The investigation studies whether having a history of intimate partner violence depends on different cognitive and social dimensions. 102 aggressors, both recidivist (n= 57) and non-recidivist (n= 45), convicted of intimate partner violence participated in our study. The subjects were evaluated with the Attribution of Responsibility and Minimization Scale, the Inventory of Distorted Thoughts on Women and Violence, the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Functional Social Support Questionnaire. The main conclusions indicate that aggressors with a criminal record present distorted thoughts about women, although they show lower levels of hostile sexist attitudes. In addition, we found that the higher number of distorted thoughts about women, the fewer strategies to justify the inflicted pain based on self-defense, the lower number of sexist attitudes, and the lower self-esteem, the higher the probability to repeat an offence for gender aggressors. The study of the factors that predict the risk of recidivism will increase the effectiveness of specific interventions in intimate partner violence programs.