Who completes batterer's treatment groups? An empirical investigation

The purpose of this study was to investigate differences that could discriminate among batterers who completed a violence treatment program and batterers who dropped out after intake, but prior to or during treatment. A discriminant analysis of a variety of demographic and psychological variables showed a significant difference between the completers group and the other two groups of batterers. Men who completed treatment reported fewer indirect threats of violence, had a higher level of education, were more likely to be employed full time, witnessed abuse more often in their family of origin, were less likely to be victims of child abuse, scored higher on the FIRO-B subscale of expressed control and had more children. Further research needs to be done to assess how these variables influence the batterers during treatment and to help dropouts successfully complete treatment.