On the Relationship Between Wife Beating and Child Abuse (From Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse, 1988, P 158-174, Kersti Yllo and Michele Bograd, eds. -- See NCJ-142227)

• NCJ Number: 142234
• Author(s): L H Bowker; M Arbitell; J R McFerron
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 27 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Data on 1,000 women were analyzed to challenge the assumption that battered women also abuse their children.

Abstract

Four hypotheses were substantiated by the data: children of battered wives commonly are abused by their fathers; the more severe the wife abuse, the more severe the child abuse; the higher the degree of husband dominance in a violent marriage, the more severe the child abuse; and the more extensive the father's experiences in his family of origin, the more likely he is to move from wife abuse to child abuse. All reflect a feminist perspective and suggest that child abuse is one of the ways men increase their dominance over family members. Of the 1,000 battered women in the study, 225 did not have children with the batterer. Among families in which children were present, 70 percent of wife beaters also abused children. There was a clear association between wife beating and child abuse in these 543 families. 3 tables and 17 references