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Research -The Fiebert report
http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm
Martin S. Fiebert
Department of Psychology
California State University, Long Beach
This
bibliography examines 130 scholarly investigations: 104 empirical
studies and 26 reviews and/or analyses, which demonstrate
that women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive,
than men in their relationships with their spouses or male
partners. The aggregate sample
size in the reviewed studies exceeds 77,000.
Aizenman, M., & Kelley,
G. (1988). The incidence of violence and acquaintance
rape in dating relationships among college men and women.
Journal of College Student Development, 29, 305-311. (A sample
of actively dating college students <204 women and 140
men> responded to a survey examining courtship violence.
Authors report that there were no significant
differences between the sexes in self reported perpetration
of physical abuse.)
Archer, J. (2000). Sex differences
in aggression between heterosexual partners: A meta-analytic
review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 651-680.
(Meta-analyses of sex differences in physical aggression indicate
that women were more likely than men to ³use one or more
acts of physical aggression and to use such acts more frequently.²
In terms of injuries, women were somewhat more likely to be
injured, and analyses reveal that 62% of those
injured were women.)
Archer, J., & Ray, N. (1989).
Dating violence in the United Kingdom: a preliminary study.
Aggressive Behavior, 15, 337-343. (Twenty three dating couples
completed the Conflict Tactics scale. Results indicate that
women were significantly more likely than their male partners
to express physical violence. Authors also report that, “measures
of partner agreement were
high” and that the correlation between past and present
violence was low.)
Arias, I., Samios, M., & O’Leary,
K. D. (1987). Prevalence and correlates of physical
aggression during courtship. Journal of Interpersonal Violence,
2, 82-90. (Used Conflict Tactics Scale with a sample of 270
undergraduates <95 men, 175 women> and found 30% of
men and 49% of women reported using some form of aggression
in their dating histories with a greater percentage of women
engaging in severe physical aggression.)
Arias, I., & Johnson, P. (1989). Evaluations
of physical aggression among intimate dyads. Journal of Interpersonal
Violence, 4, 298-307. (Used Conflict Tactics Scale-CTS- with
a sample of 103 male and 99 female undergraduates. Both men
and women had similar experience with dating violence, 19%
of women and 18% of men admitted being physically aggressive.
A significantly greater percentage of women thought self-defense
was a legitimate reason for men to be aggressive, while a
greater percentage of men thought slapping was a legitimate
response for a man or woman if their partner was sexually
unfaithful.)
Bernard, M. L., & Bernard, J. L. (1983).
Violent intimacy: The family as a model for love relationships.
Family Relations, 32, 283-286. (Surveyed 461 college students,
168 men, 293 women, with regard to dating violence. Found
that 15% of the men admitted to physically abusing their partners,
while 21% of women admitted to physically abusing their partners.)
Billingham, R. E., & Sack, A. R. (1986).
Courtship violence and the interactive status of the relationship.
Journal of Adolescent Research, 1, 315-325. (Using CTS with
526 university students <167 men, 359 women> found Similar
rates of mutual violence but with women reporting higher rates
of violence initiation when partner had not--9% vs 3%.)
Bland, R., & Orne, H. (1986).
Family violence and psychiatric
disorder. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 31, 129-137. (In
interviews with 1,200 randomly selected Canadians <489
men, 711 women> found that women both engaged in and initiated
violence at higher rates than their male partners.)
Bohannon, J. R., Dosser Jr., D. A., &
Lindley, S. E. (1995). Using couple data to determine
domestic violence rates: An attempt to replicate previous
work. Violence and Victims, 10, 133-41. (Authors report that
in a sample of 94 military couples 11% of wives and 7% of
husbands were physically aggressive, as reported by the wives.)
Bookwala, J. (2002). The role of
own and perceived partner attachment in relationship aggression.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 17, 84-100. (In a sample
of 161 undergraduates, 34.3% of women <n=35> reported
being victims
of partner aggression compared to 55.9% <n=33> of men.)
Bookwala, J., Frieze, I. H., Smith, C.,
& Ryan, K. (1992). Predictors of dating violence:
A multi variate analysis. Violence and Victims, 7, 297-311.
(Used CTS with 305 college students <227 women, 78 men>
and found that 133 women and 43 men experienced violence in
a current or recent dating relationship. Authors reports that
“women reported the expression of as
much or more violence in their relationships as men.”
While most violence in relationships appears to be mutual--36%
reported by women, 38% by men— women report initiating
violence with non violent partners more frequently than men
<22% vs 17%>).
Brinkerhoff, M., & Lupri, E. (1988).
Interspousal violence. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 13,
407-434. (Examined Interspousal violence in a representative
sample of 562 couples in Calgary, Canada. Used Conflict Tactics
Scale and found twice as much wife-to-husband as husband-to-wife
severe violence <10.7% vs 4.8%>. The overall violence
rate for husbands was
10.3% while the overall violence rate for wives was 13.2%.
Violence was significantly higher in younger and childless
couples. Results suggest that male violence decreased with
higher educational attainment, while female violence increased.)
Brush, L. D. (1990). Violent Acts and injurious outcomes in
married couples: Methodological issues in the National Survey
of Families and Households. Gender & Society, 4, 56-67.
(Used the Conflict Tactics scale in a large national survey,
n=5,474, and found that women engage in same amount of spousal
violence as men.)
Brutz, J., & Ingoldsby, B. B. (1984).
Conflict resolution in Quaker families. Journal of Marriage
and the Family, 46, 21-26. (Used Conflict Tactics Scale with
a sample of 288 Quakers <130 men, 158 women> and found
a slightly higher rate of female to male violence <15.2%>
than male to female violence <14.6%>.)
Burke, P. J., Stets, J. E., & Pirog-Good,
M. A. (1988). Gender
identity, self-esteem, and physical and sexual abuse in dating
relationships. Social Psychology Quarterly, 51, 272-285. (A
sample of 505 college students <298 women, 207 men>
completed the CTS. Authors reports that they found “no
significant difference between men and women in reporting
inflicting or sustaining physical abuse.” Specifically,
within a
one year period they found that 14% of the men and 18% of
the women reported inflicting physical abuse, while 10% of
the men and 14% of the women reported sustaining physical
abuse.)
Carlson, B. E. (1987). Dating violence: a research review
and
comparison with spouse abuse. Social Casework, 68, 16-23.
(Reviews research on dating violence and finds that men and
women are equally likely to aggress against their partners
and that “the frequency of aggressive acts is inversely
related to the likelihood of their causing physical injury.”)
Carrado, M., George, M. J., Loxam, E.,
Jones, L., & Templar, D. (1996). Aggression in
British heterosexual relationships: a descriptive analysis.
Aggressive Behavior, 22, 401-415. (In a representative sample
of British men <n=894> and women <n=971> it was
found, using a modified version of the CTS, that 18% of the
men and 13% of the women reported being victims
of physical violence at some point in their heterosexual relationships.
With regard to current relationships, 11% of men and 5% of
women reported being victims of partner aggression.)
Cascardi, M., Langhinrichsen, J., &
Vivian, D. (1992). Marital
aggression: Impact, injury, and health correlates for husbands
and wives. Archives of Internal Medicine, 152, 1178-1184.
(Examined 93 couples seeking marital therapy. Found using
the CTS and other information that 71% reported at least one
incident of physical aggression in past year. While men and
women were equally likely to perpetrate violence, women reported
more severe injuries. Half of the wives and two thirds of
the husbands reported no injuries as a result of all aggression,
but wives sustained more injuries as a result of mild aggression.)
