Battered Men - The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence
Research
Findings
References Examining Assaults by Women on Their Spouses or Male
partners
An Annotated Bibliography
© 1997, 1998 by Martin S. Fiebert,
Department of Psychology,
California State University, Long Beach, U.S.A.
SUMMARY:
This bibliography examines 95 scholarly investigations, 79
empirical studies and 16 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 60,000.
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., & 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.)
Bookwala, J., Frieze, I. H., Smith, C., & Ryan, K. (1992). Predictors
of dating violence: A multivariate 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.)
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 difference="" nonsignificant="">, 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.>)
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 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.")
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.)
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
signficance.
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).
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.)
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.)
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.)
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.")
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.)
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%>).
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., & 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.)
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.)
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.)
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%>.)
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.)
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%.)
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.)
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.)
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 defence.")
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.)
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., & 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 , 1985 , 1992
, and 1994 , 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.)
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.)
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.)
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.
You can find out more about Dr. Martin Fiebert and the research he
has conducted at his Web site.