Objective: To obtain data on substance abuse and mental disorders amongst a population of inmates imprisoned for gender violence.
Design: 106 intimate partner violence offenders were recruited in our study, all of whom were prison inmates. The study is descriptive and statistical comparison of percentages was used.
Results: the percentage of substance abuse was 61.3%; most of which consisted of alcohol and cocaine. According to DSM-IV R, 25.5% of the inmates had at least one psychiatric diagnosis at the time when entering prison: 11.3% adjustment disorder with depressed mood, 6.6% personality disorders, 2.8% psychosis, 1.9% major depressive disorder, 1.9% bipolar disorder and 1.9% psycho-organic disorder were encountered. The average age of the men of the sample was forty years old. The most common nationality was Spanish. The percentage of immigrants was significant greater than the global percentage of the general population. The percentage of global substance consumption and psychopathologic problems is greater than data obtained in IPV from other populations, like samples of men charged by their partners with gender violence.
Conclusions: depressive symptoms, personality disorders, alcohol and cocaine consumption need to be investigated as gender violence risk markers in Spain. Attention should be paid to the role of consumption prevention when entering prison.