REFERENCES EXAMINING ASSAULTS BY WOMEN ON THEIR SPOUSES OR MALE
PARTNERS: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Martin S. Fiebert
Department of Psychology
California State University, Long Beach
|
|
SUMMARY: This bibliography examines
175 scholarly investigations: 139 empirical studies and 36 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 164,600. |
|
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 Òuse one or more acts of physical aggression and
to use such acts more frequently.Ó In terms of injuries, women were
somewhat more likely to be injured, and analyses reveal that 62% of those
injured were women.)
Archer, J.
(2002). Sex differences in physically aggressive acts between
heterosexual partners: A meta-analytic review. Aggression and Violent
Behavior, 7, 213-351. (Analyzing responses to the Conflict Tactic Scale
and using a data set somewhat different from the previous 2000 publication, the
author reports that women are more likely than men to throw something at their
partners, as well as slap, kick, bite, punch and hit with an object. Men
were more likely than women to strangle, choke, or beat up their partners.)
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.)
Arriaga, X. B., &
Foshee, V. A. (2004). Adolescent dating violence. Do adolescents
follow in their friends' or their parents' footsteps? Journal of
Interpersonal Violence, 19, 162-184. (A modified version of Conflict
Tactics Scale was administered on two occasions, 6 months apart, to 526
adolescents, <280 girls, 246 boys> whose median age was 13. Results
reveal that 28% of girls reported perpetrating violence with their partners
<17% moderate, 11% severe> on occasion one, while 42% of girls reported
perpetrating violence <25% moderate, 17% severe> on occasion two.
For boys, 11% reported perpetrating violence <6% moderate, 5% severe> on
occasion one, while 21% reported perpetrating violence <6% moderate, 15%
severe> on occasion two. In terms of victimization, 33% of girls, and
38% of boys reported being victims of partner aggression on occasion one and
47% of girls and 49% of boys reported victimization on occasion two.
Basile, S.
(2004). Comparison of abuse by same and opposite-gender litigants as
cited in requests for abuse prevention orders. Journal of Family
Violence, 19, 59-68. (Author examined court documents in Massachusetts
for the year 1997 and found that, "male and female defendants, who were
the subject of a complaint in domestic relations cases, while sometimes
exhibiting different aggressive tendencies, measured almost equally abusive in
terms of the overall level of psychological and physical aggression.)
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.)
Brown, G. (2004).
Gender as a factor in the response of the law-enforcement system to violence
against partners. Sexuality and Culture, 8, (3-4), 3-139.
(Summarizes partner violence data from the 1999 Canadian General Social Survey
<GSS>. The GSS is based on a representative sample of 25,876
persons. Overall in the 12-month period preceding the survey, an
estimated 3% Canadian women and 2% of Canadian men reported experiencing
violence from their partners. During the 5 year period from 1995-1999, an
estimated 8% of Canadian women and 7% of Canadian men reported violence from
their partners. Reviewed police and legal responses to partner violence
in Edmonton, Canada and concludes that ". . . men who are involved in
disputes with their partners, whether as alleged victims or as alleged
offenders or both, are disadvantaged and treated less favorably than women by
the law-enforcement system at almost every step.")
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.)
Caetano, R., Schafter,
J., Field, C., & Nelson, S. M. (2002). Agreement on reports of
intimate partner violence among white, Black, and Hispanic couples in the
United States. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 17, 1308-1322. (A
probability sample of 1635 couples was interviewed and assessed with the
CTS. Agreement concerning intimate partner violence was about 40%, with
no differences reported across ethnicities. Women significantly reported
perpetrating more partner violence than men in all three ethnic groups.)
Capaldi, D. M. &
Crosby, L. (1997). Observed and reported psychological and physical
aggression in young, at-risk couples. Social Development, 6,
184-206. (A sample of 118 young men and their dating partners were
surveyed regarding their own physical aggression as well as that of their
partners. Findings reveal that 31% of men and 36% of women engaged
"in an act of physical aggression against their current partner.")
Capaldi, D. M. &
Owen, L. D. (2001). Physical aggression in a community sample of at-risk
young couples: Gender comparisons for high frequency, injury, and fear.
