Violence and Gangs: Gender Differences in Perceptions and Behavior

Most research on violence has focused on males, but recent studies indicatethat females are also involved in violent crimes. Few studies, to date,have examined whether different or similar models explain male and femaleinvolvement in violent behavior. In the current research, we examine therelative contribution of social bond, self-control and social learningconcepts to the explanation of male and female violent offending. We alsoexplore the unique contribution of gang membership, school environment andprior victimization to these explanatory models. Using a multisite sampleof eighth-grade students, we find that results of a Chow test indicate theneed for separate theoretical models. Despite some similarities, differentfactors account for male and female rates of violent behavior.     

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.     

Gender, Threat/Control-Override Delusions and Violence

This study brings together the threat/control-override perspective and the literature on gender and stress coping to argue that gender moderates the association between threat delusions and violence. We suggest that men are more likely than women to respond to stressors such as threat delusions with violence. We test these ideas using data from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study, a multi-wave study of post-discharge psychiatric patients. Within-person results from two-level hierarchical models support the idea that men and women cope with threat delusions differently. Specifically, we find that men are significantly more likely to engage in violence during periods when they experience threat delusions, compared with periods when they do not experience threat delusions. In contrast, women are significantly less likely to engage in violence during times when they experience threat delusions, compared with periods when they do not. We discuss these findings in light of the literature on gender and stress coping.     

Self-Defense,Retaliation, and Gender: Clarifying Motivations for Physical Partner Violence

The motivations behind intimate partner violence (IPV) have been a controversial topic. It has been suggested that women’s use of IPV mainly occurs in the context of self-defense (Saunders 1986). However, men also report perpetrating IPV in self-defense (Harned 2001; Makepeace 1986). This article differentiates self-defense from retaliation and reviews findings regarding these motives for perpetrators of IPV. Self-defense motives are common among battered women; however, undergraduates and arrested perpetrators often report other motives. Women do not consistently report using violence in self-defense more than men do. Clinical and research implications are discussed and existing self-defense measures are critiqued.     

Gender-Role Stereotypes and Perceptions of Heterosexual,Gay and Lesbian Domestic Violence

Although domestic violence occurs in all types of relationships, non-prototypical cases (e.g., gay male, lesbian, female-against-male) are often overlooked. We replicated and extended previous research demonstrating that perceptions of heterosexual and same-sex domestic violence are generally consistent with gender-role stereotypes. Male and female undergraduates read one of four domestic abuse cases varying by victim and perpetrator sex and sexual orientation. Victim sex, ratherthan sexual orientation, was the most potent predictor of responses, although male-against-female violence was considered the most serious and deserving of active intervention. Domestic violence perpetrated by men or against women was judged more serious than violence perpetrated by women or against men. Perceptions that male perpetrators were more capable of injuring victims, and female victims were more likely to suffer serious injury were consistent with gender-role stereotypes.     

Investigating Treatment Effects in a Domestic Violence Experiment with Partially Missing Outcome Data

This paper considers the problem of estimating the magnitude of a treatmenteffect in a randomized experiment where the outcome is missing for somecases. The primary concern in such situations is that the distribution ofthe outcome variable may vary in important ways between individuals whoseoutcomes are observed and individuals whose outcomes are missing. Since thedata cannot be used to resolve this concern, it is necessary to take theuncertainty that is created by the missing data into account when developinginferences about the magnitude of the treatment effect. This paper considersa modeling framework that accomplishes this objective. Then, the proposedframework is applied to a study of the effectiveness of different types ofpolice responses to spouse assault incidents in Charlotte, North Carolina.     

Gender Arguments and Paradigmatic Challenges within Intimate Partner Violence Research: A Call for a more Inclusive Paradigm of Understanding Regarding Physical Partner Violence Perpetration

This paper suggests that the epistemology surrounding intimate partner violence (IPV) is flawed due to two areas in particular: 1) an overreliance on quantitative methodologies that lack the detailed and contextual information required for complex understandings of IPV and 2) the minimization of alternative theoretical perspectives on the meaning of gender. Although an ecological perspective to understanding IPV has been advocated by the World Health Organization as a useful theoretical framework from which to understand IPV (Krug et al. 2002), few empirical studies have tested this complex perspective. We suggest that broader research approaches may prove useful in shedding light on non-conventional IPV experiences, potentially broadening our understanding of this complex phenomenon.     

