Work-Home Conflict and Domestic Violence: A Test of a Conceptual Model

The relationship between work-home conflict and domestic violence is examined using data from 295 adults, who worked full time and were in serious relationships. Job satisfaction, gender, gender role attitudes, type of employment, and socioeconomic status were examined as predictors of work-family conflict. Backward stepwise regression analysis revealed that job satisfaction was the only predictor of work-home conflict. Regression analyses were again conducted to determine the moderating effects of general well-being, alcohol use, family of origin violence witnessed or experienced, communication skills, and social support on the relationship between work-home conflict and domestic violence. Both family of origin violence witnessed and personally experienced were revealed as moderators of this relationship. The remaining potential moderators were submitted to regression analyses to determine if they might, instead, be mediators. These analyses revealed that negative communication skills and social support mediated the relationship between work-home conflict and domestic violence.     

Spousal Violence Among Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union—General Population and Welfare Recipients

This study examines psychological and marital risk factors of 322 immigrant FSU couples in Israel. The research focuses on two populations: the general immigrant population and the welfare immigrant population; the latter group is comprised of couples treated in welfare service departments. The dependent variable is spousal violence. The independent variables are: education level, gender, symbolic loss, psychological adjustment (both positive and negative emotions) and the “cultural–familial gap”. Surprisingly, it was found that the welfare immigrant population reports less spousal violence than the regular immigrant population. In addition, a correlation was found between spousal violence and the following factors: higher education, lower level of psychological adjustment and greater familial-cultural gap between the country of origin and Israel. The discussion focuses on the characteristics of FSU immigrants—educational level and orientation towards cultural preservation—within the Israeli context that connects to psychological responses which, in turn, creates spousal violence.     

What puts women at risk of violence from their husbands? Findings from a large, nationally representative survey in Turkey

A large, nationally representative, cross-sectional survey was conducted in Turkey in 2008. In this survey, which used the WHO (World Health Organization) study module on violence, information about lifetime and current violence (past 12 months) was obtained using weighted, stratified, and multistage cluster sampling. This article describes factors associated with physical or sexual violence experienced by ever-married women, aged 15 to 49, from their current or most recent husbands in the 12 months before the survey. Logistic regression analysis is used to describe the risk and protective factors from a considerable range of explanatory variables. The findings confirm that many factors are similar to the experiences of other countries. The physical or sexual violence experienced by ever-married women from their husbands was 15.1%. The violence experienced by women is significantly positively associated with early childhood abuse experiences of both women and their husbands; marriages decided by families or others; husband's behaviors such as drunkenness, adultery, controlling women's behavior, and preventing contact with women's family and friends. The age of the women, their contribution to the household income, support from women's families, women's acceptance of male authority, and nonpartner violence experience as well as regional differentials also affect the risk of violence. No significant associations were found with the employment status of women and men or education difference. This study, as one of the largest surveys ever conducted on the issue of domestic violence using face-to-face interviews, demonstrated how the patriarchal family structure still affects women's lives in Turkey. This is particularly significant, given Turkey's setting between traditional and modern values.     

Hate crimes and stigma-related experiences among sexual minority adults in the United States: prevalence estimates from a national probability sample

Using survey responses collected via the Internet from a U.S. national probability sample of gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults (N = 662), this article reports prevalence estimates of criminal victimization and related experiences based on the target's sexual orientation. Approximately 20% of respondents reported having experienced a person or property crime based on their sexual orientation; about half had experienced verbal harassment, and more than 1 in 10 reported having experienced employment or housing discrimination. Gay men were significantly more likely than lesbians or bisexuals to experience violence and property crimes. Employment and housing discrimination were significantly more likely among gay men and lesbians than among bisexual men and women. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.     

Fighting Families: Family Characteristics Associated with Domestic Violence in Five Latin American Countries

This study uses data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) to examine the relationship between familial characteristics and the likelihood of experiencing domestic violence in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Peru. Logistic regression techniques are used to measure relationships between marital status, family size, partner alcohol use, socioeconomic status (SES), decision-making power, and education homogamy and the likelihood of experiencing partner violence. Cohabitation, female-dominant decision making, and partner alcohol are positively associated with domestic violence across datasets. Family size, SES, and education homogamy emerged as statistically significant in some, but not all of the datasets. This study helps clarify the profile of the abused Latina and also tests the applicability of current abuse research to a non-Western setting.While numerous forms of aggression are incorporated into the term domestic violence, the present study focuses exclusively on domestic violence involving physical abuse between heterosexual partners.     

