructs that can influence the development of aggressive tendencies, resulting in violent behavior, such as physical and verbal violence. In parallel to this, there is aggressiveness, which is a conscious and, in some situations, planned behavior, with the intention of causing harm to third parties, such as insults and hostile behavior, such as lying. International literature indicates the personality of perpetrators of violence and how much this can influence the perpetration of aggressive behavior. In contrast, in Brazil, few studies are related to the personality of perpetrators of violence, since studies focus on the characteristics of the victims. The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between personality traits and aggressive tendencies of perpetrators of domestic violence against women. The research was cross-sectional, descriptive and quantitative, with an independent sample. For this purpose, 30 male perpetrators of violence who attend the Center for Prevention and Confrontation of Gender Violence (NUGEN) of the Public Defender's Office of the State of Pará were interviewed. The Biopsychosocial Characterization Form for Perpetrators of Violence, the Personality Factor Battery and the Scale for Assessing Aggressive Tendencies were used. Data analyses were performed by frequency and measures of central tendency and correlation using Pearson's R test in SPSS 23. The results identified significant correlations between personality and aggressive tendencies. The most frequent trait among the participants was Neuroticism, responsible for assessing characteristics related to decision-making, emotional instability and impulsive behaviors. Regarding trends, the most latent was B, which states that aggressive behaviors do not fit into a pattern, occur sporadically and are characterized as verbal violence, such as hostility. These results confirm the findings of the current literature, since the trait most related to aggressiveness was Neuroticism. Regarding correlations, the main findings of the study correspond to the correlation between the traits of Neuroticism and Agreeableness with behaviors A and B, in a negative and moderate way, and behavior C correlated in a moderate and negative way with the traits Achievement and Openness. These results indicate that perpetrators of domestic violence have difficulty in dealing with their own emotions, deficits in social skills and difficulty in setting goals for the future. Finally, it is concluded that, although the findings confirm that violence is influenced by personality traits, future research is necessary, with a larger sample, in order to understand the personality traits that can predispose aggressive tendencies, which occur in the relationships between perpetrators of domestic violence and victims.