Split Sentencing in Florida: Race/Ethnicity,Gender, Age,and the Mitigation of Prison Sentence Length

American Journal of Criminal Justice - Corresponding with the theoretical expectations of the causal attributions and focal concerns perspectives, a vast body of sentencing literature has shown...     

Gender Differences in Specialization in Intimate Partner Violence: Comparing the Gender Symmetry and Violent Resistance Perspectives

Research on male domestic violence offenders has typically considered them to be highly specialized offenders, and specialized theories and policies have been developed to address this type of offending. Some scholars have suggested that intimate partner violence is not as specialized as has been previously assumed. Especially in terms of gender differences, intimate partner violence research and theory suggest some variability in the level of specialization apparent for offenders. The current study uses the gender symmetry and violent resistance perspectives of women’s use of intimate partner violence to examine gender differences in specialization among a sample of intimate partner violence arrestees. Analyses employed multivariate models estimating the diversity index as a measure of specialization in general and multilevel item response theory to assess specialization in intimate partner violence specifically. Results indicate that female arrestees demonstrate significantly greater levels specialization as compared to male arrestees, providing support for the violent resistance perspective. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.     

Emotion Dysregulation,Gender, and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration: An Exploratory Study in College Students

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent problem, as it is bidirectional and perpetrated by both men and women. Emotion dysregulation may influence IPV perpetration among men and women. This cross-sectional survey study of 598 college students investigated the associations between two important factors related to IPV perpetration: gender and emotion dysregulation. Findings illustrated an association between emotion dysregulation and IPV perpetration. The bivariate association between physical violence and one facet of emotion dysregulation differed by gender, such that lack of emotional awareness was associated with violence perpetrated by women, but not men; however, this was not supported in multivariate analyses. These preliminary findings suggest that future work should examine how different emotion regulation deficits may increase IPV by gender.     

Partner Violence Entrapment Scale: Development and Psychometric Testing

This article describes the development and testing of the psychometric properties of the Partner Violence Entrapment Scale (PVES), an instrument that evaluates the women’s perceived reasons for staying in violent partner relationships. After initial pilot testing, the scale was administered to 213 Spanish women who were victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). An exploratory factor analysis identified six factors: Socio-Economic Problems, Attachment and Fear of Loneliness, Blaming Oneself and Resignation, Impact on Children, Fear of Harm and Worry for the Partner, and Feelings of Confusion. Discriminant validity was established by demonstrating associations between PVES factors and socio-demographic, clinical and abuse variables. The scale appears to be a useful assessment tool for social and clinical settings. Its factor structure, reliability, and validity need to be replicated in other populations and samples.     

Gender and Injury Risk in Incidents of Assaultive Violence

This study investigates the situational characteristics that determine the presence and severity of injury in incidents of assaultive violence. The analysis uses merged data from the National Crime Victimization Survey and the Supplementary Homicide Reports for the years 1992-2008, in order to model the determinants of victim injury. The analysis includes all incidents of attempted or completed, non-sexual assault against victims 12?years of age or older. Injury severity is classified into one of four possible levels: no injury, minor injury, serious injury (requiring doctor, hospital, or emergency room care), and lethal injury. Special attention is given to the way in which gender modifies the influence of situational elements on the presence and degree of victim injury. While the results suggest that the situational determinants of injury are by and large uniform for male and female victims, important gender differences are observed in the salience of relational distance.     

Perceptions of Sexual Harassment: The Effects of Gender,Legal Standard,and Ambivalent Sexism

This research tests the possibility that the reasonable woman as compared to the reasonable person test of hostile work environment sexual harassment interacts with hostile and benevolent sexist beliefs and under some conditions triggers protectionist attitudes toward women who complain of sexual harassment, We administered to a sample of undergraduates the ambivalent sexism inventory along with the fact patterns in two harassment cases and asked them to make legally relevant decisions under either the reasonable woman or person standard. We found that those high in hostile sexism, and women, found more evidence of harassment. However, those high in benevolent sexism did not exhibit the hostile sexism effects. Although men were less sensitive to the reasonable woman standard than women, under some conditions the reasonable woman standard enabled both genders to find greater evidence of harassment. The results are discussed from the perspectives of law and psychology.