Caulfield, M. B., & Riggs, D. S. (1992).
The assessment of dating aggression: Empirical evaluation
of the Conflict Tactics Scale. Journal of Interpersonal Violence,
4, 549-558. (Used CTS with a sample of 667 unmarried college
students <268 men and 399 women> and found on a number
of items significantly higher responses of physical violence
on part of women. For
example, 19% of women slapped their male partner while 7%
of men slapped their partners, 13% of women kicked, bit, or
hit their partners with a fist while only 3.1% of men engaged
in this activity.)
Claxton-Oldfield, S. & Arsenault,
J. (1999). The initiation of
physically aggressive behaviour by female university students
toward their male partners: Prevalence and the reasons offered
for such behaviors. Unpublished manuscript. (In a sample of
168 actively dating female undergraduates at a Canadian university,
26% indicated that they initiated physical aggression toward
their male partners. Most common reason for such behavior
was because partner was not listening to them.)
Coney, N. S., & Mackey, W. C. (1999).
The feminization of domestic violence in America: The woozle
effect goes beyond rhetoric. Journal of Men¹s Studies,
8, (1) 45-58. (Authors review the domestic violence literature
and report that while society in general as well as the media
portray women as ³recipients of domestic violence...epidemiological
surveys
on the distribution of violent behavior between adult partners
suggest gender parity.²)
Corry, C. E., & Fiebert, M. S. (2001,
Sept,). Controlling domestic violence against men.
Sixth International Conference on Family Violence, San Diego,
CA. (A critical examination of men as victims of partner abuse.)
Deal, J. E., & Wampler, K. S. (1986).
Dating violence: The primacy of previous experience. Journal
of Social and Personal Relationships, 3, 457-471. (Of 410
university students <295 women, 115 men> responding
to CTS and other instruments, it was revealed that 47% experienced
some violence in dating relationships. The majority of experiences
were reciprocal. When not reciprocal men were three times
more likely than women to report being victims. Violent experiences
in previous relationships was the best predictor of violence
in current relationships.)
DeMaris, A. (1992). Male versus
female initiation of aggression: The case of courtship violence.
In E. C. Viano (Ed.), Intimate violence: interdisciplinary
perspectives. (pp. 111-120). Bristol, PA: Taylor & Francis.
(Examined a sample of 865 white and black college students
with regard to the initiation of violence in their dating
experience. Found that 218 subjects, 80 men and 118 women,
had experienced or expressed violence in current or recent
dating relationships. Results indicate that “when one
partner could be said to be the usual initiator of violence,
that partner was most often the women. This finding was the
same for both black and white respondents.”)
Ernst, A. A., Nick, T. G., Weiss, S. J.,
Houry, D., & Mills, T. (1997). Domestic violence
in an inner-city ED. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 30, 190-197.
(Assessed 516 patients <233 men, 283 women> in a New
Orleans inner-city emergency Department with the Index of
Spousal Abuse, a scale to
measure domestic violence. Found that 28% of the men and 33%
of the women <a nonsignificant difference>, were victims
of past physical violence while 20% of the men and 19% of
the women reported being current victims of physical violence.
In terms of ethnicity, 82% of subjects were African-American.
Authors report that there was a significant difference in
the number of women vs. men who reported past abuse to the
police ,19% of women, 6% of men.>)
Farrell, W. (1999). Women can¹t
hear what men don¹t say. New York: Tarcher/Putnam. See
Chapter 6. (Pp. 123-162; 323-329.) An excellent social and
political analysis of couple violence.)
Feather, N. T. (1996). Domestic
violence, gender and perceptions of justice. Sex Roles, 35,
507-519. (Subjects <109 men, 111 women> from Adelaide,
South Australia, were presented a hypothetical scenario in
which either a husband or wife perpetrated domestic violence.
Participants were
significantly more negative in their evaluation of the husband
than the wife, were more sympathetic to the wife and believed
that the husband deserved a harsher penalty for his behavior.)
Fiebert, M. S., & Gonzalez, D. M. (1997). Women who initiate
assaults: The reasons offered for such behavior. Psychological
Reports, 80, 583-590. (A sample of 968 women, drawn primarily
from college courses in the Southern California area, were
surveyed regarding their initiation of physical assaults on
their male partners. 29% of the women, n=285, revealed that
they initiated assaults during the past five years. Women
in their 20’s were more likely to aggress than women
aged 30 and above. In terms of reasons, women appear to aggress
because they did not believe that their male victims would
be injured or wouldretaliate. Women also claimed that they
assaulted
their male partners because they wished to engage their attention,
particularly emotionally.)
Fiebert, M. S. (1996). College
students’ perception of men as victims of women’s
assaultive behavior. Perceptual & Motor Skills, 82, 49-50.
(Three hundred seventy one college students <91 men, 280
women> were surveyed regarding their knowledge and acceptance
of the research finding regarding female assaultive behavior.
The majority of subjects (63%) were
unaware of the finding that women assault men as frequently
as men assault women; a slightly higher percentage of women
than men (39% vs 32%) indicated an awareness of this finding.
With regard to accepting the validity of these findings a
majority of subjects (65%) endorsed such a result with a slightly
higher percentage of men (70% vs 64%)indicating their acceptance
of this finding.)
Flynn, C. P. (1990). Relationship
violence by women: issues and implications. Family Relations,
36, 295-299. (A review/analysis article that states, “researchers
consistently have found that men and women in relationships,
both marital and premarital engage in comparable amounts of
violence.” Author also writes, “Violence by women
in intimate relationships
has received little attention from policy makers, the public,
and until recently, researchers...battered men and abusive
women have receive ‘selective inattention’ by
both the media and researchers.”)
Follingstad, D. R., Wright, S., &
Sebastian, J. A. (1991). Sex
differences in motivations and effects in dating violence.
Family
Relations, 40, 51-57. (A sample of 495 college students <207
men, 288 women> completed the CTS and other instruments
including a “justification of relationship violence
measure.” The study found that women were twice as likely
to report perpetrating dating violence as men. Female victims
attributed male violence to a desire to gain control over
them or to retaliate for being hit first, while men believed
that female aggression was a based on their female partner’s
wish to “show how angry they were and to retaliate for
feeling emotionally hurt or mistreated.”)
Foshee, V. A. (1996). Gender differences
in adolescent dating abuse prevalence, types and injuries.
Health Education Research, 11, (3) 275-286. (Data collected
from 1965 adolescents in eighth and ninth grade in 14 schools
in rural North Carolina. Results reveal that 36.5% of dating
females
and 39.4% of dating males report being victims of physical
dating violence. In terms of perpetrating violence 27.8% of
females while only 15.0% of males report perpetrating violence.)
Gelles, R. J. (1994). Research and advocacy: Can one wear
two hats?
Family Process, 33, 93-95. (Laments
the absence of objectivity on the part of “feminist”
critics of research demonstrating female perpetrated domestic
violence.)
George, M. J. (1994). Riding the
donkey backwards: Men as the unacceptable victims of marital
violence. Journal of Men’s Studies, 3, 137-159. (A thorough
review of the literature which examines findings and issues
related to men as equal victims of partner abuse.)
George, M. J. (1999). A victimization
survey of female perpetrated assaults in the United Kingdom.
