Male/Female Perceptions of Domestic Abuse

Feminist theory holds that incidents of domestic violence are the result of an ongoing patriarchal social system. This system has created a dichotomous notion of acceptable behavior, as men take their power for granted and work to maintain it with little conscious thought. Much abuse goes unnoticed because it consists of psychological abuse, which leaves no visible scars on the victim and may not be performed consciously by the offender. A nationwide sample of adults was examined about their attitudes on domestic abuse in their personal relationships, and the responses of men and women were compared to determine whether such a drastically different perspective exists.

In several speeches in 1989, the United States Surgeon General indicated that over 2 million women are physically assaulted by their spouses or partners each year (Geffner & Rosenbaum, 1990). The O.J. Simpson trial, despite its many sideshows, managed to place the issue of domestic abuse more firmly on the center stage of public discourse. This growing discourse, however, has become marred by the attempts of various public figures attempting to make a name for themselves by politicizing the issue. Numerous claims are made about the prevalence of domestic abuse, with the statistical data on reported cases the center of the debate. Some commentators point to the numbers to determine that the problem is not so bad. Others contend that those numbers are unreliable, however, as there

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cism of flawed methodology. The first methodological concern is the source of data for many previous studies. Some studies use police reports, which is a poor choice since many if not most incidents of abuse go officially unreported (Dutton, 1986). Most studies instead use self-reports through surveys or interviews of abusers. There is some evidence that suggests that such methods tend to underreport incidence as well (e.g., Edleson, & Brygger, 1986; Jouriles, & O'Leary, 1985). The best sources for data are either female (victim) self-reports, or combined male-female reports. However, only a minority of studies use such sources. The second and most serious methodological problem is the differing conceptual definition of abuse. Typically, abuse and battery are treated interchangeably, the focus being on actual physical violence. However, feminist theory holds that psychological abuse can be nearly as severe. Such researchers report, however, that the absence of physical abuse often does nothing to reduce the terror that battered women feel (e.g., Hart, 1988; Rosenbaum, 1988). There has also been little research into the relationship between physical and psychological abuse. Hypotheses Following from feminist research,

Category: Psychology - M