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The Intergenerational Transmission of Relationship Violence

Authors:
Marilyn J. Kwong
Marilyn J. Kwong
Marilyn J. Kwong
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Kim Bartholomew
Kim Bartholomew
Kim Bartholomew
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Antonia J.Z. Henderson at Langara College
Antonia J.Z. Henderson
Shanna J. Trinke
Shanna J. Trinke
Shanna J. Trinke
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This study explored the intergenerational transmission of violence in a community sample. A telephone survey of 1,249 adults in the City of Vancouver assessed family-of-origin violence (father to mother, mother to father, father to self, and mother to self), as well as physical and psychological abuse in intimate relationships. All forms of family-of-origin violence were predictive of all forms of relationship abuse, consistent with a general social learning model of relationship violence. There was no evidence of gender-specific or role-specific patterns of transmission. For example, father-to-mother violence was not specifically predictive of men's perpetration and women's victimization in adult relationships. Nor was parent-to-self violence more predictive of victimization than perpetration. The methodological and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
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... One question has been why victims of childhood violence often become perpetrators or victims themselves as adults. Several studies have found support for the IGT (Kwong, Bartholomew, Henderson, & Trinke, 2003;Renner & Slack, 2006;Wareham, Paquette Boots & Chavez, 2009), although some findings have been difficult to explain. According to early studies by Kalmuss (1984), witnesses to domestic violence were found to be more likely to be perpetrators or victims than victims. ...
... According to Black, Sussman, andUnger 2010, Kwong, Bartholomew, Henderson, andTrinke (2003), Renner and Slack (2006), and Wareham, Paquette Boots, and Chavez (2009), children who have been exposed to violence and/or witnessed/experienced parental violence are more likely to be involved in family violence as adults. ...
... In a structural family violence perspective, further investigations into the causes of men's violence against women, against themselves and other men, should strive to follow the causality of violence over time and space. The parties' own possible experiences of violence during their childhood will thus form the basis for understanding how these negative conditions interacted with the men's further careers via school, education, profession and their gender constitution as men and possible violence against themselves or others, children, women and other men.7.3 Intergenerational transmission and emotionsResearch on the intergenerational transmission of violence (IGT), (see e.g.Kwong, Bartholomew, Henderson, & Trinke, 2003;Renner & Slack, 2006; Tangney, Stuewig, Mashek & Hasting, 2011;Wareham, Paquette Boots & Chavez, 2009), global statistics (e.g. WHO, ...
The vicious circles of violence. An explorative study of men's childhood experiences, masculinities, emotions, violence and therapeutic interventions against violence (2016) Translated from Swedish to English (2024)
Thesis
Full-text available
  • May 2024
The overall aim of the thesis is to explore the possibilities for an integrated research perspective on men's violence and to exemplify how such research can be conducted. The specific purpose is to increase knowledge about how violent men's childhood experiences, socialization, masculinity construction and emotions can be related to their violence against other men, against themselves and against women, and how therapeutic interventions against violence can be analyzed and developed in correspondence with this knowledge. With epistemological starting points drawn from critical realism and ecological methods, the study relates research from different schools of thought to each other; - psychological: on childhood experiences and socialization, social psychological: on emotions and interaction and sociological: on social class, gender power structures and hegemonic masculinity. This is done to gain access to knowledge about how different factors interact in men's violence. Studies I and II investigated the possibilities of examining the social bonds between therapist/therapy and client in therapeutic treatments against violence. In study I, indicators of the emotions pride and shame were operationalized and in study II these were tested on therapists in a CBT-oriented therapy. Study III examined men in different positions of masculinity, where the sample for one group was drawn from the population of men sentenced to therapy for violence and abuse and the other from the population of men who organized for equality and against violence against women. The study compared the two groups' attitudes to factors related to violence and violence against women in previous research. Study