Aggressive Behavior, 25, 67-79. (A representative sample of
718 men and 737 women completed the CTS and reported their
experience as victims of physical assaults by women during
a five year period. Men reported greater victimization and
more severe assaults than did women. Specifically, 14% of
men compared to 7% of women reported being assaulted by women.
Highest risk group were single men. The majority (55%) of
assaults on men were perpetrated by spouses, partners, or
former partners.)
George, M. J. (2002). Skimmington
Revisited. Journal of Men’s Studies, 10, No. 2, 111-127.
(Examines historical sources and finds that men who were victims
of spousal aggression were subject to punishment and humiliation.
Inferences to contemporary trivialization of male victims
of partner aggression is discussed.)
Goldberg, W. G., & Tomlanovich, M.
C. (1984). Domestic violence victims in the emergency
department. JAMA, 251, 3259-3264. (A sample of 492 patients
<275 women, 217 men> who sought treatment in an emergency
department in a Detroit hospital were survey regarding their
experience with domestic violence. Respondents were mostly
African-American (78%), city dwellers (90%), and unemployed
(60%). Victims of domestic violence numbered 107 (22%). While
results indicate that 38% of victims were men and 62% were
women this gender difference did not reach statistical significance.
Gonzalez, D. M. (1997). Why females
initiate violence: A study
examining the reasons behind assaults on men. Unpublished
master’s thesis, California State University, Long Beach.
(225 college women participated in a survey which examined
their past history and their rationales for initiating aggression
with male partners. Subjects also responded to 8 conflict
scenarios which provided information regarding possible reasons
for
the initiation of aggression. Results indicate that 55% of
the subjects admitted to initiating physical aggression toward
their male partners at some point in their lives. The most
common reason was that aggression was a spontaneous reaction
to frustration).
Goodyear-Smith, F. A. & Laidlaw, T.
M. (1999). Aggressive acts and assaults in intimate
relationships: Towards an understanding of the literature.
Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 17,285-304. (An up to date
scholarly analysis of couple violence. Authors report that,
³...studies clearly demonstrate that within the general
population, women initiate and use violent behaviors against
their partners at least as often as men.²
Hampton, R. L., Gelles, R. J., & Harrop,
J. W. (1989). Is violence in families increasing? A
comparison of 1975 and 1985 National Survey rates. Journal
of Marriage and the Family, 51, 969-980. (Compared a sample
of 147 African Americans from the 1975 National Survey with
576 African Americans from the 1985 National Survey with regard
to spousal violence. Using the
CTS found that the rate of overall violence (169/1000) of
husbands to wives remained the same from 1975 to 1985, while
the rate of overall violence for wives to husbands increased
33% (153 to 204/1000) from 1975 to 1985. The rate of severe
violence of husbands to wives decreased 43% (113 to 64/1000)
from 1975 to 1985, while the rate of severe violence of wives
to husbands increased 42% (76 to 108/1000) from 1975 to 1985.
In 1985 the rate of abusive violence by black women was nearly
3 times greater than the rate of white women.)
Harders, R. J., Struckman-Johnson, C.,
Struckman-Johnson, D. & Caraway, S. J. (1998).
Verbal and physical abuse in dating relationships. Paper presented
at the meeting of American Psychological Association, San
Francisco, CA. (Surveyed 289 college students <97 men,
186 women> using a
revised formed of the Conflict Tactics Scale. Found that women
were significantly more physically aggressive than men, particularly
in the areas of: pushing, slapping and punching.)
Headey, B., Scott, D., & de Vaus,
D. (1999). Domestic violence in Australia: Are women
and men equally violent? Data from the International Social
Science Survey/ Australia 1996/97 was examined. A sample of
1643 subjects (804 men, 839 women) responded to questions
about their experience with domestic violence in the past
12 months. Results reveal that 5.7% of men and 3.7% of women
reported being victims of domestic assaults. With regard to
injuries results reveal that women inflict serious injuries
at least as frequently as men. For example 1.8% of men and
1.2% of women reported that their injuries required first
aid, while 1.5% of men and 1.1% of women reported that their
injuries needed treatment by a doctor or nurse.
Henton, J., Cate, R., Koval, J., Lloyd,
S., & Christopher, S. (1983). Romance and violence
in dating relationships. Journal of Family Issues, 4, 467-482.
(Surveyed 644 high school students <351 men, 293 women>
and found that abuse occurred at a rate of 121 per 1000 and
appeared to be reciprocal with both partners initiating violence
at similar rates.)
Hoff, B. H. (1999). The risk of
serious physical injury from assault by a woman intimate.
A re-examination of National Violence against women survey
data on type of assault by an intimate.
WWW.vix.com/menmag/nvawrisk.htm.
(A re-examination of the data from the most recent National
violence against women survey (Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998)
shows that “assaulted men are more likely than assaulted
women to experience serious attacks by being hit with an object,
beat up, threatened with a knife or being knifed.”)
Jackson, S. M., Cram, F. & Seymour,
F. W. (2000). Violence and sexual coercion in high
school students’ dating relationships. Journal of Family
Violence, 15, 23-36. (In a New Zealand sample of senior high
school students <200 women, 173 men> 21% of women and
19% of men reported having been physically hurt by their heterosexual
dating partner.)
Jouriles, E. N., & O’leary,
K. D. (1985). Interpersonal reliability of reports
of marital violence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,
53, 419-421. (Used the Conflict Tactics Scale with a sample
of 65 couples in marriage therapy and 37 couples from the
community. Found moderate levels of agreement of abuse between
partners and similar rates of reported violence between partners.)
Kalmuss, D. (1984). The intergenerational
transmission of marital aggression. Journal of Marriage and
the Family, 46, 11-19. (In a representative sample of 2,143
adults found that the rate of husband to wife severe aggression
is 3.8% while the rate of wife to husband severe aggression
is 4.6%.)
Kim, K., & Cho, Y. (1992).
Epidemiological survey of spousal abuse in Korea. In E. C.
Viano (Ed.) Intimate Violence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives.
(pp. 277-282). Bristol, PA: Taylor and Francis. (Utilized
the Conflict Tactics scale in interviews with a random sample
of 1,316 married Koreans <707 women, 609 men>. Compared
to findings with American couples, results indicate that Korean
men were victimized by their wives
twice as much as American men, while Korean women were victimized
by their spouses three times as much as American women.)
Lane, K., & Gwartney-Gibbs, P.A. (1985).
Violence in the context of dating and sex. Journal of Family
Issues, 6, 45-49. (Surveyed 325 students <165 men, 160
women> regarding courtship violence. Used Conflict Tactics
Scale and found equal rates of violence for men and women.)
Laner, M. R., & Thompson, J. (1982).
Abuse and aggression in courting couples. Deviant Behavior,
3, 229-244. (Used Conflict Tactics Scales with a sample of
371 single individuals <129 men, 242 women> and found
similar rates of male and female violence in dating relationships.)
Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., & Vivian,
D. (1994). The correlates of spouses’ incongruent
reports of marital aggression. Journal of Family Violence,
9, 265-283. (In a clinic sample of 97 couples seeking marital
therapy, authors found, using a modified version of the CTS,
that 61% of the husbands and 64% of the wives were classified
as aggressive, 25% of the husbands and 11% of the wives were
identified as mildly aggressive and 36%
of husbands and 53% of wives were classified as severely aggressive.