Role call: sex,gender roles,and intimate partner violence

ABSTRACT

Intimate partner violence (IPV) continues to be viewed in gendered and heteronormative ways. Stanziani, Cox, and Coffey (2018, Adding insult to injury: Sex, sexual orientation, and juror decision-making in a case of intimate partner violence. Journal of Homosexuality, 65(10), 1325–1350) presented participants with a case of alleged IPV while manipulating the sex and sexual orientation of the aggressor/victim dyad. Results suggested participants view violence perpetrated by a man against a woman most abhorrently. The current study replicated and expanded that study, exploring how gender role beliefs influence participant decision-making. Female participants held more adverse attitudes towards IPV when a male assaulted a female. Further, participant gender role beliefs influenced decision-making. Specifically, males who endorsed higher levels of hegemonic masculinity perceived the crime to be less serious, while females who endorsed the same beliefs perceived the defendant as less likely to benefit from treatment. Overall, results suggest individual beliefs regarding gender roles and masculinity may influence their perceptions of IPV, regardless of the gender and sexual orientation of the aggressor and victim.     

If Violence Is Domestic, Does It Really Count?

Estimates of the prevalence of marital violence have been found to vary dramatically from survey to survey. This paper addresses one potential explanation for this difference which involves the focus and format of different surveys. We examine the extent to which survey respondents are willing to report marital violence in a context which focuses on criminal behaviors as opposed to a family violence context. In a very basic way, this answers a question as to whether individuals are willing to define acts of marital violence as criminal. Methodologically, it is a measurement issue which seriously affects the ability to compare findings across samples. National Youth Survey data are used to compare rates of generalized spousal assault and victimization reported in a crime context with rates of marital assault and victimization reported in a family violence context. Results indicate that 40 to 83% of all marital assaults and victimizations reported in the marital violence section are not reported in a format which focuses on criminal assault and victimization.     

Gender comparisons in the relationship between parental and sibling violence and nonfamily violence

This paper addresses two neglected areas in the research on the relationship between family violence and violence outside the home: violence other than parent-child abuse and the effect of gender. Specifically, we consider both parental and sibling violence as independent variables, nonfamily violence as the dependent variable, and gender as the specification variable. The data were collected from a sample of 306 students in Introductory Sociology and Social Problems classes. The finding of particular importance is that the interaction between the gender of both the aggressor and the victim has a significant effect on the relationship between violence within the home and nonfamily violence.     

Intimate Violence in Canada and the United States: A Cross-National Comparison

Using data from the 1985 U.S. National Family Violence Resurvey and the 1986 Canadian National Family Life Survey, this paper compares incidence of intimate violence or “common couple violence” (Johnson, 1995) in both countries. As expected, gender symmetry characterizes common couple violence, which is a product of the privatized setting of many American and Canadian households. Although the United States exhibits significantly higher rates of societal violent crime than Canada, Canadian women and men were more likely than their American counterparts to use severe intimate violence and to inflict it, as well as minor violence, more often, which is contrary to the culture of violence theory that guided the study. Similarly, the higher rates of wife-to-husband severe violence across the life course in both countries are inconsistent with the theory. Several ad hoc explanations are presented to account for these unexpected findings.     

Evaluation of Topics in Utah's ONE‐HOUR Divorce Education Program

Divorce education programs are mandatory in most states. Despite the ongoing debate in the field regarding the appropriate duration of these programs, the goal of the current study was to identify the following five content areas in divorce education that may be most relevant for predicting favorable outcomes: (1) impact of divorce on children, (2) impact of divorce on family relationships, (3) financial responsibilities of divorcing parents for children, (4) benefits of positive coparenting, and (5) impact of domestic violence on children and family relationships. Using divorcing parents' self‐reported data (N = 3,275) from a one‐hour online divorce education program in Utah, we examined participants' post‐divorce intentions to treat each other respectfully, especially in front of the child(ren), and engage in positive coparental practices. The results showed that the program was effective in obtaining these objectives. We discuss these findings in depth and offer suggestions for future programs.     

