NCJ Number
226761
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 24 Issue: 4 Dated: May 2009 Pages: 263-272
Date Published
May 2009
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study attempted to disentangle the multiple types of nonviolent abuse to examine prevalence, differences by sex, and its relationships to physical abuse.
Abstract
Findings of the study indicate that nonphysical partner abuse is more common than physical and that nonphysical abuse does not show striking sex differences, as commonly believed. Strong evidence was found for some types of nonphysical abuse serving as clear risk factors for physical abuse and possibly increasing the risk of more frequent violence among those already being abused. However, these relationships do not differ by sex. Physical violence, particularly by men against women, accounts for the majority of scholarly attention. The importance of the nonphysical aspect of intimate partner violence has been acknowledged on a scholarly level to a lesser extent. The purpose of this study was three-fold. First, it examined and compared the prevalence of three different types of nonphysical abuse, in both the general population and among those experiencing physical violence. Second, it examined sex differences in nonphysical abuse experiences. Third, it investigated which of the types of nonphysical abuse were related to the risk of physical violence and to what degree. Data for the current analyses were from the Violence and Threats of Violence Against Women and Men in the U.S., 1994-1996 (Tjaden and Thoennes 1998) Survey. Tables and references