Examines the relationship between partner physical victimization and a range of psychological and psychosocial functioning in a sample of couples (N=6,453). Explores whether gender interacted with factors to predict victimization. Increased levels of victimization were associated with greater levels of depression but no significant interactions…

Marital adjustment, verbal aggression, and physical aggression have long been associated in the marital literature, but the nature of their associations remains unclear. In this study, the authors examined these 3 constructs as risk factors for physical aggression during the first 2 years of marriage in 634 couples recruited as they applied for…

It has been proposed that two distinct forms of intimate partner violence exist: intimate terrorism and situational couple violence. This article describes the distribution of factors that characterize intimate terrorism and situational couple violence, including controlling behaviors, violence escalation, and injury, among a representative sample…

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…

Discusses characteristics of men arrested for spouse abuse and describes treatment methods that evaluative research suggests curtail domestic violence. A small-group educational format for court-referred treatment of abuse is described. (Author/ABB)

Despite general trends for violence in marriage to escalate in frequency and intensity, there are some couples who, through their own efforts, stop being violent. Describes three such couples, with particular attention given to spouses' reports on the cessation of their violence. Discusses implications of these couples' experiences for the…

Found that parental hitting, reported by 17 percent of the sample, failed to affect attitudes about women's roles. Behavior did affect attitudes concerning the use of violence against women. Suggests men are more likely to approve of violence against women if they observed their fathers hitting their mothers. (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)

Examined relationship between husbands' (n=72) violence and desired and perceived control. Identified two subgroups of men at high risk for engaging in domestic violence: men low on self-esteem, low on desirability of control, and low on perceived personal control; and men high on self-esteem, high on desirability of control, but low on perceived…

Public interest in domestic violence waxes and wanes with the headlines. This article describes how libraries can play an important--and even lifesaving--role in empowering abused women, providing useful resources for shelters and other agencies, and enlightening students and the general public about domestic violence.

This study examined partner violence before and after behavioral couples therapy (BCT) for 303 married or cohabiting male alcoholic patients and used a demographically matched nonalcoholic comparison sample. In the year before BCT, 60% of alcoholic patients had been violent toward their female partner, 5 times the comparison sample rate of 12%. In…

The first survey carried out in Finland specifically to study men's violence against women showed that partner violence is quite common in Finland and it is directed especially toward young women. The statistical findings don't support the idea that violence has become more widespread in Finland. Life situation factors that are usually viewed as…

To explain wife abuse, we offer a refinement of relative resource theory, gendered resource theory, which argues that the effect of relative resources is contingent upon husbands gender ideologies. We use data from the first wave of the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 4,296) to test three theories of wife abuse. Resource theory…

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…

Investigated effects of group counseling program for self-referred men on their self-esteem and abusive behavior toward female partners. Used experimental and control group design which included pre- and post-tests. Results suggest that group counseling did significantly enhance self-esteem in experimental group. (Author/NB)