Views of Male University Students About Social Gender Roles; An Example From East of Turkey

Social gender roles refer to the roles that are traditionally associated with women and men. Social gender role includes the personal attributes and behaviors which are culturally assigned to women and men. This study was conducted to determine the views of male students at Caucasian University Health School on social gender roles at work, social life, marriage, and family life. The study was conducted on male students studying at Kars Health School, Nursing and Health Officers Department during 2007–2008 academic year. The students were given 24 statements relating to work life, social life, marriage, and family life to determine their views on social gender roles. Results indicated that 30.2% of the male students stated that women could work in a paid job, 56.9% believed in equality of women and men, 44.8% approved honor killing, 40.5% said the girls should receive education as far as they can go, 54.3% said the role of the women was to “provide moral support to their husband and children”, 37.1% stated that husbands could beat their wives under certain circumstances, 52.6% said they witnessed violence in their family at some stage of their lives, 51.7% said the women’s environment should be decided by the spouses together, 25% said the women should engage in sexual intercourse with their spouses even if they did not want to. Men who thought the role of the women was to do housework/giving birth to children/looking after the elderly members of the house, and who approved honor killing and disapproved working of their spouses, and who did not believe in equality of women and men, were found to support violence to women by men. Moreover, the students who witnessed violence at some stage of their lives supported this view as well. It was considered that the students should be educated on the definition of violence and situations involving violence, and directed to consultant services.     

The influence of race,gender, family,and employment status on probationer sanctioning for noncompliance

Abstract

Although there is substantial attention to judicial decision-making during sentencing, fewer studies have examined decision-making post sentencing. Further, the interactions of probationer race and additional background factors have been under studied in post-sentencing decision-making. This study utilizes the focal concerns perspective to examine whether race interacts with gender, family status, and employment status in predicting sanctioning probationers for noncompliance. A sample of probation review hearings within an eight-month period in three domestic violence courts were selected. Results demonstrate that race does not interact with other background factors in influencing a jail sanction, while non-compliant behaviors are the strongest predictors.     

Lifetime Family Violence and Depression: The Case of Older Women in South Korea

The current study examined the prevalence of lifetime family violence among older women (N = 525) and the influence of family violence on depression using data from a national survey in South Korea. The major findings were that 49.3 % of respondents had been victimized from lifetime family violence, the prevalence of childhood maltreatment was 37.1 % and intimate partner violence was 23.4 %. Approximately, 55 % of participants had clinical depression, which was significantly associated with reported experiences of family violence. The findings suggest that family violence and depression are common social problems and that individualized intervention for older women in South Korea is needed.     

Husbands who harm: Predicting spousal violence by men

Previous research on spouse abuse has frequently focused on bivariate relationships between theoretically derived variables and marital violence. This study utilizes a multivariate approach in order to explore the independent and combined effects of several variables derived from the social learning and the frustration/strain perspectives on self-reported violence by husbands against wives. Data for married and/or cohabiting males are derived from a national stratified random sample of couples in the United States. Loglinear analysis is used to identify the main and interactive effects of age, occupational status, employment status, subjective economic strain, and observation of parental violence on reports of violence toward one's wife. Results indicate that age, occupational status, parental modeling and employment status affect the likelihood of violence. Employment status more strongly increases the likelihood of violence for younger men, as opposed to older men, which supports the strain perspective. The independent effect of the observation of parental violence lends support to the social learning approach. Social policy implications are discussed.     

Mental Disorder, Violence, and Gender

Recent studies have reported comparable rates of violence among men and women with mental disorder, raising important issues for clinical risk assessment. This study examines the relationship between gender and violence using data from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study. Patients in acute psychiatric wards were interviewed 5 times over the year following their discharge to the community. Results showed some differences between men and women in the violence committed immediately following discharge, with rates for men being higher. But the prevalence of violence over the 1 year was similar for female and male discharged patients. However, there were substantial gender differences in the situational context of the violence committed. Men were more likely to have been drinking or using street drugs, and less likely to have been adhering to prescribed psychotropic medication, prior to committing violence. The violence committed by men was more likely to result in serious injury than the violence committed by women, and men were more likely than women to be arrested after committing a violent act. Women were more likely to target family members and to be violent in the home.     

