Defensiveness, intimacy, and heterosexual attraction

A previous study by Dion and Dion (1975) revealed that highly defensive individuals were less likely to report having experienced romantic love than less defensive persons. The hypothesis that this finding might reflect differential reactions to interpersonal intimacy was directly examined in the present study using a self-disclosure paradigm. To assess subjects' defensiveness, undergraduate women first completed the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. In a second session, subjects were exposed to high and low disclosing targets of the same and opposite sex and chose discussion topics for each target. On intimacy of self-disclosure, a “reciprocity effect” occurred: subjects chose more intimate topics for high vs low-disclosing targets. However, highly defensive women gave a less favorable self-presentation to male vs female targets. They also expressed less liking for high compared to low intimate targets and males vs females than less defensive subjects. The implications of these results for heterosexual attraction were discussed.     

Gender differences in the link between intimate partner physical violence and depression

Studies show that, in violent relationships, both partners suffer from higher levels of depression than in non-violent relationships. Most of these studies were based on samples of battered women. Very little research has examined the depression levels of women who physically assault a marital or dating partner or men who assault or are victims of female assaults. Moreover, the association between intimate partner physical violence and depression does not provide a theoretical framework or an explanation for the differences in depression levels of male and female perpetrators and victims. This article presents a preliminary, yet empirically grounded, foundation for explaining research findings on depression levels for males and females in three “Dyadic Types” of intimate partner physical violence: Male-Only, Female-Only, and Both Violent. The theoretical framework involves identifying the relation of intimate partner physical violence to be of greater male than female concern with status enhancement and greater female than male concern with risk reduction, and how these play out in each of the Dyadic Types.     

Carol Gilligan's theory of sex differences in the development of moral reasoning during adolescence

Gilligan's work, which focuses on sex differences in moral reasoning, the perception of violence, the resolution of sexual dilemmas and abortion decisions, poses a major challenge to Kohlberg's theory by introducing a feminist perspective of moral development. Kohlberg had shown that the average female attained a moral judgment rating of stage three (good boy-nice girl), while adolescent males score at level four (law and order) and are more likely to move on to postconventional levels. Gilligan suggests that these findings reveal a gender bias, not that females are less mature than boys. Men and women follow different voices. Men tend to organize social relationships in a hierarchical order and subscribe to a morality of rights. Females value interpersonal connectedness, care, sensitivity, and responsibility to people. Kohlberg's scoring criteria give the interpersonal care orientations of females lower ratings than the principled justice orientation. Hence, Gilligan identifies different developmental stages for females. However, she does not claim that one system is better; both are equally valid. Only by integrating these complementary male (justice) and female (care) orientations will we be able to realize our full human potential in moral development.     

Size Does Matter: The Effects of Gender on Perceptions of Dating Violence

Previous research has shown that people perceive intimate partner violence (IPV) as more serious in cases involving a male perpetrator and female victim versus other gender combinations. This study is the first to explore reasons for these differences. 181 undergraduates at a U.S. southeastern college rated one of four dating violence vignettes that varied by perpetrator and victim gender. Participants viewed male-on-female violence as more frightening primarily because males are stronger and bigger than female perpetrators. Physical differences were rated as significantly more important causes of fear than other personality/relationship dynamics. Because males are actually stronger and bigger than females, it appears that gendered perceptions of violence are based in real-world knowledge of gender differences, not merely gender stereotypes.     

Prevalence of Types of Perpetration: Gender and Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence Within a Prison Sample in Singapore

It has been reported in Western research on intimate partner violence (IPV) that there are similar rates between males and females (Filbert, 2010). The objective of this study was to compare male and female prisoners from Singapore on rates of IPV as well as the Johnson (2006) types of IPV. Women (n = 75) self-reported higher rates of physical IPV perpetration in the past year (64.0%) than (n = 75) did men (46.1%). Women reported similar rates of IPV for themselves and their partners in the past year (64.0%), while men reported slightly more physical IPV for themselves (46.1%) than they did for their female partners (41.3%). In line with Johnson (2006), rates of intimate terrorism were calculated between 5% and 7% for themselves and their partners, with little variation due to gender. Violent resistance (VR) was calculated at between 2.1% and 7%, with more female than male VR reported for women. Much higher rates of situational couple violence was calculated for both males and females, ranging from 53.3% to 66.7% in the past year, while mutual violent control was significantly lower, ranging from between 14.8% to 20.0%, with data being discussed in relation to patriarchal and family violence perspectives. We concluded that the rates of IPV between males and females were very similar as were the types of IPV. Further research with other cultures should be encouraged for comparison with Western samples.     

