Murray Straus

Publications (161) View all

• Article: Blaming the Messenger for the Bad News about Partner Violence by Women: The Methodological, Theoretical, and Value Basis of the Purported Invalidity of the Conflict Tactics Scales.

  Murray A Straus
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  ABSTRACT: More than 200 studies have found "gender symmetry" in perpetration of violence against a marital or dating partner in the sense that about the same percent of women as men physically assault a marital or dating partner. Most of these studies obtained the data using the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS). However, these results have been challenged by numerous articles in the past 25 years that have asserted that the CTS is invalid. This article identifies and responds to 11 purported methodological problems of the CTS, and two other bases for the belief that the CTS is not valid. The discussion argues that the repeated assertion over the past 25 years that the CTS is invalid is not primarily about methodology. Rather it is primarily about theories and values concerning the results of research showing gender symmetry in perpetration. According to the prevailing "patriarchal dominance" theory, these results cannot be true and therefore the CTS must be invalid. The conclusion suggests that an essential part of the effort to prevent and treat violence against women and by women requires taking into account the dyadic nature of partner violence through use of instruments such as the CTS that measure violence by both partners. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
  Behavioral Sciences & the Law 08/2012; 30(5):538-56. · 0.96 Impact Factor
• Article: Childhood and Adolescent Victimization and Perpetration of Sexual Coercion by Male and Female University Students

  Manuel Gámez-Guadix, Murray A. Straus, Scott L. Hershberger
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  ABSTRACT: This study examines the extent to which male and female university students use verbal sexual coercion and physically forced sex on a dating partner and tests a theoretical model that specifies that corporal punishment, minor forms of neglect by parents, and sexual abuse increase the probability of sexually coercing and sexually assaulting a partner, and that this relationship is partly mediated by antisocial traits and behavior. A path analysis using multinomial logistic regression was used to test the fit of the model to a convenience sample of 13,877 students in 32 nations. Both male and female students perpetrate sexual coercion, but the rates are higher for males. For both men and women, each of the three forms of prior victimization studied were associated with an increased probability of antisocial behavior, which in turn was associated with an increased probability of verbally coercing and physically forcing sex. Most of the direct paths from victimization to sexual coercion were also statistically significant. Because relatively mild victimization such as corporal punishment and seemingly innocuous forms of neglect are highly prevalent, steps to reduce their prevalence could be an import step in primary prevention of sexual coercion.
  Deviant Behavior 09/2011; 32(8):712-742. · 0.55 Impact Factor
• Article: Perceived neighborhood violence and use of verbal aggression, corporal punishment, and physical abuse by a national sample of parents in Israel

  Zeev Winstok, Murray A. Straus
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  ABSTRACT: This study, based on an ecological perspective, examined the relation of perceived neighborhood violence, child misbehavior, parental attitudes to aggressive discipline tactics, and the actual use of aggressive discipline tactics. Research questions were: To what extent is perceived neighborhood violence associated with aggressive discipline by parents? What is the mechanism through which perceived neighborhood violence is linked to aggressive discipline? Data were obtained from a stratified probability sample of 1,649 women. Findings indicated that the more the study participants perceived their neighborhood as violent, the more frequent is the parental use of aggressive discipline. It seems that child misbehavior and parental approval of corporal punishment are affected by perceived neighborhood violence and, in turn, affect parental use of aggressive disciplines. Furthermore, the relationships of child misbehavior, parental approval of aggressive discipline, and the use of aggressive discipline are different in low and high levels of perceived neighborhood violence. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
  Journal of Community Psychology 07/2011; 39(6):678 - 697. · 0.99 Impact Factor
• Article: Gender differences in intended escalatory tendencies among marital partners.

  Zeev Winstok, Murray A Straus
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  ABSTRACT: This study addresses the intended escalatory tendency in eight hypothetical situations in which the provocator's identity (partner or stranger, male or female) and the provocation form (verbal or physical aggression) were manipulated. The research question is "how does the identity of the provocator and the form of his or her provocation affect the participant's intended escalation level, and does the gender of the participant affect differences in intended escalation level?" The research sample consisted of 208 Israeli couples. The main finding is that women's intended response to their male partner is more escalatory than men's intended response to their female partner. Results also show that women's escalation is the most severe to partner provocation and the least severe to male strangers' provocation. Men's escalation is the most severe to provocation by male strangers and the least severe to their partner's provocation. Findings indicate that men's intention to escalate decreases as their partner's provocation becomes more severe. The severity of provocation has little effect on women's inten-tion to escalate. Such results are consistent with social role theory and sexual selection theory that maintain that status enhancement is more important for men than for women, and is more important for men than risk reduction is, whereas the opposite is true for women.
  Journal of Interpersonal Violence 05/2011; 26(18):3599-617. · 1.64 Impact Factor
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  Article: Gender symmetry and mutuality in perpetration of clinical-level partner violence: Empirical evidence and Implications for prevention and treatment

  Murray A Straus
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  ABSTRACT: This paper addresses the contradiction between the conceptualization of partner violence as almost exclusively perpetrated by men and over 200 studies with data on both men and women which found "gender symmetry," i.e., that about the same percentage of women as men physically assault a partner. Both Straus (1990) and Johnson (1995) suggested that the contradiction can be resolved by taking a "dual population" approach. Straus argued that "ordinary" violence, such as slapping, shoving, and throwing things at a partner, is prevalent in the general population and is symmetrical; whereas "severe" violence such as choking, punching, and attacks with objects are rare in the general population but common in clinical populations and are male-predominant. Similarly, Johnson (1995) argued that "situational violence" is prevalent in the general population and symmetrical, whereas "intimate terrorism" is rare and is perpetrated almost exclusively by men. However, a review of 91 empirical comparisons found that symmetry and mutual violence perpetration is typical of relationships involving severe and injurious assaults and agency intervention, and of "intimate terrorists" as measured by Johnson's criteria. The discussion of these results suggests that much of the controversy arises because those who assert gender symmetry do so on the basis of perpetration rates, whereas those who deny gender symmetry do so on the basis of the effects of victimization, i.e. the greater harm experienced by women. Thus, the "different population" explanations of the controversy need to be replaced by a "perpetration versus effects" explanation. When prevention of perpetration is the focus, the predominance of symmetry and mutuality suggests that prevention could be enhanced by addressing programs to girls and women as well as boys and men. When offender treatment is the focus, the results suggest that effectiveness could be enhanced by changing treatment programs to address assaults by both partners when applicable.
  05/2011;