Sixty-eight percent of couples were in agreement with regard
to husband’s overall level of aggression and 69% of
couples were in agreement on wive’s overall level of
aggression. Aggression levels were identified as “nonviolent,
mildly violent, or severely violent.” Where there was
disagreement, 65% of husbands <n=20> were under-reporting
aggression and 35%
of husbands <n=11> were over-reporting aggression; while
57% of wives <n=17> were under-reporting aggression
and 43% of wives <n=13> were over-reporting aggression.)
Lewis, A. & Sarantakos, S. (2001).
Domestic Violence and the male victim. Nuance, #3.
(Based on interviews with 48 men in Australia and New Zealand,
authors present findings that domestic violence by women toward
men exists, that the refusal to examine the prevalence of
this abuse is a “disempowerment” of men and that
official policy should be changed to provide help for abused
men.)
Lillja, C. M. (1995). Why women
abuse: A study examining the function of abused men. Unpublished
master’s thesis, California State University, Long Beach.
(A review of the literature examining the issue of men as
victims of female assaults. Includes an original questionnaire
to test assumption that women who lack social support to combat
stress are likely to
commit domestic violence.)
Lo, W. A., & Sporakowski, M. J. (1989).
The continuation of violent dating relationships among
college students. Journal of College Student Development,
30, 432-439. (A sample of 422 college students completed the
Conflict Tactics Scale. Found that, “women were more
likely than men to claim themselves as abusers and were less
likely to claim themselves as victims.”)
Lottes, I. L., & Weinberg, M. S. (!996).
Sexual coercion among university students: a comparison
of the United States and Sweden. Journal of Sex Research,
34, 67-76. (A sample of 507 Swedish students <211 men,
359 women> and 407 U.S. students <129 men, 278 women>
responded to items on the
CTS. Results reveal that 31% of U.S. men compared to 18% of
Swedish men reported being victims of physical violence by
female partners during the previous 12 months. While 31% of
U.S. women comparted to 19% of Swedish women reported being
victims of physical violence by male partners during
the previous 12 months.)
Macchietto, J. (1992). Aspects
of male victimization and female aggression: Implications
for counseling men. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 14,
375-392. (Article reviews literature on male victimization
and female aggression.)
Magdol, L., Moffitt, T. E., Fagan, J.,
Newman, D. L., & Silva, P. A. (1997). Gender differences
in partner violence in a birth cohort of 21 year Olds: bridging
the gap between clinical and epidemiological approaches. Journal
of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 68-78. (Used CTS
with a sample of 861 21 year Olds <436 men, 425 women>
in New Zealand. Physical
violence perpetration was reported during the previous 12
months by 37.2% of women and 21.8% of men, with severe violence
perpetration by women at 18.6% and men at 5.7%.)
Makepeace, J. M. (1986). Gender
differences in courtship violence victimization. Family Relations,
35, 383-388. (A sample of 2,338 students <1,059 men, 1,279
women> from seven colleges were surveyed regarding their
experience of dating violence. Courtship violence was experienced
by 16.7 %
of respondents. Authors report that “rates of commission
of acts and initiation of violence were similar across gender.”
In term of injury, both men (98%) and women (92%) reported
“none or mild” effects of violence.)
Malone, J., Tyree, A., & O’Leary,
K. D. (1989). Generalization and containment: Different
effects of past aggression for wives and husbands. Journal
of Marriage and the Family, 51, 687-697. (In a sample of 328
couples it was found that men and women engaged in similar
amounts of physical aggression within their families of origin
and against their spouses. However, results indicate that
women were more aggressive to their partners than men. Aggression
was more predictable for women, i.e., if
women observed parental aggression or hit siblings they were
more likely to be violent with their spouses.)
Margolin, G. (1987). The multiple
forms of aggressiveness between marital partners: how do we
identify them? Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 13 ,
77-84. (A paid volunteer sample of 103 couples completed the
Conflict Tactics Scale. It was found that husbands and wives
perpetrated similar amounts of violence. Specifically, the
incidence of violence, as
reported by either spouse was: husband to wife =39; wife to
husband =41.)
Marshall, L. L., & Rose, P. (1987).
Gender, stress and violence in the adult relationships
of a sample of college students. Journal of Social and Personal
Relationships, 4, 299-316. (A survey of 308 undergraduates
<152 men, 156 women> revealed that 52% expressed and
62% received violence at some point in their adult relationships.
Overall, women report expressing
more physical violence than men. Childhood abuse emerged as
a predictor of violence in adult relationships.)
Marshall, L. L., & Rose, P. (1990).
Premarital violence: The impact of family of origin
violence, stress and reciprocity. Violence and Victims, 5,
51-64. (454 premarital undergraduates <249 women, 205 men>
completed the CTS and other scales. Overall, women reported
expressing more violence than
men, while men reported receiving more violence than women.
Female violence was also associated with having been abused
as children.)
Mason, A., & Blankenship, V. (1987).
Power and affiliation motivation, stress and abuse in intimate
relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
52, 203-210. (Investigated 156 college students <48 men,
107 women> with the Thematic Apperception Test <TAT>,
Life Experiences Survey and the CTS. Found that there were
no significant gender differences
in terms of the infliction of physical abuse. Men with high
power needs were more likely to be physically abusive while
highly stressed women with high needs for affiliation and
low activity inhibition were the most likely to be physically
abusive. Results indicate that physical abuse occurred most
often among committed couples.)
Matthews, W. J. (1984). Violence
in college couples. College Student Journal, 18, 150-158.
(A survey of 351 college students <123 men and 228 women>
revealed that 79 <22.8 %> reported at least one incident
of dating violence. Both men and women ascribed joint responsibility
for violent behavior and both sexes, as either recipients
or expressors of aggression, interpreted violence as a form
of “love.”)
Maxfield, M. G. (1989). Circumstances
in supplementary homicide reports: Variety and validity. Criminology,
27, 671-695. (Examines FBI homicide data from 1976 through
1985. Reports that 9,822 wives & common law wives <57%>
were killed compared to 7,433 husbands and common law husbands
<43%>).
McCarthy, A. (2001.) Gender differences
in the incidences of, motives for, and consequences of, dating
violence among college students. Unpublished Master’s
thesis, California State University, Long Beach. (In a sample
of 1145 students <359 men, 786 women> found that 36%
of men and 28%
of women responding to the CTS2 reported that they were victims
of physical aggression during the previous year. There were
no differences in reported motives for aggression between
men and women.)
McKinney, K. (1986). Measures of
verbal, physical and sexual dating violence by gender. Free
Inquiry in Creative Sociology, 14, 55-60. (Surveyed 163 college
students, 78 men, 85 women, with a questionnaire designed
to assess involvement in dating abuse. Found that 38% of women
and 47% of men indicated that they were victims of physical
abuse in dating
relationships. Also found that 26% of women and 21% of men
acknowledged that they physically assaulted their dating partners.)
McLeod, M. (1984). Women against
men: An examination of domestic violence based on an analysis
of official data and national victimization data. Justice
Quarterly, 1, 171-193. (From a data set of 6,200 cases of
spousal abuse in the Detroit area in 1978-79 found that men
used weapons 25% of the time while female assailants used
weapons 86% of the time, 74% of men
sustained injury and of these 84% required medical care. Concludes
that male victims are injured more often and more seriously
than female victims.)
McNeely, R. L., Cook, P. W. & Torres,
J. B. (2001). Is domestic violence a gender issue or
a human issue? Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment,
4, No. 4, 227-251. (Argues that domestic violence is a human
issue and not a gender issue. Presents and discusses empirical
findings and case studies to support this view. Expresses
concerns about
men’s “legal and social defenselessness.”)
