Establishing a Relationship Between Behavior and Cognition: Violence Against Women and Children Within the Family

• NCJ Number: 219733
• Journal: Journal of Family Violence Volume: 22 Issue: 6 Dated: August 2007 Pages: 383-395
• Author(s): Claire Chamberland; Andree Fortin; Lise Laporte
• Date Published: August 2007
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study determined whether an individual's beliefs/attitudes about violence against women and against children within the family were linked to violent behavior toward them, as well as whether beliefs/attitudes toward violence against women were linked to beliefs/attitudes toward violence against children.

Abstract

Generally, the study found that the 30 men and 32 women in the study had similar beliefs/attitudes regarding violence toward women and toward children. Both men and women tended to view violence as physical aggression rather than both physical and psychological; and psychological violence toward women and children was generally more frequent than physical violence. Men and women reported the same levels of psychological violence toward children. Yet, children were more frequently physically maltreated than women. When men reported psychologically abusing their spouses, they also mentioned abusing their children the same way. This indicated a high correlation between the co-occurrence of violence toward women and violence toward children within the same family. The more women deemed emotional aggression to be a form of violence, the less they reported having been physically abused; and the more men recognized control as a form of violence, the less they reported physically abusing their spouses. Study participants were born in Quebec, Canada, and had at least one child between the ages of 6 and 12. No participant had a history of severe violence toward a spouse or their children. Participants completed the Assessment of Justification of Violence Toward Children, which identifies the ways parents justify violence toward children; the Conflict Tactics Scales, which assess the frequency and severity of male-to-female violence; the Conflict Tactics Scales for Parent-to-Child Violence, which assesses the presence of violence in the parent-child relationship; and the Audiovisual Assessment of Violence, which uses film presentations to measure conception of violence toward women. 6 tables and 55 references