Disputatiousness and the Offender–Victim Overlap

Abstract

Objectives: We examine whether offenders are at greater risk of violent victimization than non-offenders because of their disputatiousness; that is, their tendency to become involved in verbal conflicts. We also examine whether offenders are more disputatious because of their low self-control, alcohol use, and honor-based attitudes and whether disputatiousness can explain the effects of these individual differences on violent victimization. Method: A series of regression models examine self-reported data from 503 male inmates and 220 men (N = 723) they know from the community who have never been arrested. Results: Disputatiousness accounts for a substantial portion of the relationship between victimization and offending (i.e., inmate status). Disputatiousness also mediates the relationships between victimization and frequent intoxication, low self-control, and honor-based attitudes. Low self-control and heavy alcohol use account for a substantial portion of the relationship between offending and disputatiousness. Disputatiousness and victimization are associated with a history of assaultive offenses but not a history of robbery. Conclusions: The tendency to become involved in verbal conflicts can partly explain high victimization rates among male offenders, and among men who lack self-control, are frequently intoxicated, and have strong concerns about protecting their honor.

Young Adult Reports of the Victim–Offender Overlap in Intimate and Nonintimate Relationships: A Nationally Representative Sample

“…This research has been incorporated into theories of aggression and interpersonal violence (Tedeschi & Felson, 1994). CMS is a potentially missing link in the study of understanding the victim–offender overlap (Felson, Berg, Rogers, & Krajewski, 2018). Knowing how people generally handle conflict in disputes may be key to understanding why the same people often rotate between the roles of victim and offender and how violence tends to develop from routine disputes (Felson, 1984).…”

Beyond Honour and Achieved Hegemony: Violence and the Everyday Masculinities of Young Men

“…In a substantial corpus of studies that have closely focused on the details of social interactions that trigger violent encounters, researchers have amassed evidence about an apparent heightened sensitivity to personal affronts and insults, and an overwhelming need to react quickly and aggressively to these with verbal abuse and physical violence (Felson et al 2017). These actions arise from social disputes that are seemingly so minor, or so intertwined with some illegal act or practice, that reporting and arbitration from police or other legitimate state authority becomes impossible.…”

“…These actions arise from social disputes that are seemingly so minor, or so intertwined with some illegal act or practice, that reporting and arbitration from police or other legitimate state authority becomes impossible. Whether the central framework for these studies has been concerned with the aggressive behaviour of 'disputatious' individuals (Felson et al 2017), or the vexed symbolic interaction that occurs in everyday social relations, research in this area reveals that the particular danger of these incidents is a sharp male sense of grievance and the appropriateness of a violent response to real or imagined actions, slights, and the perceived hostile intentions of other people (Luckenbill and Doyle 1989).…”

Taking sides: Gender and third‐party partisanship in disputes

“…For detailed information on the sampling procedures and data collection, see Felson, Berg, Rogers, and Krajewski ().…”

“…For detailed information on the sampling procedures and data collection, seeFelson, Berg, Rogers, and Krajewski (2018).2 Note that to guarantee confidentiality and anonymity, the inmates did not provide an individual identifier that connected their surveys to their contacts in the community.…”