McNeely, R. L., & Mann, C. R. (1990).
Domestic violence is a human issue. Journal of Interpersonal
Violence, 5, 129-132. (A review article which discusses the
findings that women are more prone than men to engage in severely
violent acts and that “classifying spousal violence
as a women’s issue rather than a human issue is erroneous.”)
McNeely, R. L., & Robinson-Simpson,
G. (1987). The truth about domestic violence: A falsely
framed issue. Social Work, 32, 485-490. (A review article
which concludes that women are as violent as men in domestic
relationships.)
Mercy, J. A., & Saltzman, L. E. (1989).
Fatal violence among spouses in the United States, 1975-85.
American Journal of Public Health, 79, 595-599. (Examined
FBI figures regarding spousal homicides. During the 10 year
period from 1975 to 1985 found higher murder rates of wives
than husbands <43.4% vs 56.6%>. Black husbands were
at the greatest risk of
victimization. Spousal homicide among blacks was 8.4 times
higher than that of whites. Spouse homicide rates were 7.7
times higher in interracial marriages and the risk of victimization
for both whites and blacks increased as age differences between
spouses increased. Wives and husbands were equally likely
to be killed by firearms <approximately 72% of the time>
while husbands were more likely to be stabbed and wives more
likely to bludgeoned to death. Arguments apparently escalated
to murder in 67% of spouse homicides.)
Meredith, W. H., Abbot, D. A., & Adams,
S. L. (1986). Family violence in relation to marital
and parental satisfaction and family strengths. Journal of
Family Violence, 1, 299-305. (Authors report that 6% of men
and 5% of women in Nebraska indicated that they used severe
violence at least once in the previous year.)
Mihalic, S. W., & Elliot, D. (1997).
A social learning theory model of marital violence. Journal
of Family Violence, 12, 21-46. (Based on data from the National
Youth Survey <see Morse, 1995> a social learning model
of marital violence for men and women was tested. For men
ethnicity, prior victimization, stress and marital satisfaction
predicted both perpetration and experience of minor violence.
With regard to serious violence
ethnicity, prior victimization, marital satisfaction predicted
men’s
experience of marital violence, while ethnicity, class and
sex role
attitudes predicted the perpetration of male marital violence.
For women the most important predictor of the experience of
both minor and serious marital violence was marital satisfaction,
class was also a predictor. With regard to female perpetrators
of marital violence the witnessing of parental violence was
an important predictor along with class and marital satisfaction.
The social learning model worked better for women than men.)
Milardo, R. M. (1998). Gender asymmetry
in common couple violence. Personal Relationships, 5, 423-438.
(A sample of 180 college students <88 men, 72 women>
were asked whether they would be likely to hit their partner
in a number of situations common to a dating relationship.
Results reveal that 83% of the women, compared to 53% of the
men, indicated that they would
be somewhat likely to hit their partner.)
Morse, B. J. (1995). Beyond the
Conflict Tactics Scale: Assessing gender differences in partner
violence. Violence and Victims, 10 (4) 251-272. (Data was
analyzed from the National Youth Survey, a longitudinal study
begun in 1976 with 1,725 subjects who were drawn from a probability
sample of households in the United States and who, in 1976,
were between the ages of 11-17. This study focused on violence
as assessed by the CTS between male and female married or
cohabiting respondents during survey years 1983 <n=1,496>,
1986 <n=1,384>, 1989 <n=1,436>, and 1992 <n=1,340>.
For each survey year the prevalence rates of any violence
and severe violence were significantly higher for female to
male than for male to female. For example, in 1983 the rate
of any violence male to female was 36.7, while the rate of
any violence female to male was 48; in 1986, the rate of severe
violence male to female was 9.5, while the rate of severe
violence female to male was 22.8. In 1992, the rate of any
violence male to
female was 20.2, with a severe violence rate male to female
of 5.7; while the rate of any violence female to male was
27.9, with a severe violence rate female to male of 13.8.
Author notes that the decline in violence over time is attributed
to the increase in age of the subjects. Results reveal <p.
163> that over twice as many women as men reported assaulting
a partner
who had not assaulted them during the study year.” In
1986 about 20% of both men and women reported that assaults
resulted in physical injuries. In other years women were more
likely to self report personal injuries.)
Murphy, J. E. (1988). Date abuse
and forced intercourse among college students. In G. P. Hotaling,
D. Finkelhor, J. T. Kirkpatrick, & M. A. Straus (Eds.)
Family Abuse and its Consequences: New Directions in Research
(pp. 285-296). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. (A sample of 485 single
college
students <230 men, 255 women> completed the CTS. Overall
men reported greater victimization than women. For example,
20.7% of men compared to 12.8% of women reported being kicked,
bit or hit with a fist and 6% of men compared to 3.6% of women
reported being beaten up by their heterosexual partner.)
Mwamwenda, T. S. (1997). Husband
Battery among the Xhosa speaking people of Transkei, South
Africa. Unpublished manuscript, University of Transkei, S.
A. (Surveyed a sample of 138 female and 81 male college students
in Transkei, South Africa, regarding their witnessing husbanding
battery. Responses reveal that 2% of subjects saw their mother
beat their father, 18% saw or heard female relatives beating
their husbands, and 26% saw or heard female neighbors beating
their husbands.)
Nisonoff, L., & Bitman, I. (1979). Spouse abuse: Incidence
and
relationship to selected demographic variables. Victimology,
4, 131-140. (In a sample of 297 telephone survey respondents
<112 men, 185 women> found that 15.5% of men and 11.3%
of women report having hit their spouse, while 18.6% of men
and 12.7% of women report having been hit by their spouse.)
O’Keeffe, N. K., Brockopp, K., &
Chew, E. (1986). Teen dating violence. Social Work,
31, 465-468. (Surveyed 256 high school students from Sacramento,
CA., 135 girls, 121 boys, with the CTS. Ninety percent of
students were juniors or seniors, the majority came from middle
class homes, 94% were average or better students, and 65%
were white and 35% were black,
Hispanic or Asian. Found that 11.9% of girls compared to 7.4%
of boys admitted to being sole perpetrators of physical violence.
17.8% of girls and 11.6% of boys admitted that they were both
“victims and perpetrators” of physical violence.)
O’Leary, K. D., Barling, J., Arias,
I., Rosenbaum, A., Malone, J., & Tyree, A. (1989).
Prevalence and stability of physical aggression between spouses:
A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, 57, 263-268. (272 couples were assessed regarding
physical aggression. More women reported physically aggressing
against their partners at premarriage <44% vs 31%> and
18 months of marriage <36% vs
27%>. At 30 months there was a nonsignificant but higher
rate for women <32% vs 25%>.)
Pedersen, P. & Thomas, C. D. (1992).
Prevalence and correlates of dating violence in a Canadian
University sample. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science,
24, 490-501. (A sample of 166 undergraduates <116 women,
50 men> responded to the CTS; 45.8% of subjects reported
experiencing
physical violence in their current or most recent dating relationship.
Of this total, 44.8% of women and 48% of men reported being
physically aggressed upon by their partners. It was also found
that only 22% of men and 40.5% of women reported using physical
aggression against a dating partner.)
Plass, M. S., & Gessner, J. C. (1983).
Violence in courtship
relations: a southern sample. Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology,
11, 198-202. (In an opportunity sample of 195 high school
and college students from a large southern city, researchers
used the Conflict Tactics scale to examine courtship violence.