Journal of Family Psychology, 15(3), 425-440. Drawn from a community
based at-risk sample, 159 young couples were assessed with the Conflict Tactics
scale and measures of self reported injuries. Findings indicated that
9.4% of men and 13.2% of women perpetrated frequent physical aggression toward
their partners. Contrary to expectations, 13% of men and 9% of women,
indicated that they were physically injured at least once. Authors report
"2% of the men and none of the women indicate that they had been hurt by
their partners between five and nine times."
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.)
Clark, M. L., Beckett,
J., Wells, M., & Dungee-Anderson, D. (1994). Courtship Violence among
African-American college students. Journal of Black Psychology, 20, (3),
264-281. (A sample of 311 African-American college students <76 men,
235 women> responded to the CTS. Findings reveal that 41% of men and
33% of women reported being physically abused by a dating partner.)
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 MenÕs 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 Òrecipients
of domestic violence...epidemiological surveys on the distribution of violent
behavior between adult partners suggest gender parity.Ó)
Cook, P. W.
(1997). Abused men. The hidden side of domestic violence.
Westport, CN.: Praeger. (Presents the evidence, empirical and personal,
for male spousal victimization. Examines resistance to acceptance of
findings and offers solutions to reduce domestic violence.)
Corry, C. E., Fiebert,
M. S., & Pizzy, E. (2002). Controlling domestic violence against men.
Available: www.familytx.org/research/Control_DV_against_men.pdf
Earlier version presented at Sixth International Conference on Family Violence,
San Diego, CA. (A critical examination of men as victims of partner violence.)
Cunradi, C. B.,
Caetano, R., Clark, C. L., & Schafer, J. (1999). Alcohol-related
problems and intimate partner violence among white, Black, and Hispanic couples
in the U.S. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 23,
1492-1501. (A probability sample of 1440 couples <565 white, 358
Black, 527 Hispanic> was obtained from the 1995 National Alcohol
Survey. Subjects completed the Conflict Tactics Scale. Ethnicity
results reveal that overall rates of partner aggression were similar for whites
and Hispanic while Black rates were significantly higher. In terms of
gender, white men and women had similar rates of partner aggression, Hispanic
women were somewhat more aggressive than Hispanic men and Black men were more
aggressive than Black women. Alcohol related problems were a predictor of
intimate partner violence in Black couples.)
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.)
DeKeseredy, W. S. &
Schwartz, M. D. (1998). Woman abuse on campus. Results from the
Canadian National survey. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (A large sample
<1,835 women; 1,307 men> of Canadian college students completed the
Conflict Tactics Scale. Results reveal that women report engaging in
higher rates of violence than men. Specifically, 46.1% of women reported
engaging in some physical violence in intimate relationship since leaving high
school. With 38% employing "minor" violence and 19% employing
"severe" violence.)
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 138 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.")
Dutton, D. G. &
Nicholls, T. L. (2005). The gender paradigm in domestic violence research
and theory: the conflict of theory and data. Aggression and Violent
Behavior, 10, 680-714. (A review and analysis of the data regarding male
victimization. Critical of feminist approaches that minimize female
perpetration and trivialize male injury.)
Dutton-Greene, L. B.,
& Straus, M. A. (2005, July). The relationship between gender hostility
and partner violence and injury. Paper presented at the 9th International
Family Violence Research Conference, Portsmouth, NH. (Report of findings
from international dating violence Study which collected data from over 11,000
<70% women> college students from 50 universities in 21 countries.
Subjects responded to the revised Conflict Tactics scale, gender hostility
scales and injury scales. Findings reveal that women perpetrated greater
partner violence than men, that women were more seriously injured than men and
that hostility toward the opposite sex was significantly and similarly
correlated with partner violence for men and women.)
Ehrensaft, M. K.,
Moffitt, T. E., & Caspi, A. (2004). Clinically abusive relationships
in an unselected birth cohort: men's and women's participation and
developmental antecedents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113 (2)
258-270. (Assessed 980 individuals, ages 24-26, who were participants in
longitudinal study in New Zealand. Subjects were examined with the CTS,
the Partner Conflict Calendar, PCC, a measure of the consequences of abuse and
a variety of personality and psychopathology scales. Findings reveal that
9% of the total sample, with an equal number of men and women, were victims of
clinical abuse in their relationships with partners.)
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 canÕt hear what men donÕt 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.)
Felson, R. B.
(2002). Violence and Gender Reexamined. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association. (Scholarly review and analysis of the
literature. Author concludes that, "Women are just as likely as men
to be victims of violence from their partners. . . ." Also
"casts doubt on the battered wife syndrome as an explanation for why women
kill their male partners.")
