It is not clear whether traditional cultural ideology influences wife assaults in Hispanic-American families, or if culture is confounded with the stresses of poverty, unemployment, and immigration status. Our 1992 study of 1,970 families, including a national oversample of Hispanic families, examines the incidence of marital violence in the three major Hispanic-American subgroups and in Anglo-American families, and considers how sociocultural status and attitudes towards violence affect wife assaults differentially. The findings show that Hispanic Americans, as a whole, do not differ significantly from Anglo Americans in their odds of wife assaults when norms regarding violence approval, age, and economic stressors are held constant At the same time, considerable heterogeneity was apparent among ethnic subgroups on a number of measures. We also found that being born in the United States increases the risk of wife assaults by Mexican- and Puerto Rican-American husbands. However, the presence of norms sanctioning wife assaults within any group, regardless of socioeconomic status, is a risk factor for wife abuse.

This study evaluated the utility of specific risk markers of wife assault in understanding the cessation and persistence of violence against women over a 3-year period. Longitudinal data were used to identify violent men who ceased the violence for 2 years and violent men who persisted in using violence. A group of nonviolent men was used for comparison. Factor analysis indicated that marital conflict, socioeconomic status (SES), and witnessing violence in the family of origin were the most powerful discriminators of these groups. Moreover, it was found that high levels of marital conflict and low SES were associated not only with the occurrence of violence but also with the continuity of wife assaults over time.

Patterns of wife assault, rates of cessation, and the effect of cessation on psychological aggression were evaluated in a three-year longitudinal study of 772 couples. More than one-third of the men who had been violent in the year prior to the initial survey ceased or interrupted their violence and showed significant reductions in their psychological aggression during the course of the study. Implications for the conceptualization and further study of wife assault are discussed.

This study used national survey data to assess the utility of commonly recognized risk markers for wife assault to predict violence against women in various ethnic groups of Latino families (i.e., Mexican, Mexican American, Puerto Rican). The authors identified various combinations of factors affecting violence risk within different ethnic groups. Level of conflict emerged as the strongest and most stable factor across ethnic group and gender of respondent. Generic risk markers did not adequately account for the observed between-group variability. The results highlight the need to investigate both generic and culture-specific variables associated with an increased risk for wife assault.

Over two-thirds of clients in family therapy clinics engage in some form of physical violence against their partners within the year prior to the initiation of therapy. However, family therapists are aware of only a small proportion of these cases. The purpose of this article is to enhance the ability of family therapists to detect marital violence. We examine client and therapist reasons for why physical violence is not detected. We then review various methods to screen for the presence of physical violence, especially the Conflict Tactics Scales. Finally, indicators of life-threatening violence are presented to help family therapists detect cases that require immediate intervention to protect the partner whose life may be in danger.