Gender and the Seriousness of Assaults on Intimate Partners and Other Victims

Abstract

We examine the ways in which assaults committed by male intimate partners are more serious than assaults committed by female partners and whether these differences reflect gender differences in offending and victimization generally. Analyses of the National Violence Against Women and Men Survey (N =6,480) show that, in general, gender effects do not depend on the victim's relationship to the offender. Regardless of their relationship (a) men cause more injuries; (b) women suffer more injuries although their injuries tend to be less severe; (c) victims are more fearful of male offenders but only if the offenders are unarmed; and (d) men are particularly likely to precipitate assaults by other men, not their female partners. Violent husbands do assault with particularly high frequency but so do women who assault family members.

Partner aggression among men and women in substance use disorder treatment: Correlates of psychological and physical aggression and injury

“…The overall findings with regard to physical aggression are similar to previous reports that have found no gender differences (Chermack et al, 2001;Heru et al, 2006;Hines and Saudino, 2003;Straus and Sweet, 1992), or slightly higher rates of female-to-male partner aggression (Archer, 2000). Further, the significant correlation between gender and partner-to-participant injury was consistent with prior studies that have shown women to be more likely to sustain injuries from partners and/or require medical attention as a result of partner violence (e.g., Archer, 2000;Felson and Cares, 2005;Stets and Strauss, 1989;Tjaden and Thoennes, 2000). Thus, the finding in this sample that women reported a higher frequency of being injured by their partner illustrates the importance of more comprehensively measuring aggressive behaviors in order to identify potential gender differences.…”

“…For example, there is evidence that younger age is related to partner aggression (Chermack et al, 2001, Moore et al, 2008, that there tend to be higher rates of partner violence among African-American and Hispanic couples (e.g., Field and Caetano, 2005b), and that being married/co-habitating is related to partner violence (e.g., Moore et al, 2008). In terms of gender, studies have tended to find either no gender differences in aggression (when defined as physical aggression) directed towards partners (Chermack et al, 2001;Walton et al, 2002) or somewhat higher rates of female-to-male partner physical aggression (for a review see Archer, 2000), whereas other studies have documented that women have higher rates of victimization by partners (Walton et al, 2002) or being injured by partners (Felson and Cares, 2005;Morse, 1995;Tjaden and Thoennes, 2000). Finally, both distal factors (e.g., family history of substance use and/or violence, history of child sexual and/or physical abuse) and proximal factors (e.g., recent substance use patterns, psychiatric comorbidity/symptoms) have been shown to contribute independently and through interaction effects to aggression (Chermack et al, 2006;Goldstein, 1985;Quigley and Leonard, 2000).…”

When a man hits a woman: moral evaluations and reporting violence to the police

“…Respondents tend to think it is worse to hit a spouse than an acquaintance. These results are consistent with prior research based on correlational data [Felson and Cares, 2005;Rossi et al, 1974]. They directly contradict the idea that violence is more normative in marriage.…”

Partner's Stake in Conformity and Abused Wives' Psychological Trauma

“…Additionally, any factors correlated with intimate partner assault severity that are also related to psychological trauma need to be controlled. These include the victim's having been abused as a child, having been assaulted as an adult by persons other than her intimate partner, the victim's or partner's use of drugs or alcohol, the partner's emotional abuse of the victim, and the victim's being the primary aggressor in any incident of abuse (Felson & Cares, 2005;Hutchison, 1999;Macmillan & Gartner, 1999;Simons, Johnson, Beaman, & Conger, 1993). …”