Fergusson, D. M.,
Horwood, L. J., & Ridder, E. M. (2005). Partner violence and
mental health outcomes in a New Zealand birth cohort. Journal of Marriage
and Family, 67, 1103-1119. (Examined extent of domestic violence
experience and perpetration in a sample of 828 <437 women, 391 men> young
adults who were 25 years old. Subjects were part of a long term
longitudinal study and were administered the CTS2. Results reveal that
"there were more men exposed to severe domestic violence than women"
and that mild and moderate rates were similar for men and women. Overall,
39.4% of women and 30.9% of men reported perpetration scores of 3 or
higher. Authors report that men and women reported similar rates of
injury <3.9% for women vs. 3.3% for men>. In terms of initiation of
partner assaults, 34% of women and 12% of men reported initiating physical
assaults.)
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 would retaliate. 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.")
Foo, L., &
Margolin, G. (1995). A multivariate investigation of dating
aggression. Journal of Family Violence, 10, 351-377. (A sample of
290 college students <111 men, 179 women> responded to the CTS.
Results reveal that 24.3% of men and 38.5% of women reported perpetrating
physical violence toward their dating partners.)
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.)
George, M. J.
(2003). Invisible touch. Aggression & Violent Behaviour, 8,
23-60. (A comprehensive review and analysis of female initiated partner
aggression. Historical, empirical and case evidence presented to
demonstrate reality of "battered husband syndrome.")
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, Ò...studies clearly demonstrate that
within the general population, women initiate and use violent behaviors against
their partners at least as often as men.Ó
Graham-Kevan, N., &
Archer, J. (July, 2005). Using Johnson's domestic violence typology to
classify men and women in a non-selected sample. Paper presented at the
9th Annual Family Violence Research Conference, Portsmouth, NH. (A total
of 1339 subjects, students and staff from the University of Central Lancashire,
responded to a modified version of the CTS. Authors report that,
"the proportion of women and men using any act of physical aggression
towards their partners was as follows: from self-reports 29% for women and 17%
for men, and from partner reports 31% of women and 22% for men.")
Grandin, E. &
Lupri, E. (1997). Intimate violence in Canada and the United States: A
cross-national comparison. Journal of Family Violence, 12 (4)
417-443. (Authors examine data from the 1985 U.S. National Family
Violence Resurvey and the 1986 Canadian National Family Life Survey.
Report that "although the United States exhibits significantly higher
rates of societal violence crime than Canada, Canadian women and men were more
likely than their American counterparts to use severe and minor intimate
violence." This finding is counter to the "culture of violence
theory." Moreover, in both cultures the rates of violence of wives
to husbands were higher than husbands to wives. Specifically, the overall
violence index for men in America was 10.6 and in Canada it was 18.3; while the
overall violence index for women in America was 12.2 and in Canada it was
25.3.)
Gray, H. M. &
Foshee, V. (1997). Adolescent dating violence. Journal of
Interpersonal Violence, 12, 126-142. (A sample of 185 adolescents
responded to a questionnaire about dating violence; 77 students reported being
involved in physical violence in their current or most recent dating
relationship. Mutual violence was present in 66% of cases; while 26% of
males and 8% of females reported being victims of violence and 29% of females
and 4% of males reported being sole perpetrators of violence.)
Gryl, F. E., Stith, S.
M., & Bird, G. W. (1991). Close dating relationships among college
students: differences by use of violence and by gender. Journal of Social
and Personal Relationships, 8, 243-264. (A sample of 280 first year college
students <156 women, 124 men> at a mid-Atlantic university completed the
violence sub-scale of the Conflict Tactics Scale. Results reveal that
almost 30% of the females and 23% of males reported that they had been violent
in the current relationship. Also almost 28% of women and 39% of men
reported sustaining violence in their current relationship.)
Hamel, J. (2005).
Gender Inclusive Treatment of Intimate Partner Abuse. New York:
Springer. (Reviews the "most reliable and empirically sound
research" and concludes that "men and women physically and
emotionally abuse each other at equal rates. . ." Offers a
comprehensive gender inclusive treatment approach to domestic violence.)
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.)
Harned, M. S.
(2002). A multivariate analysis of risk markers for dating violence
victimization. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 17, 1179-1197.