An Updated Feminist View of Intimate Partner Violence

In this article, we explore intimate partner violence (IPV) from an intersectional, feminist perspective. We describe how an updated feminist view guides us to a perspective on IPV that is more strongly grounded in an antioppressive, nonviolent, socially just feminist stance than a second‐wave gender‐essential feminist stance that suggests that patriarchy is the cause of IPV. At the time we began to work together it seemed that a researcher had to be identified as a “family violence” researcher or a “feminist” researcher of violence against women, and that it wasn't possible to be a feminist researcher who looked beyond patriarchy as the cause of IPV. We advocate critically thinking about essentialist practices in clinical work so that we can maintain an antioppressive, socially just, nonviolent approach to working with clients who experience IPV.     

Invisible touch

The controversy surrounding violence by female partners to intimate males has been reviewed from a diverse range of literature and disciplines. Historical and case evidence is presented against a background of the controversy surrounding the findings of studies, using the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS), which show ample evidence of assaults by women on male partners. This evidence is discussed and interpreted against the background of social representations and stereotypical images of male and female to show that the “battered husband syndrome” is a reality and is comparable to the battered wife scenario. Implications for the discussion of intimate violence within academia and elsewhere are drawn and the reasons for the suppression of data and the existence of a controversy on this topic made evident. It is concluded that academic controversy is unnecessary and counter-productive.     

The Treatment of Violence and Victimization in Intimate Relationships

This essay presents an analysis of violence in intimate life that draws on multiple theoretical perspectives. These include but are not limited to feminist theory, object relations theory, systems theory, narrative and social constructionist theory, and neurobiology. It is argued that it is possible to be effective in ending violence and abuse through a modified couples treatment format that addresses relationship issues, individual trauma, and biological vulnerability while simultaneously taking a clear, moral position that violence, abuse, and inequality are intolerable in any form.     

Exploring Taiwanese Female Pastors' Intimate Relationships: Using the Story of the Levite's Concubine

The authors investigated intimate relationships and violence toward women, using group discussions and focus group techniques from a feminist group counseling perspective, with Taiwanese Presbyterian female pastors. The story of the Levite's concubine and the feminist commentary were provided to a group of Taiwanese female pastors to read at the beginning of the focus group session. The women's perspectives of their intimate relationship experiences in light of the biblical story were explored. The 6 themes related to participants' intimate relationships were generated and are discussed.     

The effects of mass media exposure on acceptance of violence against women: A field experiment

Two hundred seventy-one male and female students served as subjects in an experiment on the effects of exposure to films that portray sexual violence as having positive consequences. Some of these subjects had signed up to participate in a study ostensibly focusing on movie ratings. They were randomly assigned to view, on two different evenings, either violent-sexual or control feature-length films. These movies were viewed in theaters on campus and two of the movies (i.e., one experimental and one control) were being shown as part of the regular campus film program. Members of the classes from which subjects had been recruited but who had not signed up for the experiment were also used as a comparison group. The dependent measures were scales assessing acceptance of interpersonal violence against women, acceptance of rape myths, and beliefs in adversarial sexual relations. These scales were embedded within many other items on a Sexual Attitude Survey administered to all students in classes several days after some of them (i.e., those who signed up for the experiment) had been exposed to the movies. Subjects were not aware that there was any relationship between this survey and the viewing of the movies. The results indicated that exposure to the films portraying violent sexuality increased male subjects' acceptance of interpersonal violence against women. A similar nonsignificant trend was found on acceptance of rape myths. For females, there were nonsignificant tendencies in the opposite direction, with women exposed to the violent-sexual films tending to be less accepting of interpersonal violence and of rape myths than control subjects. Explanation of the data on the basis of “attitude polarization” and “reactance” effects are discussed. Also discussed are the conditions of the present research in terms of the type of stimuli used, the “dosage levels” of exposure, and the duration of effects in relation to future research and a general social climate promoting a sexist ideology.     

