Abstract

Our research examined the association between intimate partner violence and relationship satisfaction among victims. The negative association between victimization and relationship satisfaction was substantially stronger for females than for males. Comparisons between respondents reporting about same-sex relationships with those reporting about opposite-sex relationships provided evidence that the amplified victimization/satisfaction association among female victims is a victim-gender effect rather than an actor-gender effect. In other words, our findings suggest that aggression harms the quality of the intimate partnerships of females much more so than the partnerships of males regardless of whether a male or a female is the perpetrator. We supplemented dialogue about the direct implications of our findings with discussions about how these results may raise conceptual questions about the adequacy of the instruments scholars use to study partner aggression.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Ackerman J, Field L

Institution

Department of Sociology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA. jma2@tamu.edu

Source

Violence and victims 26:6 2011 pg 703-24

MeSH

Adult
Aggression
Attitude to Health
Courtship
Crime Victims
Female
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Middle Aged
Personal Satisfaction
Questionnaires
Sex Factors
Spouse Abuse
Young Adult

Pub Type(s)

Comparative Study
Journal Article
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22288091