Overall, results reveal that women were significantly more
likely than men to be aggressors. Specifically, in, committed
relationships, women were three times as likely as men to
slap
their partners, and to kick, bit or hit with the fist seven
times as often as men. In casual relationships, while the
gender differences weren’t as pronounced, women were
more aggressive than men. Other findings reveal that high
school students were more abusive than college students, and
that a
“higher proportion of black respondents were involved
as aggressors.”)
Riggs, D. S., O’Leary, K. D., &
Breslin, F. C. (1990). Multiple
correlates of physical aggression in dating couples. Journal
of
Interpersonal Violence, 5, 61-73. (Used CTS and studied 408
college students <125 men and 283 women>. Found that
significantly more women <39%> than men <23%>
reported engaging in physical aggression against their current
partners.)
Rollins, B. C., & Oheneba-Sakyi, Y. (1990). Physical violence
in Utah households. Journal of Family Violence, 5, 301-309.
(In a random sample of 1,471 Utah households, using the Conflict
Tactics Scale, it was found that women’s rate of severe
violence was 5.3% compared to a male rate of 3.4%.)
Rouse, L. P. (1988). Abuse in dating
relationships: A comparison of Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics.
Journal of College Student Development, 29, 312-319. (The
use of physical force and its consequences were examined in
a diverse sample of college students. Subjects consisted of
130 whites <58
men, 72 women>, 64 Blacks <32 men, 32 women>, and
34 Hispanics <24 men, 10 women>. Men were significantly
more likely than women to report that their partners used
moderate physical force and caused a greater number of injuries
requiring medical attention. This gender difference was present
for Whites and Blacks but not for Hispanics.)
Rosenfeld, R. (1997). Changing
relationships between men and women. A note on the decline
in intimate partner violence. Homicide Studies, 1, 72-83.
(Author reports on homicide rates in ST. Louis from 1968-1992.
Findings indicate that while men and women were equally likely
to be victims of partner violence in 1970, in subsequent years
men, primarily black men, were more likely to be murdered
by their intimate partners.)
Rouse, L. P., Breen, R., & Howell,
M. (1988). Abuse in intimate relationships. A Comparison
of married and dating college students. Journal of Interpersonal
Violence, 3, 414-429. (A sample of 130 married (48 men, 82
women) college students and 130 college students in dating
relationships (58 men, 72 women) reported their experience
of physical abuse in intimate relationships. Men were more
likely to report being physically
abused than women in both dating and marital relationships.)
Russell, R. J. H., & Hulson, B. (1992).
Physical and psychological abuse of heterosexual partners.
Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 457-473. (In a
pilot study in Great Britain 46 couples responded to the Conflict
Tactics Scale. Results reveal that husband to wife violence
was: Overall violence= 25% and severe violence= 5.8%; while
wife to husband violence was: Overall violence= 25% and severe
violence=11.3%.)
Ryan, K. A. (1998). The relationship
between courtship violence and sexual aggression in college
students. Journal of Family Violence, 13, 377-394. (A sample
of 656 college students <245 men, 411 women> completed
the CTS. Thirty four percent of the women and 40% of the men
reported being victims of their partner’s physical aggression.)
Sack, A. R., Keller, J. F., & Howard,
R. D. (1982). Conflict tactics and violence in dating
situations. International Journal of Sociology of the Family,
12, 89-100. (Used the CTS with a sample of 211 college students,
92 men, 119 women. Results indicate that there were no differences
between men and women with regard to the expression of physical
violence.)
Saenger, G. (1963). Male and female
relations in the American comic strip. In D. M. White &
R. H. Abel (Eds.), The funnies, an American idiom (pp. 219-231).
Glencoe, NY: The Free Press. (Twenty consecutive editions
of all comic strips in nine New York City newspapers in October,
1950 were examined. Results reveal that husbands were victims
of aggression in 63% of conflict situations while wives were
victims in 39% of situations. In addition, wives were more
aggressive in 73% of domestic situations, in 10% of situations,
husbands and wives were equally aggressive and in only 17%
of situations were husbands more violent than wives.)
Schafer, J., Caetano, R., & Clark,
C. L. (1998). Rates of intimate partner violence in
the United States. American journal of Public Health, 88,
1702-1704. (Used modified CTS and examined reports of partner
violence in a representative sample of 1635 married and cohabiting
couples. Both partners reports were used to estimate the following
lower and upper bound
rates: 5.21% and 13.61% for male to female violence, and 6.22%
and 18.21 % for female to male violence.)
Shook, N. J., Gerrity, D. A., Jurich,
J. & Segrist, A. E. (2000).
Journal of Family Violence, 15, 1-22. (A modified Conflict
Tactics Scale was administered to 572 college students <395
women; 177 men>. Results reveal that significantly more
women than men, 23.5% vs 13.0%, admitted using physical force
against a dating partner.)
Sigelman, C. K., Berry, C. J., & Wiles,
K. A. (1984). Violence in college students’ dating
relationships. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology, 5, 530-548. (Surveyed 504 college students <116
men, 388 women> with the Conflict Tactics Scale and found
that men and women were similar in the overall amount of violence
they expressed but that men reported experiencing significantly
more violence than women.)
Simonelli, C. J. & Ingram, K. M. (1998).
Psychological distress among men experiencing physical and
emotional abuse in heterosexual dating relationships. Journal
of Interpersonal Violence, 13, 667-681. (Responses from 70
male undergraduates to the CTS and a Psychological Maltreatment
Inventory revealed that 40% reported being the target of some
form of physical aggression from their female dating partners
while only 23% reported expressing physical aggression to
their partners. Men who were victims of emotional and physical
abuse also reported greater levels of distress and depression.)
Simonelli, C. J., Mullis, T., Elliot,
A. N., & Pierce, T. W. (2002). Abuse by siblings
and subsequent experiences of violence within the dating relationship.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 17, 103-121. (A sample
of 120 undergraduates <61 men, 59 women> completed the
CTS. Ten percent of men
and 33% of women reported that they perpetrated at least one
type of physical aggressive behavior against their dating
partner and 18% of men and 15% of women reported receiving
physical aggression from their dating partner.)
Sommer, R. (1994). Male and female
partner abuse: Testing a
diathesis-stress model. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. (The study was in
two waves: the first was from 1989-1990 and included a random
sample of 452 married or cohabiting women and 447 married
or cohabiting men from Winnipeg, Canada; the second was from
1991-1992 and included 368 women and 369 men all of whom participated
in the first wave. Subjects completed the CTS & other
assessment instruments. 39.1% of women reported being physically
aggressive (16.2% reporting having perpetrated severe violence)
at some point in their relationship with their
male partner. While 26.3% of men reported being physically
aggressive (with 7.6% reporting perpetrating severe violence)
at some point in their relationship with their female partner.
Among the perpetrators of partner abuse, 34.8% of men and
40.1% of women reported observing their mothers hitting their
fathers. Results indicate that 21% of “males’
and 13% of females’ partners required medical attention
as a result of a partner abuse incident.” Results also
indicate that “10% of women and 15% of men perpetrated
partner abuse in self defense.”)
Sommer, R., Barnes, G. E. & Murray,
R. P. (1992). Alcohol consumption, alcohol abuse, personality
and female perpetrated spouse abuse. Journal of Personality
and Individual Differences, 13, 1315-1323. (The responses
from a subsample of 452 women drawn from a sample of 1,257
Winnipeg residents were analyzed. Using the CTS, it was found
that 39% of women physically aggressed against their male
partners at some point in their
relationship. Younger women with high scores on Eysenck’s
P scale were most likely to perpetrate violence. Note: The
sample of subjects is the same as the one cited in Sommer’s
1994 dissertation.)