The Perception of Honour-Related Violence in Female and Male University Students from Morocco,Cameroon and Italy

The study investigates the perception of honour-related violence against women in female and male university students from three countries - Morocco, Cameroon, Italy – all considered honour cultures but different in terms of various other sociocultural factors, such as family structure and gender roles. One hundred fourteen Moroccan (47 females, 67 males), 106 Cameroonian (41 females, 65 males) and 103 Italian (51 females, 52 males) students attending Turin University and currently living in Turin, answered a questionnaire to evaluate an act of honour-related violence by a father against his daughter. The results showed that the perception of this act was influenced by the participants’ nationality: Italians evaluated the incident as more serious and more as a crime than Moroccans, and the latter more than Cameroonians. Furthermore, Italians attributed less responsibility to the victim and more responsibility to the assailant than Moroccans and Cameroonians did; accordingly, they also proposed more severe punishment for the assailant than Moroccans and Cameroonians. The results also showed an interaction between nationality and gender: Cameroonian women attributed more responsibility to the victim and less to the assailant than Cameroonian men, and Italian men attributed less responsibility to the assailant than Italian women. These results are interpreted in terms of the importance attributed to family honour in the three countries and their differences in social organisation and gender roles.     

A POSTMODERN APPROACH TO WOMEN'S USE OF VIOLENCE: DEVELOPING MULTIPLE AND COMPLEX CONCEPTUALIZATIONS

We review the research on intimate partner abuse and, in particular, the articles in this issue, from within a feminist and postmodern framework. Research on women's use of violence is reviewed in terms of how researchers have constructed and measured violence and have conceptualized intimate partner violence (IPV) and gender. What and how we measure determines what we find ( McHugh & Cosgrove, 2005 ). We call for new conceptualizations of intimate violence and for more complex constructions of gender. We offer a postmodern perspective on gender and IPV arguing that interpersonal violence always involves gender, that approach and method influence results, and that men and women use violence in both similar and different ways.     

Arrest and intimate partner violence: Toward a more complete application of deterrence theory

Two decades of research have failed to produce consistent and compelling results that arrest deters intimate partner violence. This tradition of research is reviewed, concluding that little can be learned about the deterrent efficacy of arrest (or other sanctions) for this type of violence until a more complete framework of deterrence theory is specified to guide further research. The framework should delineate mediating influences besides deterrence, linking arrest to the prevention, reduction, or cessation of intimate partner violence, and factors that moderate those influences. Such factors bear on the differential sensitivity to sanctions on the part of actual or potential perpetrators of intimate partner violence. Recommendations for future research are offered, including suggestions for data needed to draw defensible causal inferences about these mediating and moderating influences.     

Beyond Cultivation: Exploring the Effects of Frequency,Recency, and Vivid Autobiographical Memories for Violent Media

Using Shrum's (1996) heuristic processing model as an explanatory mechanism, we propose that people who hold vivid autobiographical memories for a specific past experience with media violence will overstate the prevalence of real-world crime versus individuals without vivid memories. We also explore the effects of frequency and recency on social reality beliefs. A survey was administered to 207 undergraduate students who were asked to recall one violent television program or movie seen in the past. Participants were asked to write essays describing the violence, which were coded for vividness. Results support not only cultivation theory, but also the effects of memory vividness: participants with more vivid memories of blood and gore gave higher prevalence estimates of real-world crime and violence than participants with less vivid memories. Findings also suggest that females had more vivid memories for prior media violence than males. Implications for cultivation, the heuristic processing model, and vividness research are discussed.     

A Theoretical Framework for Understanding Help-Seeking Processes Among Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

This paper suggests a conceptual framework for understanding the processes of help-seeking among survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). A cognitive theory from general literature on help-seeking in “stigmatizing” situations suggests three relevant processes or stages of seeking help in the IPV context: defining the problem, deciding to seek help, and selecting a source of support. Individual, interpersonal, and sociocultural factors that influence decision-making at each of these stages are discussed and illustrated with case examples.     

