This study examined the relationships between alcohol abuse and spousal violence for 96 women in alcoholism treatment as compared to these comparison groups: 78 women receiving mental health treatment; 98 women receiving services for family violence; 91 women from a random sample of households; and 100 women in a driver education program following…

Investigated whether 30 maritally distressed military couples differed from 30 distressed civilian couples using marital satisfaction questionnaires. Found same-sex differences across groups, and cross-sex differences within groups. Found military wives were more likely to be physically abused than were civilian wives, and more often requested…

Describes a two-year treatment of a case of marital abuse. Used psychoanalytic and family systems theory to understand the processes contributing to the emergence of violence. Documents resistances to total change. (Author/ABB)

Recent qualitative investigations of abusive men have indicated that power and control of the wife are central themes in incidents of marital violence. Furthermore, anecdotal and empirical evidence suggest that abusive husbands hold more traditional sex-role stereotypes, are more possessive and jealous, and are more controlling than nonabusive…

Codependency is a relatively new idea, emerging in the late 1970s within the chemical dependency treatment industry. However, the belief that the wife of the alcoholic is, by definition, disturbed, has been influential in varying degrees since the 1930s. The perennial influence of the codependency hypothesis suggests that it is a social…

Data were collected from 20 couples with satisfactory marriages and 20 maritally dysfunctional nonviolent couples to evaluate characteristics associated with wife abuse. Abusive husbands were less assertive, abusive to children, and witnesses to parental spouse abuse; they were also likely to be conservative and alcoholics. (Author/RC)

A number of factors came together in the 1970s to create a social problem called "battered wives". Then, beginning in 1977, there was an attempt to create a social problem called "battered husbands." So far, such attempts have been unsuccessful. This analysis compares the issue of battered husbands and battered wives to…

Results of a statistical analysis of a study of battered wives in shelters indicated that the wives' economic dependence on their husbands almost always ensured that they would return to their husbands and that respondents who considered the shelters useful had a higher probability of returning to their husbands. (Author)

Data from a sample of 2,143 adult men and women were used to explore the relationship between wives' dependency on marriage, and wife abuse. Results indicated that it is economic and not psychological dependency which keeps women in severely abusive marriages. (Author)

Whether partners provide congruent reports about abuse in their relationship was studied with 360 couples. Findings suggest that reports of abuse can be aggregated to form internally consistent scales that show strong interpartner agreement, and that either abuser or victim reports are suitable for research use. (SLD)

Describes a treatment program for couples who mishandle anger or are physically abusive. The treatment endorses the elimination of demonstrations of anger and elaborates upon ways to identify preliminary anger cues. Abusiveness is unacceptable. Methods to improve problem-solving skills and to enhance overall enjoyment of the relationship are also…

Presents a theoretical perspective that integrates elements of social structural and social psychological explanations of spouse abuse. Suggests certain types of status inconsistency and status incompatibility involve very high risks of spouse abuse, particularly life-threatening violence. Other types of inconsistency seem to protect couples from…

Shows that attorneys are also "at risk" from client suits when client hostility in abused spouse cases is redirected from spouse to attorney. Reveals joint interdisciplinary linkages between family therapists and lawyers concerning vulnerability to client malpractice suits or violence. (ABB)

Investigates interspousal violence using a model of interpersonal violence derived from the aggression literature. Finds that destructive forms of communication such as verbal aggressiveness lead to physical violence, whereas constructive forms such as argumentativeness reduce the chance of escalation to physical aggression. (SR)

Interviewed and physically assessed 102 married men in an attempt to develop a biopsychosocial model of male domestic violence. Used Tobit analysis to identify significant predictors. Analyzed separately, each domain was significantly related to male domestic violence. When considered together, only the biological and social domains yielded…