NCJ Number
203573
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 18 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2003 Pages: 533-541
Editor(s)
Roland D. Maiuro Ph.D.
Date Published
October 2003
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study highlights men’s fear of emotions as a contributing factor of relationship violence and describes preliminary empirical support for the role of emotional avoidance in men’s violence toward women.
Abstract
Prior research on traditional rational masculine stereotypes has suggested that men are expected to be generally unemotional, but should be prepared to be aggressive or violent if conflict arises. This study tested two hypotheses that suggest that masculine gender role stress and men’s fear of emotions are each factors that contribute to men’s use of relationship aggression and violence; these hypotheses are: (1) men’s fear of emotions positively predict levels of self-reported aggression and violence and (2) men’s fear of sadness and fear of anxiety positively predict men’s reports of relationship aggression/violence. A secondary data analysis was conducted on 155 participants from a previously collected sample of male students drawn from the campus population of the University of Massachusetts. The Affect Control Scale (ACS) was used to assess men’s fear of emotions. Study results confirm the first hypothesis. Men’s fear of emotions was a significant predictor of self-reported levels of relationship violence. The second hypothesis was partially confirmed. Men’s fear of anxiety and feelings of sadness were positively related to self-reports of aggression and violence and men’s fear of anger was not. However, unexpectedly, men’s fear of positive feelings was also significantly associated with men’s reported relationship violence. These findings suggest that masculine gender socialization and men’s fear of emotions are potentially important and related topics relevant to understanding men’s perpetration of relationship violence. References