This pilot study compared linguistic markers (LMs) in structured interview speech between two groups of male IPV perpetrators: those whose primary trauma was the domestic incident itself (cohort A, n=29) and those with childhood or other adult trauma histories (cohort B, n=28), examining correlations between LMs and PTSD (PCL-5) and dissociation (DES) scores.
Narrative disorganization, speech disfluencies, present-tense usage, and sensory details were significantly greater in cohort B and correlated with clinical symptom scores; multivariate models explained modest variance (adj. R²=0.25 for DES; adj. R²=0.27 for PCL-5), with interaction effects across cohorts limited to only two terms.
- Very small pilot sample (n=57 total) limits statistical power and generalizability. - All participants were male IPV perpetrators, so findings cannot extend to other populations. - Data sharing restricted due to sensitivity; independent replication has not yet occurred.
Linguistic features like narrative disorganization and speech disfluencies may help flag trauma subtypes in IPV perpetrators during clinical interviews, but these are early, hypothesis-generating findings only. Do not apply to clinical decision-making until validated in larger, independent samples.