Wife Abuse in Hong Kong Chinese Families: A Community Survey

The present study aimed to explore the extent and pattern of wife abuse in Hong Kong Chinese families. The sample included 1,132 married women aged 18 or older randomly selected from the community. Results showed that 67.2% of the surveyed women reported at least one incident of verbal abuse, and 10% experienced at least one incident of physical abuse by their husbands during the surveyed year. Husband-to-wife minor physical violence was almost seven times more than husband-to-wife severe physical violence (9.8% vs 1.4%). Couples' age and their age differences were related to physical wife abuse but not verbal wife abuse. Specifically, physical wife abuse in the form of minor violence occurred most frequently among married men and women aged 30 or below; and both minor and severe physical violence to wife was found most frequently among couples whose ages were more than 20 years apart. Couples' education level, differences in education, occupation, family income, and number of children were not related to various forms of wife abuse; whereas the length of marriage and marital satisfaction were significant correlates of wife abuse. Results were discussed with regard to relevant local and Western studies.     

Domestic violence during pregnancy in an eastern city of Turkey: a field study

Violence is an increasing and important community health problem that can be seen in any area of human life. Limited studies were found about domestic violence among pregnant women and its relation with social status of women. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and types of domestic violence during pregnancy, factors affecting it, women's thoughts about violence, and relation between social status of women and domestic violence. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 253 pregnant women, using cluster and simple random sampling methods. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis methods were used to analyze the data. Women who indicated that they have been exposed to violence at some point of their lives were 24.1% and who indicated that violence continued while they were pregnant were 11.1%. Physical violence was the most common type of violence reported (18.2%). It was found that women who had primary school or lower level of education and who made unwanted marriage suffered from more violence during pregnancy. It can be said that violence against pregnant women is still a social problem. In societies where gender roles are dominant, decision makers have to take necessary steps such as supporting education of girls to improve social status of women, increasing awareness among women in regard to personal rights and legal regulations which will contribute to the solution of the issue.     

Marital Satisfaction and Marital Discord as Risk Markers for Intimate Partner Violence: A Meta-analytic Review

A meta-analysis investigating the relationship between marital satisfaction/discord and intimate partner violence (IPV) in heterosexual relationships was conducted with 32 articles. Overall, a small-to-moderate effect size (r = −0.27) indicated a significant and negative relationship existed between marital satisfaction/discord and IPV. Moderator analyses found no differences between effect size based on construct examined (discord or satisfaction). However, the magnitudes of observed effect sizes were influenced by other moderator variables, including the use of standardized versus non-standardized measures, gender of the offender and victim, role in the violence (perpetrator versus victim), and sample type (clinical versus community). The data suggests that gender is an especially important moderator variable in understanding the relationship between marital satisfaction/discord and IPV.     

The marriage license as a hitting license: A comparison of assaults in dating,cohabiting, and married couples

There are many studies of marital and dating violence. However, methodological differences between these studies make it difficult to determine differences in the nature and extent of physical assault between marital status groups. This paper helps fill that gap by analyzing data from two surveys: a study of 526 dating couples at a large midwestern university, and a study of a national probability sample of 5005 married and 237 cohabiting couples. The results show that cohabiting couples have a higher rate of assault than dating and married couples. These findings persist after controls for age, education, and occupational status are introduced. Violence is also more severe in cohabiting than dating or married couples. A number of factors may account for the more frequent violence in cohabiting relationships. These include social isolation, the issue of autonomy and control, and the investment in the relationship.     

Violent backgrounds of economically disadvantaged youth: Risk factors for perpetrating violence?

Adolescent Job Corps residents (n=474) reported the violence they had experienced, witnessed, and perpetrated with regards to parents, siblings, friends, and strangers. Results indicated that there was a high prevalence of all types of violence in this atrisk adolescent sample. Moreover, the majority of adolescents who reported violent experiences indicated threat or use of a weapon was involved. Gender differences were obtained such that boys reported perpetrating more aggression against friends and strangers than girls. Girls reported witnessing more parental aggression than boys. No gender differences in parental victimization rates were obtained. Contrary to prediction, parental victimization did not significantly predict perpetration towards siblings, friends, or strangers for either gender. However, parental victimization did predict increased violence towards parents. Surprisingly, for females especially, witnessing parental violence reduced the likelihood of violence towards parents. These findings support the need to include conflict resolution skills as a component of Job Corps training.