NCJ Number
133808
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1991) Pages: 512-519
Date Published
1991
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Quantitative and qualitative data from a telephone survey of 604 Toronto women between the ages of 18 and 50 was used as the basis of an exploratory examination of the thesis that the male peers of abusive husbands provide ideological support for such violence.
Abstract
Husbands with male friends who would, in the view of the respondents, approve of a husband slapping his wife were significantly more likely than were husbands without such friends to have physically abused their wives at least once during the marriage. This relationship provides tentative support for the hypothesis that male peers exert an influence on whether a husband abuses his wife. The majority of both abused (64 percent) and nonabused (77 percent) women indicated that their husbands' male friends would not approve of such behavior. However, according to most surveys, the majority of husbands do not abuse their wives. Of the 131 respondents who stated that at least some of their husbands' male friends would approve of a husband slapping his wife, 109 respondents provided several categories of reasons: masculinity, dominance, and control; ethnicity and culture; loss of self-control; and negative attitudes toward women. 2 tables and 12 references (Author abstract modified)