IV examined the careers of men convicted of violence up to their current position as violent criminals in order to increase knowledge of the interplay of factors that in different situations lead to their violence against other men, themselves and women. All empirical studies used qualitative methods for data collection and analysis. Study IV used individual interviews and biographical analysis, Studies II and III used group interviews and deductive content analysis. In Study I, the theoretical review article, sociological, social psychological and psychological theories were empirical. The thesis shows that there are more advantages than disadvantages to a multi-level perspective. Level-integrating studies are hampered by the fact that they require a complex methodology to deal with the interaction between factors behind violence at different levels, but on the other hand provide a more holistic understanding of the phenomenon in question. The results show that integrative perspectives can reduce the risk of ecological fallacies and 5 increase the understanding of complex interactions between factors behind men's violence, which may contribute to the development of knowledge in the field of violence therapy. The theoretical review article (Study I) exemplified how theoretically and methodologically driven research on social bonds can be made pragmatically applicable by therapists in violence treatment. The applied study of a CBT therapy (Study II) provided examples of how operationalized indicators of pride and shame can be used practically to determine the quality of the social bond between therapist and client. As expected, the CBT therapy studied contained both shame- and pride-creating elements, which constitute valuable starting points for further research. The comparison between men in ideally opposite positions of masculinity (study III) showed that both the group of men who work against violence against women and the men sentenced to treatment for violence carry ambivalent attitudes towards violence and violence against women. The comparison further showed that the groups' constructions of masculinity and attitudes towards violence correspond to the groups' different access to economic, social and cultural resources. The biographically focused qualitative study of men in violence treatment (Study IV) explored exploratively how the career path to becoming a violent offender may look like and how childhood experiences, socialization, masculinity and emotions of individual violent men may have interacted with each other when violence takes place. The results showed that the men who testify to exposure to serious violence in childhood are more shame-prone and, when offended by others, tend to react unconsciously and without prior feelings of shame immediately with aggression and violence against both sexes. Other men were indeed shame-prone but described a more controlled violent reaction. Two men who had been brutally physically bullied in primary school reported more controlled violence. A preliminary hypothesis is that the men may have learnt to cognitively take control of the process of replacing shame with aggression in order to escape further bullying. The parents' personal problems, together with their lack of social control and care, were hypothesized to be associated with several of the men's school problems, their association with deviant youth, their later difficulties in earning a living by conventional means, and their violent careers.
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... However, there is also evidence to suggest that coresidence may not function as a protective factor. Research has consistently pointed to the intergenerational transmission of violence-exposure to family violence as a child is predictive of experiencing and/or perpetrating physical and psychological abuse as an adult (Huecker et al., 2023;Kwong et al., 2003). As such, multigenerational experiences and bonds may serve as a way for violence to be passed down across generations. ...
... The present study gives insight into the lived reality of IPV incidences within coresident homes, adding to research that has primarily focused on contexts outside the U.S. (Ali et al., 2018;Clark et al., 2010;Emery et al., 2017;Frías & Agoff, 2015) or among racially and ethnically homogenous samples (Burnette, 2018;Chronister et al., 2021;Raj et al., 2006). While prior work has considered the extent of the transmission of violence within families across generations (Huecker et al., 2023;Kwong et al., 2003), limited research has considered how the presence of adult family members within the home impacts the risk of IPV. Social isolation from friends and family members is frequently framed as a risk factor for IPV (Buttell & Ferreira, 2020;Kim, 2019;Lanier & Maume, 2009;Mojahed et al., 2021); for example, the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders increased concern around such isolation and the impact on violence within the home (Kaukinen, 2020;Moreira & Pinto da Costa, 2020). ...