Self-disclosure: Intimate and nonintimate disclosures to parents and best friends as a function of bem sex-role category

Thirty-two androgynous, traditional, and undifferentiated males and females (N/it=192) completed a 6-item self-disclosure questionnaire containing 30 intimate and 30 nonintimate items. The targets were father, mother, and best male and female friends. Analyses of both intimate and nonintimate items indicated that amount of self-disclosure was related to sex role and not gender. Typical male-female differences in self-disclosure were not found because (a) androgynous males disclosed at significantly higher levels than traditional and undifferentiated males to most targets; (b) undifferentiated males and females disclosed significantly less than their androgynous and traditional counterparts. Intimate self-disclosure by androgynous males to father, and nonintimate disclosure by androgynous females to father, were particularly high. Both findings suggest a unique role for fathers in the development of androgynous persons. Androgynous females reported higher disclosure to best male friend than to mother. This is counter to the traditional female pattern and is interpreted as representing a greater degree of distancing from mother and openness to peers.The order of the authors' names was randomly determined. Both contributed equally.     

From steroids to nation states: An integrated evolutionary approach to violent crime

Most evolutionary psychologists emphasize the individual level of analysis concerning violent crime and other dependent variables. This paper outlines a strategy for evolutionary explanation of societal variation across time as well as space and applies it to crimes of violence. The central idea is that individual adaptations for reproductive competition play out differently depending both on developmental context and societal conditions, including the marriage market. Violent crimes (murders, rapes, and assaults) are substantially higher in countries with a relative scarcity of men according to research using INTERPOL and World Health Organization data [Barber, N. (2000a). The sex ratio as a predictor of cross-national variation in violent crime. Cross-Cultural Research, 34, 264–282, Barber, N. (2009). Countries with fewer males have more violent crime: Marriage markets and mating aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 35, 49–56]. This is an apparent contradiction given that males are more criminally violent and likely reflects increased direct mating competition that evokes increased testosterone production for humans as for other species. The empirical evidence is discussed in terms of direct reproductive competition and various alternative explanations, particularly the “culture of violence” and socialization experiences are considered.     

Feminism Across Borders: A Hungarian Adaptation of Western Feminism

A grounded theory model of feminist-activist identity development was constructed from semistructured interviews with volunteers of the first Women’s Rights Association (NANE) in Hungary. This article focuses on NANE volunteers’ feminist identity development, which emerged through interpersonal solidarity with Western women; the development of self-confidence and an assertive “voice” in their relationships; and an increased awareness of the violence and oppression against women. A grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was used to analyze the interviews. The core category, “Internalizing Western Feminist-Activism: Importing an External Culture to Revolutionize One’s Own,” describes volunteers’ conceptualization that their feminist-activist beliefs emerged from imported ideologies gained through exposure to Western ideas and the international women’s movement, which were then adapted to make changes in Hungary.     

Neighborhood violent crime and adolescent relationship aggression

Research has shown that neighborhoods play a role in the etiology of violence. However, few adolescent relationship aggression (ARA) studies have objective measures of violent neighborhoods. Drawing on a nationally representative sample of youth, this study examines the association between ARA and local levels of violent crime (measured using geocoded Uniform Crime Report data from each of the youths’ residential neighborhoods). Study analyses are based on survey data from 723 youth (ages 10–18) in current or recent dating relationships (351 males and 372 females) in the Survey on Teen Relationships and Intimate Violence (STRiV), a national representative household panel survey exploring interpersonal violence and related aggression among adolescents. About 19% of the sample reported ARA victimization in their most recent dating relationship (ARA perpetration was 17%). Neighborhood violent crime in the study (males living in 86.9 and females 99.8) was slightly lower than the national average of 100. With a broad national sample, 40% non-Whites, hypotheses guided by theories of neighborhood influence were tested. The study did not find an association between neighborhood violent crime and ARA victimization and perpetration, controlling for key demographic factors. The results, for a broad range of high- and low-crime neighborhoods, suggest that neighborhood violence does not seem to affect individual rates of ARA. The results suggest the ARA victimization and perpetration are perhaps ubiquitous and found both in low and high violent crime neighborhoods, suggesting that addressing local violent crime rates alone does not seem to be a path to also reducing ARA.