The relationship of men's self-control capability; their need to control their wives; and their use of verbal aggression, threats, and physical forms of aggression against their partners, as reported by women, were examined. Data were obtained from a stratified probability sample of 2,544 women drawn from the general population in Israel. Initially, structural equation modeling analysis showed that (a) men's need to control their partners and their ability to control themselves were negatively related, and were 2 aspects of personal control; (b) men's verbal aggression, threats of physical aggression and actual physical aggression toward their partners were closely related, and were 3 aspects of aggressive behavior; (c) personal control and aggressive behavior were closely related. Next, a revised model that fitted the data better, demonstrated that verbal aggression was more closely related to personal control than to aggressive behavior. Finally, a model representing co-occurrence of control and violent expressions was tested. This model yielded the best fit to the data. We concluded that control and aggression are two conceptualizations of the same phenomenon, rather than 2 distinct, yet interrelated, concepts.

The present study analyzes the extent to which the aggressive tendencies of male and female adolescents are associated with the same tendencies of significant others in and outside the family. Aggressive tendencies are defined as the participants' subjective evaluation of their own intention to react to aggression, and their evaluation of their father's, mother's, and closest same-gender friends intentions. The study is based on a sample of 292 male and female adolescents. Results indicate that aggressive tendencies of both male and female adolescents are associated only with those of their same-gender parents and closest same-gender friend. The consistency of the finding with Sutherland's differential association theory and Bandura's social learning theory is discussed.