Sorenson, S. B., & Telles, C. A. (1991).
Self reports of spousal violence in a Mexican-American
and non-Hispanic white population. Violence and Victims, 6,
3-15. (Surveyed 1,243 Mexican-Americans and 1,149 non-Hispanic
whites and found that women compared to men reported higher
rates of hitting, throwing objects, initiating violence, and
striking first more than once. Gender difference was significant
only for non-Hispanic
whites.)
Spencer, G. A., & Bryant, S. A. (2000).
Dating violence: A comparison of rural, suburban and urban
teens. Journal of Adolescent Health, 25 (5) 302-305. (A sample
of 2094 high school students in upper New York State indicated
their experience of physical dating violence. There were a
similar number of boys and girls surveyed, with more subjects
from urban areas than rural or suburban areas. The majority
of subjects were white non-Hispanic. Males in each region
were more likely to report being victims of physical dating
violence than females in each region. Specifically, 30% of
rural boys and 20% of urban and 20% of suburban boys reported
being
victims of partner physical aggression while 25% of rural
girls and 16% of suburban and 13% of urban girls reported
victimization.)
Steinmetz, S. K. (1977-78). The
battered husband syndrome.
Victimology: An International Journal, 2, 499-509. (A pioneering
article suggesting that the incidence of husband beating was
similar to the incidence of wife beating.)
Steinmetz, S. K. (1980). Women
and violence: victims and perpetrators. American Journal of
Psychotherapy, 34, 334-350. (Examines the apparent contradiction
in women’s role as victim and perpetrator in domestic
violence.)
Steinmetz, S. K. (1981). A cross
cultural comparison of marital
abuse. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 8, 404-414.
(Using a modified version of the CTS, examined marital violence
in small samples from six societies: Finland, United States,
Canada, Puerto Rico, Belize, and Israel <total n=630>.
Found that “in each society the percentage of husbands
who used violence was similar to the percentage of violent
wives.”
The major exception was Puerto Rico where men were more violent.
Author also reports that, “Wives who used violence...
tended to use greater amounts.”)
Stets, J. E. & Henderson, D. A. (1991).
Contextual factors surrounding conflict resolution while dating:
results from a national study. Family Relations, 40, 29-40.
(Drawn from a random national telephone survey, daters <n=277;
men=149, women=128> between the ages of 18 and 30, who
were
single, never married and in a relationship during the past
year which lasted at least two months with at least six dates
were examined with the Conflict Tactics Scale. Findings reveal
that over 30% of subjects used physical aggression in their
relationships, with 22% of the men and 40% of the women reported
using some form of physical aggression. Women were “6
times more likely than men to use severe aggression <19.2%
vs. 3.4%>...Men were twice as likely as women to report
receiving severe aggression <15.7% vs. 8%>.” Also
found that younger subjects and those of lower socioeconomic
status <SES> were more likely to use physical aggression.)
Stets, J. E., & Pirog-Good, M. A.
(1987). Violence in dating
relationships, Social Psychology Quarterly, 50, 237-246. (Examined
a college sample of 505 white students. Found that men and
women were similar in both their use and reception of violence.
Jealousy was a factor in explaining dating violence for women.)
Stets, J. E. & Pirog-Good, M. A. (1989).
Patterns of physical and sexual abuse for men and women in
dating relationships: A descriptive analysis, Journal of Family
Violence, 4, 63-76. (Examined a sample of 287 college students
<118 men and 169 women> and found similar rates for
men and women of low level physical abuse in dating relationships.
More women than
men were pushed or shoved <24% vs 10%> while more men
than women were slapped <12% vs 8%>. In term of unwanted
sexual contact 22% of men and 36% of women reported such behavior.
The most frequent category for both men <18%> and women
<19%> was the item, “against my will my partner
initiated necking”.)
Stets, J. E., & Straus, M. A. (1990).
Gender differences in reporting marital violence and its medical
and psychological consequences. In M. A. Straus & R. J.
Gelles (Eds.), Physical violence in American families: Risk
factors and adaptations to violence in 8,145 families (pp.
151-166). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. (Reports information
regarding the initiation of
violence. In a sample of 297 men and 428 women, men said they
struck the first blow in 43.7% of cases, and their partner
hit first in 44.1% of cases and could not disentangle who
hit first in remaining 12.2%. Women report hitting first in
52.7% of cases, their partners in 42.6% and could not disentangle
who hit first in remaining 4.7%. Authors conclude that violence
by women is not primarily defensive.)
Straus, M. (1980). Victims and
aggressors in marital violence.
American Behavioral Scientist, 23, 681-704. (Reviews data
from the 1975 National Survey. Examined a subsample of 325
violent couples and found that in 49.5% of cases both husbands
and wives committed at least one violent act, while husbands
alone were violent in 27.7% of the cases and wives alone were
violent in 22.7% of the cases. Found that 148 violent husbands
had an
average number of 7.1 aggressive acts per year while the 177
violent wives averaged 6.8 aggressive acts per year.)
Straus, M. A. (1993). Physical
assaults by wives: A major social problem. In R. J. Gelles
& D. R. Loseke (Eds.), Current controversies on family
violence pp. 67-87. Newbury Park, CA:Sage. (Reviews literature
and concludes that women initiate physical assaults on their
partners as often as men do.)
Straus, M. A. (1995). Trends in
cultural norms and rates of partner violence: An update to
1992. In S. M. Stich & M. A. Straus (Eds.) Understanding
partner violence: Prevalence, causes, consequences, and solutions
(pp. 30-33). Minneapolis, MN: National Council on Family Relations.
(Reports finding that while the approval of a husband slapping
his wife declined dramatically from 1968 to 1994 <21% to
10%> the approval
of a wife slapping her husband did not decline but remained
at 22% during the same period. The most frequently mentioned
reason for slapping for both partners was sexual unfaithfulness.
Also reports that severe physical assaults by men declined
by 48% from 1975 to 1992--38/1000 to 19/1000 while severe
assaults by women did not change from 1975 to 1992 and remained
above 40/1000. Suggests that public service announcements
should be directed at female perpetrated violence and that
school based programs “explicitly recognize and condemn
violence by girls as well as boys.”)
Straus, M. A. (1998). The controversy
over domestic violence by women: A methodological, theoretical,
and sociology of science analysis. Paper presented at Claremont
Symposium on Applied Social Psychology, Claremont, CA. (Examines
issue of differential rates of assaults between crime studies
and couple conflict studies. Provides a sociological explanation
to account for assaults by women within the family.)
Straus, M. A., & Gelles, R. J. (1986).
Societal change and change in family violence from 1975 to
1985 as revealed by two national surveys. Journal of Marriage
and the Family, 48, 465-479. (Reviewed data from two large
sample national violence surveys of married couples and report
that men and women assaulted each other at approximately equally
rates, with
women engaging in minor acts of violence at a higher rate
than men. Sample size in 1975 survey=2,143; sample size in
1985 survey=6,002.)
