Gaslighting, coercive control and stalking in intimate relationships: Considering abuse association and personality

Beekman, A and Ireland, J ORCID: 0000-0002-5117-5930 Gaslighting, coercive control and stalking in intimate relationships: Considering abuse association and personality. Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research. ISSN 1759-6599 (Accepted)

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Abstract

Purpose: The current study aimed to examine the relationship between the gaslighting of intimate partners and other forms of emotional abuse, considering a potential role for personality.

Method: Two-hundred-and-forty-six community participants completed online questionnaires examining gaslighting and other forms of abuse. Seventy three percent identified as women. Participants completed the Gaslighting Behaviour Questionnaire (GBQ), Revised Controlling Behaviours Scale (CBS-R), Stalking and Obsessive Relational Intrusions Questionnaire (SORI-Q), Mini International Personality Item Pool (Mini IPIP) and the Psychopathic Processing and Personality Assessment (PAPA-2).

Findings: Gaslighting perpetration predicted other forms of aggressive perpetration (i.e., coercive control and stalking), with being a victim of gaslighting predicting other forms of aggression victimisation. Psychopathy predicted all forms of aggression perpetration with other forms of personality presenting with a more mixed picture. A Network Analysis verified associations between aggression forms and a clustering of personality traits, confirming a mixed picture in relation to personality but highlighting a role for psychopathy.

Originality: The current study is the first to include consideration of gaslighting as part of a broader array of emotional aggression and to consider adaptive and maladaptive personality as potential predictors. Gaslighting presents as an important element of interpersonal abuse to consider. The association between gaslighting, coercive control and stalking is notable, suggesting evidence for poly-victim and poly-aggressors.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1117 Public Health and Health Services; 1608 Sociology; 1701 Psychology; 4410 Sociology; 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
Divisions:	Psychology (from Sep 2019)
Publisher:	Emerald
Date of acceptance:	8 April 2026
Date Deposited:	09 Apr 2026 13:41
Last Modified:	09 Apr 2026 13:41
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28353

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