(In a university sample of 874 daters <489 women, 385 men> assessed with
the revised CTS, 22% of women and 21% of men reported experiencing physical
aggression from dating partners.)
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 274 college students <92 men, 182 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.
Hendy, H. M., Weiner,
K., Bakerofskie, J., Eggen, D., Gustitus, C., & McLeod, K. C. (2003).
Comparison of six models for violent romantic relationships in college men and
women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18, 645-665. (A sample of
608 students <164 men, 444 women> were surveyed with the Conflict Tactics
Scale. Results indicate that 16% of men and 26% of women report
inflicting violence on their current romantic partner.)
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.)
Hines, D. A. &
Malley-Morrison, K. (2001). Psychological effects of partner abuse
against men: a neglected research area. Psychology of Men and
Masculinity, 2, 75-85. (A review article that examines the issue of men
as victims of partner abuse. Considers reasons why men would remain in an
abusive relationship.)
Hines, D. A. &
Saudino, K. J. (2003). Gender differences in psychological, physical, and
sexual aggression among college students using the revised Conflict Tactics
Scales. Violence and Victims, 18, (2) 197-217. (A sample of 481
college students <179 men, 302 women> responded to the revised Conflict
Tactics scale. Results indicate that 29% of men and 35% of women reported
perpetrating physical aggression in their relationships.)
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%.)
Katz, J., Kuffel, S.
W., & Coblentz, A. (2002). Are there gender differences in sustaining
dating violence? An examination of frequency, severity, and relationship
satisfaction. Journal of Family Violence, 17, 247-271. (Authors
report two studies where dating men and women experienced violence at
comparable levels, "although men experienced more frequent moderate
violence." In the first study n=286, <183 women, 103 men> 55%
of women had nonviolent partners, while 50% of men had nonviolent partners; in
the second study n=123 <78 women, 45 men> 73% of women had nonviolent
partners, while 58% of men had nonviolent partners.)
Kaura, S. A. &
Allan, C. M. (2004). Dissatisfaction with relationship power and dating
violence perpetration by men and women. Journal of Interpersonal
Violence, 19, 576-588. (A university sample of 352 men and 296 women
completed the revised Conflict Tactics Scale. Authors report,
"Surprisingly, significantly more dating violence perpetration is reported
by women than by men.")
Kelly, L. (2003).
Disabusing the definition of domestic abuse: how women batter men and the role
of the feminist state. Florida State Law Review, 30, 791-855. (A
scholarly examination of the issue of male victimization which is critical of
feminist perspectives.)
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.)
Kim, J-Y., & Emery,
C. (2003). Marital power, conflict, norm consensus, and marital violence
in a nationally representative sample of Korean couples. Journal of
Interpersonal Violence, 18, 197-219. (A sample of 1500 South Koreans were
surveyed. Marital power, conflict and norm consensus were correlated with
marital violence. Findings reveal that the incidence of husband to wife
violence 27.8%, while wife to husband was 15.8%)
Kwong, M. J.,
Bartholomew, K., & Dutton, D. (1999). Gender differences in patterns
of relationship violence in Alberta. Canadian Journal of Behavioural
Science, 31, (3) 150-160. (A representative sample of men <n=356>
and women <n=351> from Alberta using the Conflict Tactics Scale, reported
on their experience of marital aggression during a one year period. Similar
levels of reported perpetration of physical violence were found, viz., husband
to wife 12.9%, wife to husband, 12.3%.)
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., Caspi, A., 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.)
Malik, S., Sorenson, S.
B., & Aneshensel, C. S. (1997). Journal of Adolescent Health, 21,
291-302. (A sample of 707 high school students <281 boys, 426
girls> responded to the CTS. Results reveal that girls were almost 3
times more likely than boys to perpetrate dating violence. In terms of
ethnicity African-Americans had the highest level of dating violence, followed
by Latinos, whites, and Asian Americans.)
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 155 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.)
Merrill, L. L., King,
L. K., Milner, J. S., Newell, C. E., & Koss, M. P. (1998).
Premilitary intimate partner conflict resolution in a Navy basic trainee
sample. Military Psychology, 10, 1-15. (A sample of 2, 987 ,1,560
women, 1,427 men> Navy basic trainees responded to the CTS. More men
<43.3%> than women <40.3%> reported receiving physical violence
from an intimate partner, and more women <46.9%> than men <31.9%>
reported at least one instance of inflicting physical violence on an intimate
partner.)
