NCJ Number
153351
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: special issue (Summer 1994) Pages: 107-124
Date Published
1994
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Mutual victimization in marriage was studied in a sample of 57 couples at the University Marital Therapy Clinic in Stony Brook, New York, where both spouses reported partner aggression on an adapted version of the Conflict Tactics Scale.
Abstract
Both spouses in the mutually victimized group experienced at least one act of physical aggression from their partners within the year and provided information about other dimensions of victimization. A nonaggressive, comparison group of clinic couples who reported no physical aggression and victimization in marriage was also identified. Data from both groups were analyzed based on a multidimensional assessment of physical victimization and on measures of partner, relationship, and individual functioning. As predicted, wives sustained more injuries and were more negatively affected by their partner's physical aggression than husbands. When multiple dimensions of aggression were used to identify subgroups of mutually victimized couples, it was found that the largest subgroup consisted of spouses who reported low victimization levels on all dimensions. Another subgroup included couples in which wives reported higher overall victimization levels than husbands. A small subgroup was identified in which husbands reported higher victimization levels than wives. Contrary to prediction, both highly victimized wives and highly victimized husbands reported greater levels of relationship and individual distress than spouses in the mutual/low victimization and nonaggression groups. Marriages of the two highly victimized subgroups, however, differed in important ways. Findings are interpreted to suggest an integration of feminist and dyadic theories of marital aggression. 38 references, 3 notes, 3 tables, and 1 figure