Battered Woman Syndrome - Expert Testimony and Public Attitudes

• NCJ Number: 105737
• Author(s): C P Ewing; M Aubrey; L Jamieson
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, 1986, Washington, DC.

Annotation

Attitudes toward battered women and their plight were examined in questionnaire data for 216 randomly selected members of the general public.

Abstract

Subjects were primarily married, middle-class, well-educated, and white. In a response to a scenario involving domestic assault, about a third of the subjects ascribed to common beliefs about wife beating. Many believed that the wife is at least partially responsible for the abuse and is emotionally disturbed if she remains in the relationship. A clear majority felt that she could simply leave the batterer. A large majority of both males and females felt that women could prevent battering by seeking counseling and that women could not rely upon police and courts for protection. Males were more likely to believe that the scenario reflected an isolated incident and that the victim was partly to blame. Females were more likely to believe that the victim could leave the relationship and was somewhat masochistic if she did not. Older subjects were more likely to ascribe to these beliefs than were younger ones. 9 references.