rity, or did not behave in ways that they wanted them to behave. Essentially, though, domestic violence for men is about control, and sometimes punishment of those who have disobeyed them. For women, domestic violence tends to be protective. Hamberger et al. (1997) identified the major factors involved in men's perpetuation of domestic violence as domination, coercive communication, anger expression and tension release, punishment, and physical control of their partners.
The prevalence rates for domestic violence in a locale depend upon the definition of domestic violence. More limited definitions result in lower apparent prevalence rates, while definitions that consider the whole range of abusive behaviors result in high rates. Prevalence rates may vary between countries and between subpopulations within each country.
In their discussion of the rates of interpersonal violence, Acierno et al.(1997) discussed the problem of obtaining accurate rates on violence. They noted that official rates - those reported by the police or FBI, for example - vary considerably from rates quoted by social scientists doing epidemiological studies. The former depends upon reported violence that comes to official attention, while the latter generally depends upon self-reports of experience.
In general, though, the prevalence of domestic violence is thought to be about 1.8 million to 4 million U.S. women per year, with 20-30 percent of all marriages in the country having at one time been characterized by overt interpersonal aggression (Acierno, et al., 1997). Straus and Gelles (1989) mentioned that almost 13 percent of the men in their study had been physically aggressive toward partners in the previous year, with 33 percent of those acts classified as severe. This included beating their partner up or threatening their partner with a knife or gun. Approximately 1,700 women per year are killed by their partner
II. Context of a domesti...