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.)
Mirrlees-Black, C.
(1999). Findings from a new British Crime Survey self-completion
questionnaire. Home Office Research, Development and Statistics
Directorate report 191. Home Office. London, HMSO. (In 1996,
16,000 completed questionnaires regarding crime victimization. Findings
reveal 4.2% of men and 4.2% of women between the ages of 16-59 reported being
physically assaulted by a current or former partner within the past year.)
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.)
Moffitt, T. E., Robins,
R. W., & Caspi, A. (2001). A couples analysis of partner abuse with
implications for abuse-prevention policy. Criminology & Public
Policy, 1, (1) 5-36. (A representative longitudinal sample of 360
young-adult couples in New Zealand completed a 13 item physical abuse
scale. Results reveal that 40% of males and 50% of females had
perpetrated at least one act of physical violence toward their partners.)
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.
(1998). Reports of husband battering from an undergraduate sample in
Umtata. Psychological Reports, 82, 517-518. (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.)
Niaz, U., Hassan, S.,
& Tariq, Q. (2002). Psychological consequences of intimate partner
violence: forms of domestic abuse in both genders. Pakistan Journal of
Medical Science, 18(3), 205-214. (A sample of 140 <70 men, 70
women> outpatient psychiatric patients in Pakistan were assessed with the
Karachi Domestic Violence Screening Scale. Findings reveal that 19 men
<27%> and 30 women <43%> reported being victims of physical abuse
in their domestic relationships.)
Nicholls, T. L. &
Dutton, D. G. (2001). Abuse committed by women against male
intimates. Journal of Couples Therapy, 10 (1) 41-57. (A
comprehensive review of the literature which concludes that "men are as
likely as women to be victims of intimate assaults.")
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'Keefe, M.
(1997). Predictors of dating violence among high school students.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 12, 546-568. (Surveyed 939 students
<385 boys, 554 girls> ranging in age from 14-20. Sample was
ethnically diverse: 53% Latino, 20% White, 13% African-American, 6.7% Asian
American, and 7% "other." A modified version of the violence
subscale of the Conflict Tactics Scale was used to assess dating
violence. Results reveal that 43% of females and 39% of males reported
that they perpetrated some form of physical aggression on their dating
partners.)
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.)
Sarantakos, S.
(2004). Deconstructing self-defense in wife-to-husband violence.
Journal of Men's Studies, 12 (3) 277-296. (Members of 68 families with
violent wives in Australia were studied. In 78% of cases wives' violence
was reported to be moderate to severe and in 38% of cases husbands needed
medical attention. Using information from husbands, wives, children and
wives' mothers study provides compelling data challenging self defense as a
motive for female-to-male violence.)
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.)
Sharpe, D., &
Taylor, J. K. (1999). An examination of variables from a
social-developmental model to explain physical and psychological dating violence.
Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 31:3, 165-175. (Canadian college
students <110 men, 225 women> were surveyed with the Conflict Tactics
Scale regarding dating violence. Results reveal that 38% of men and 27%
of women report receiving physical violence from their partners. Twice as
many women compared to men reported inflicting violence without receiving
physical violence from dating partners.)
Shook, N. J.,
Gerrity, D. A., Jurich, J. & Segrist, A. E. (2000). Courtship
violence among college students: A comparison of verbally and physically
abusive couples. 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.)
Sorenson, S. B.,
Upchurch, D. M., & Shen, H. (1996). Violence and injury in marital
arguments: risk patterns and gender differences. American Journal of
Public Health, 66(1), 35-40. (Data analysis was based on findings from
the National Survey of Families and Households conducted in 1987-88.
Subjects included 6779 currently married White, Black and Hispanic individuals
who completed a modified version of the Conflict Tactics Scale. Authors
report that, "women <6.2% vs 4.9%> were slightly more likely than
men to report that they had hit, shoved or thrown something at their spouse in
the previous year." Women also reported higher rates of causing
injury than did men. Other findings of note: 1) Blacks were 1.58 times
more likely and Hispanics 0.53 times less likely than Whites to report that
physical violence occurred in their relationship; 2) Subjects under 30 reported
more violence and those above 50 reported less violence; 3) lower annual income
was associated with higher rates of physical violence.)
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. (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