Perceptions of Psychological Abuse: The Role of Perpetrator Gender, Victim’s Response, and Sexism

Abstract

It is commonly assumed that male abuse is more damaging than female abuse, just as it previously has been assumed that physical abuse is more harmful than psychological abuse. We sought to examine gender assumptions given that they may cause people to overlook the harm that men experience with a psychologically abusive partner. The current experiment compared perceptions of male and female perpetrators of psychological abuse, and examined whether gendered perceptions were affected by sexist beliefs or participants' own sex. The experiment also explored the effect of the victim's response to a perpetrator's abuse. College participants ( N = 195) read a scenario depicting a hypothetical marital conflict that manipulated the sex of the perpetrator, the level of abuse (abuse or no abuse), and whether the victim did or did not respond with some aggression. In scenarios that featured abuse (relative to no-abuse conditions), a male perpetrator was consistently perceived more harshly than a female perpetrator. Participant sex and sexism did not moderate this gender-based perception. Varying the victim's response in the scenario affected perceptions more in the no-abuse condition than in the abuse condition. The findings are discussed in terms of robust gender assumptions and the difficulties in challenging such assumptions.

Men View Their Ex-Partners More Favorably Than Women Do

“…Although psychology often emphasizes differences in construal, we suspect both subjective and objective differences in men-as-partners and women-as-partners are responsible for instigating breakups. Men are, in fact, much more likely than women to engage in harmful behaviors following breakups, including various addictions and mental and/or physical partner abuse (Capezza, D’Intino, Flynn, & Arriaga, 2017; Reid et al, 2008). Thus, our findings may also reflect gender differences happening in romantic relationships, with women actually being more supportive than men vice versa.…”

The Recognition of Emotional Abuse: Adolescents’ Responses to Warning Signs in Romantic Relationships

“…These perceptions of physical abuse may be so firmly established that they effect perceptions of emotional abuse and result in harsher judgements of males (Capezza, D'Intino, Flynn, Arriaga, 2017). Capezza et al (2017) found that participants rated male perpetrators of emotional abuse more harshly than they did female perpetrators. However, ratings were unaffected by the gender of the participants themselves.…”

The Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Sexual Attitudes, Sexual Assertiveness, and Sexual Functioning in Men and Women

“…Psychological IPV often comes first and is an important risk factor for physical IPV [ 4 , 6 ]. It has been reported that perceived abuse severity and the perpetrator’s responsibility differ according to the type of abuse (non-physical or physical) [ 7 ], as well as the gender of the victim and the perpetrator aggressor [ 8 ]. Thus, physical abuse is considered to be more severe than non-physical abuse, and these associations hold whether it is male towards female, or female on male abuse [ 9 ].…”