O'Leary KD. Barling J. Arias I. Rosenbaum A. Malone J. Tyree
A. April, 1989. Prevalence and stability of physical aggression
between spouses: a longitudinal analysis. Journal of Consulting &
Clinical Psychology. 57(2):263-8.
The following is taken from ongoing discussion of how spousal abuse rates are determined.Supplied by bhv@areaplg2.corp.mot.com (Bronis Vidugiris)
The data from the US National Crime Survey (NCS) states that 84% of the victims of "intimate" violence were female. ("Highlights from 20 years of Surveying Crime Victims", NCJ-144525.) It also puts the occurrence of this violent crime (from "intimates only") at 5.4 female victims per 1000 women per year - this is all crimes, some of which did not involve injury.
For comparison, the rate for "Accidental injury, all circumstances" is given as 220 per 1000 adults per year - a figure 40 times higher.
If one accepts data such as that from the NCS, one must (at least if one is consistent and intellectually honest) admit that such violence is rare. The picture changes, though, when different techniques of investigation (methodologies) are used, such as those by Straus and Gelles. This data shows that domestic violence is MUCH more common. In fact, some degree of violence (NOT injury, however) occurs at a rate of 113 incidents per 1000 couples per year (husband. on wife) and 121 incidents per 1000 couples per year (wife on husband)! This is 20x the rate that the NCS reports.
Many readers may have seen the material below already, but it may be new to others.
Question 35: No matter how well a couple gets along, there are times when they disagree, get annoyed with the other person, or just have spats or fights because they're in a bad mood or tired or for some other reason. They also use many different ways of trying to settle their differences. I'm going to read some things that you and your spouse might do when you have an argument. I would like you to tell me how many times in the last 12 months you:
a. Discussed the issue calmly
b. Got information to back up your side of things
c. Brought in or tried to bring in someone to help settle things
d. Insulted or swore at the other one
e. Sulked and/or refused to talk about it
f. Stormed out of the room or house (or yard)
g. Cried
h. Did or said something to spite the other one
i. Threatened to hit or throw something at the other one
j. Threw or smashed or hit or kicked something
k. Threw something at the other one
l. Pushed, grabbed, or shoved the other one
m. Slapped the other one
n. Kicked, but, or hit with a fist
o. Hit or tried to hit with something
p. Beat up the other one
q. Threatened with a knife or gun
r. Used a knife or gun
To summarize, Straus & Gelles, using the CTS methodology described above found that rates for total (including less severe violence, such as pushing and shoving) between husbands and wives are quite close) for husbands and wives, with one survey showing husbands as more violent and the other with wives as more violent
I should note that the CTS figures (and probably the Kentucky figures as well) show only raw incidents of violence, and do not take into account motivation or 'self defense'.
Other data, however indicates that the gender of the striker of the first blow is fairly uniform. Jan. E States and Murray A Straus, "Gender Differences in Reporting Marital Violence and It's Medical and Psychological Consequences", ch 9 in Straus & Gelles Physical Violence in American Families quote the following: Men claimed they struck the first blow in 44% of the cases, their female partners in 44% of the cases, and "couldn't remember" in 12% of the cases. The women claimed men hit them first in 43% of the cases, that they struck the first blow in 53% of the cases, and "couldn't remember" in 5% of the cases. However, data for injury rates based on these studies shows women seeking treatment for a doctor much more often than men did. In a study of 8145 families 7.3% of 137 women severely assaulted (i.e. 10 out of 137) and 1% of 95 men severely assaulted (i.e 1 out of 95) men needed a doctor.
(all figures are rates per 1000 couples per year, and the CTS figures are based on two national surveys of a representative population sample)
Rates per year per 1000 couples of various forms of violence.
CTS Survey #1 CTS Survey #2 Kentucky
1975 (N=2143) 1985 (N=3520) 1979
wife husband wife husband wife
victim victim victim victim victim
1) Threw something 28 52 28 43 29
2) Pushed, grabbed, or shoved 107 83 93 89 85
3) Slapped 51 46 29 41 48
4) kicked, bit, or hit with fist 24 31 15 24 14
5) Hit or tried to hit with something 22 30 17 30 22
6) Beat up 11 6 8 4 18
7) Threat with gun or knife 4 6 4 6 14
8) Used gun or knife 3 2 2 2 4
Overall violence (1-8) 121 116 113 121
severe violence (5-8) 38 46 30 44
Straus, M.A., Gelles, R.J., and
Steinmetz
, S.K. Behind closed
doors: Violence in American families Doubleday, New York, 1980
Gelles, Richard J. and Straus, Murray A. Intimate Violence: The causes
and consequences of abuse in the American Family, Simon & Schuster Inc,
New York, 1988
"The Survey of Spousal Violence Against Women in Kentucky" (WDC,1979)
(requote from other primary source)
"Physical Violence in American Families: Risk Factors and
Adaptations to Violence in 8145 Families" Richard Gelles and Murray Straus.
(requote from other primary source)
From: bhv@areaplg2.corp.mot.com (Bronis Vidugiris)
Subject: Re: The Nature Of Workers At Battered Women's Centers
Date: Tue, 2 Jan 1996 23:31:02 GMT
Message-ID: <1996Jan2.233102.28602@schbbs.mot.com>
I came across another recent paper that measures domestic aggression against men (one of very few). This one concludes that the incidence of physical aggression is very close in both directions, but that woman- against-man aggression is significantly higher in earlier stages of the relationship, and nonsignificantly higher in later stages. Women are more likely than men to continue a pre-marriage pattern of aggression at least 2.5 years into the marriage. Within a relationship, physical aggression is typically unidirectional.
O'Leary KD. Barling J. Arias I. Rosenbaum A. Malone J. Tyree
A. April, 1989. Prevalence and stability of physical aggression
between spouses: a longitudinal analysis. Journal of Consulting &
Clinical Psychology. 57(2):263-8.