hysical violence, threatening to hurt her children or loved ones, or by destroying her personal property (Rouse 2).
Many researchers have tried to determine the causes for the abuse of women by men. One approach to this problem, known as the "social service approach," see wife abuse as a circumstance which causes suffering to both the man and woman in the relationship and which results from behavioral patterns which the man learned in early family life. A viewpoint which opposes this is that of the "social action approach," in which it is felt that the woman suffers far more from abuse than the man does. This second approach is based on the belief that abuse of women is caused by the patterns of male dominance which have characterized human societies for countless centuries (Gondolf 9). As a result of these opposing viewpoints, two approaches to counseling and therapy have been developed in regard to the abuse of women. The first approach focuses its intervention efforts on both the man and the woman in the relationship, whereas the second approach focuses its efforts strictly on the woman and generally involves support groups with other woman who have suffered similar circumstances in their lives.
It has been noted that it is extremely difficult to predict which men will become abusers of women and which will not. For example, the love of violent sports has not been found to be an accurate indicator of aggressive tendencies in men (Feinblatt 304). A number of theories have been developed in an effort to determine the root causes of an abusive disposition. For example, one author has stated that the man who does not abuse women has probably "gotten the things he desired in life—-without having to batter somebody else down to get them" (Feinblatt 304). Other researcher argue that abusers generally come from families in which they "were physically abused or witnessed abuse directed against their mothers or siblings" (...