NCJ Number
145085
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 8 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1993) Pages: 277-287
Date Published
1993
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article describes the development of the Battered Women Scale (BWS), an instrument based on the Personal Attributes Questionnaire designed by Spence, Helmreich, and Stapp (1974) to measure gender-role trait ascription.
Abstract
Data were obtained as part of the intake procedure for all women who entered three battered woman shelter houses for several months in 1987. To provide a comparison sample of women of similar background, the test instrument was administered to women of essentially the same age, education, and income level as those in the shelters. Only women clearly identified as white or African-American were kept in the sample. Only those currently in a relationship who claimed no history of battering were retained in the control group. There were 117 usable shelter house cases and 132 usable control group cases. The BWS proved to be valuable in differentiating on gender-role trait ascriptions between women who emerge from battering experiences to enter shelter houses and similar women in a control group who claim not to have been battered. The findings of this study challenge the commonly held assumption that batterers are narrowly masculine and women who are battered are narrowly feminine in their gender-role trait ascriptions. This study found that the battered women are lower in masculine traits than other similarly placed women, but are not necessarily higher in feminine traits. In addition to showing that the experience of being a survivor of a tyrannical battering situation changes at least part of a woman's self-concept, the BWS may be valuable in future research on the value of shelter house experiences. 2 tables and 35 references