Straus, M. A., Gelles, R. J., & Steinmetz,
S. K. (1981). Behind closed doors: Violence in the
American family, Garden City, NJ: Anchor. (Reports findings
from National Family Violence survey conducted in 1975. In
terms of religion, found that Jewish men had the lowest rates
of abusive spousal violence (1%), while Jewish women had a
rate of abusive spousal violence which was more than double
the rate for Protestant women <7%>, pp. 128-133.Abusive
violence was defined as an “act which has a high potential
for injuring the person being hit,” pp.21-2.)
Straus, M. A., Hamby, S. L., Boney-McCoy,
S., & Sugarman, D. B. (1996). The Revised Conflict
Tactics Scales (CTS2). Development and preliminary psychometric
data. Journal of Family Issues, 17, 283-316. (The revised
CTS has clearer differentiation between minor and severe violence
and new scales to measure sexual coercion and physical injury.
Used the CTS2 with a sample of 317 college students <114
men, 203 women> and found that: 49% of men and 31% of women
reported being a victim of physical assault by their partner;
38% of men and 30% of women reported being a victim of sexual
coercion by their partner; and 16% of men and 14% of women
reported being seriously injured by their partners.)
Straus, M. A., & Kaufman Kantor, G.
(1994, July). Change in spouse assault rates from 1975-1992:
A comparison of three national surveys in the United States.
Paper presented at the Thirteenth World Congress of Sociology,
Bielefeld, Germany. (Reports that the trend of decreasing
severe assaults by husbands found in the National Survey from
1975 to 1985 has continued in the 1992 survey while wives
maintained higher rates of assault.)
Straus, M. A., Kaufman Kantor, G., &
Moore, D. W. (1994, August). Change in cultural norms
approving marital violence from 1968 to 1994. Paper presented
at the American Sociological Association, Los Angeles, CA.
(Compared surveys conducted in 1968 <n=1,176>, 1985
<n=6,002>, 1992 <n=1,970>, and 1994 <n=524>,
with regard to the approval of facial slapping by a spouse.
Approval of slapping by husbands decreased from 21% in 1968
to 13% in 1985, to 12% in 1992, to 10% in 1994. The approval
of slapping by wives was 22% in 1968 and has not declined
over the years.)
Straus, M. A., & Mouradian, V. (1999).
(Study of college students report of injuries suffered in
dating situations). Unpublished data. ((In a study of 1,034
dating couples AT 2 US universities injury rates based on
responses to the revised CTS (CTS2) revealed that 9.9% of
men and 9.4% of women report
being injured by the opposite sex. In terms of inflicting
injuries, 10.1% men and 8.0% indicated that they inflicted
injuries on their partners.)
Sugarman, D. B., & Hotaling, G. T.
(1989). Dating violence: Prevalence, context, and risk
markers. In M. A. Pirog-Good & J. E. Stets (Eds.) Violence
in dating relationships: Emerging social issues (pp.3-32).
New York: Praeger. (Reviewed 21 studies of dating behavior
and found that women reported having expressed violence at
higher rates than men--329 per 1000 vs
393 per 1000.)
Szinovacz, M. E. (1983). Using
couple data as a methodological tool: The case of marital
violence. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 45, 633-644.
(Used Conflict Tactics Scale with 103 couples and found that
the wives’ rates of physical aggression was somewhat
higher than husbands’.)
Tang, C. S. (1994). Prevalence of spouse aggression in Hong
Kong. Journal of Family Violence, 9, 347-356. (Subjects were
382 undergraduates <246 women, 136 men> at the Chinese
University in Hong Kong. The CTS was used to assess students’
evaluation of their parents responses during family conflict.
14% of students reported that their parents engaged in physical
violence. “Mothers were as likely as fathers to use
actual physical force toward their spouses.”)
Thompson Jr., E. H. (1990). Courtship
violence and the male role. Men’s Studies Review, 7,
(3) 1, 4-13. (Subjects were 336 undergraduates <167 men,
169 women> who completed a modified version of the CTS.
Found that 24.6% of men compared to 28.4% of women expressed
physical violence
toward their dating partners within the past two years. Found
that women were twice as likely as men to slap their partners.)
Thompson Jr., E. H. (1991). The
maleness of violence in data
relationships: an appraisal of stereotypes. Sex Roles, 24,
261-278. (In a more extensive presentation of his 1990 article,
the author concludes that, “a more masculine and/or
less feminine gender orientation and variations in relationship
seriousness proved to be the two strongest predictors of both
men’s and women’s involvement in courtship violence.”)
Tyree, A., & Malone, J. (1991).
How can it be that wives hit husbands as much as husbands
hit wives and none of us knew it? Paper presented at the annual
meeting of the American Sociological Association. (Reviews
the literature and discusses results from their study attempting
to predict spousal violence. Found that women’s violence
is correlated with a history
of hitting siblings and a desire to improve contact with partners.)
Vivian, D., & Langhinrichsen-Rohling,
J. (1996). Are bi-directionally violent couples mutually
victimized? In L. K. Hamberger & C. Renzetti (Eds.) Domestic
partner abuse (pp. 23-52). New York: Springer. (Authors found
using a modified version of the CTS, that in a sample of 57
mutually aggressive couples, there were no significant differences
between husbands’ and wives’ reports concerning
the frequency and severity of assault
victimization. With regard to injuries, 32 wives and 25 husbands
reported the presence of a physical injury which resulted
from partner aggression.)
Waiping, A. L., & Sporakowski, M.
J. (1989). The continuation of violent dating relationships
among college students. Journal of College Student Development,
30, 432-439. (Using a modified version of the CTS, authors
examined courtship violence in a sample of 422 college students
<227
women, 195 men>. Women more often than men <35.3% vs
20.3%> indicated that they physically abused their partners.)
White, J. W., & Humphrey, (1994).
Women’s aggression in heterosexual conflicts.
Aggressive Behavior, 20, 195-202. (Eight hundred and twenty
nine women <representing 84% of entering class of women>
17 and 18 years old, entering the university for the first
time completed the CTS and other assessment instruments. Results
reveal that 51.5% of subjects used physical aggression at
least once in their prior dating relationships and, in the
past year, 30.2% reported physically aggressing against their
male partners. Past use of physical aggression was the best
predictor of current aggression. The witnessing and experiencing
of parental aggression also
predicted present aggression.)
White, J. W., & Kowalski, R. M. (1994).
Deconstructing the myth of the nonaggressive woman:
A feminist analysis. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18, 487-508.
(A review and analysis which acknowledges that “women
equal or exceed men in number of reported aggressive acts
committed within the family.” Examines a variety of
explanations to account for such aggression.)
White, J. W., & Koss, M. P. (1991).
Courtship violence: Incidence in a national sample
of higher education students. Violence and Victims, 6, 247-256.
(In a representative sample of 2,603 women and 2,105 men it
was found that 37% of the men and 35% of women inflicted some
form of physical aggression, while 39% of the men and 32%
of the women received some form of physical aggression.)
Wilson, M. I. & Daley, M. (1992).
Who kills whom in spouse killings? On the exceptional sex
ratio of spousal homicides in the United States. Criminology,
30, 189-215. (Authors summarize research which indicates that
between 1976 and 1985, for every 100 men who killed their
wives, about 75 women killed their husbands. Authors report
original data from a number of cities, e.g., Chicago, Detroit,
Houston, where the ratio of wives as perpetrators exceeds
that of husbands.) An earlier version of this paper appeared
in Sexuality and Culture, 1997, 1, 273-286.
Portions of this paper were also presented at the American
Psychological Society Convention in Washington, D.C. May 24,
1997.
Copyright, 2001. Martin S. Fiebert |
