Sex Differences in Intimate Partner Violence and the Use of Coercive Control as a Motivational Factor for Intimate Partner Violence

• NCJ Number: 237889
• Journal: Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 25 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2010 Pages: 1836-1854
• Author(s): Marieh Tanha; Connie J.A. Beck; Aurelio José Figueredo; Chitra Raghavan
• Date Published: October 2010
• Length: 19 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2007-WG-BX-0028
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

This article examines the research that coercive control (CC) is a special case of intimate partner violence (IPV).

Abstract

Research argues that coercive control (CC) is a special case of intimate partner violence (IPV). The present study hypothesized that instead CC is the motivator for other types of IPV, with control of the victim as the goal. When CC fails, physical types of IPV are used. This hypothesized relationship was tested using a large matched sample of 762 divorcing couples participating in divorce mediation. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data with CC predicting two latent common factors of the overall level of victimization separately for men and women. Significant causal relationships between CC and the latent construct of victimization for both members of the couples were found. In addition, CC, psychological abuse, sexual assault/intimidation/coercion, threats of and severe physical violence were disproportionately reported as perpetrated by men against women whereas reports of physical abuse (e.g., pushing, shoving, scratching) were not. (Published Abstract)