Coresident Households and IPV Risk: An Analysis of Prevalence and Correlates
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2024
  • J FAM VIOLENCE
Purpose Rates of coresident households have risen within recent decades. However, the implications of an adult family member’s presence within the home for exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) remains underexplored. While familial support can operate as a protective mechanism against IPV, past qualitative research suggests that distinctive stressors and conflict can emerge within coresident households. Methods This study leverages several waves of observations from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n = 11,895). We apply descriptive and logistic regression analyses to compare instances of IPV among women within coresident and non-coresident homes. Models additionally assess whether variation between groups is attributable to relationship characteristics or sociodemographic attributes. Results We find no evidence that coresident homes provide a buffer against incidences of IPV; in contrast, women within coresident homes have a 4% higher probability of experiencing IPV, relative to non-coresiding peers. This heightened risk of IPV, however, is fully accounted for once controlling for the relatively more vulnerable socioeconomic profiles of coresiders. Conclusions Our findings point to the need for IPV resource providers to recognize that IPV can occur within any household structure, even with other adults living in the home. These findings further highlight the salient role of financial insecurity as a risk factor for IPV. Culturally responsive IPV services should seek to recognize distinctive norms and conflict that operate within multigenerational homes, as well as the financial stressors that correlate with both IPV and coresidence.
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... Future research should clarify how heritable traits and psychological processes influence the selection and attraction of intimate partners following maltreatment. The intergenerational transmission of violence, including the association between maltreatment and subsequent IPV victimization, has been usually attributed to social learning processes, where maltreated individuals may adopt beliefs that normalize violence, thereby learning to tolerate or use it [120,121]. However, it is clear from prior studies, typically reporting small effect sizes, that the risk factors for revictimization are complex and that multiple methodological approaches are required to address this complexity [122,123]. ...
Causal and common risk pathways linking childhood maltreatment to later intimate partner violence victimization
Article
Full-text available
  • Nov 2024
Childhood maltreatment and intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization are major psychiatric risk factors. Maltreatment substantially increases the likelihood of subsequent IPV victimization, but what drives this association is poorly understood. We analyzed retrospective self-reports of maltreatment and IPV victimization in 12,794 participants (58% women, 42% men) from the Twins Early Development Study at ages 21 and 26 using quantitative genetic methods. We estimated the etiological influences common to maltreatment and IPV, and the effect of maltreatment on IPV beyond such common influences. Participants who reported childhood maltreatment ( ~ 7% of the sample) were 3 times more likely than their peers to also report IPV victimization at age 21, 4 times more likely at 26. The association between maltreatment and IPV was mostly due to environmental influences shared by co-twins (42–43%) and genetic influences (30–33%), as well as nonshared environmental influences (25–27%). The association between maltreatment and IPV was similar for women and men, but its etiology partly differed by sex. Maltreatment had a moderate effect on IPV in phenotypic models (β = 0.25–0.30), decreasing to a small-to-moderate range in causally informative models accounting for their common etiology (β = 0.15–0.21). Risk factors common to maltreatment and IPV victimization are largely familial in origin, environmental and genetic. Even considering common risk factors, experiencing maltreatment may be causally related to subsequent IPV victimization. Interventions promoting safe intimate relationships among young adults exposed to maltreatment are warranted and should address family-level environmental risk and individual-level risk shaped by genetics.
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... Some research has highlighted the importance of gender in the intergenerational transmission of violence from mother to daughter or father to son (Nair et al., 2001;Wolak & Finkelhor, 1998). In contrast, other studies have not found the gender-specific social learning model to be significant in this transmission (Hou et al., 2015;Kwong et al., 2003). ...
Responses to Gender-Based Violence by Individuals Who Were Exposed to It During Childhood in Spain
Article
Full-text available
Despite the common premise of the link between childhood exposure to gender-based violence (GBV) and future adult victimization or perpetration, the literature concerning this association is not entirely consistent. Different studies have reported no significant associations. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of GBV exposure during childhood on the presence of GBV during adulthood. A survey with 32 questions distributed in 8 blocks was administered to 1541 Spaniards over 18 years of age. The results show that people whose mothers were victims of GBV have constructed an identity positioned against GBV to a greater extent than the general population. This identity is evident through their social activism in the fight against GBV and their tendency to help when they witness or become aware of situations of GBV. In turn, they have acquired more knowledge about what to do and/or how to intervene in cases of GBV. On the other hand, 70% of Spanish women who have suffered GBV in their lifetime affirm that their mothers did not suffer from GBV when they were young. In Spain, exposure to GBV during childhood does not necessarily lead to the reproduction of such violence in future intimate partner relationships. We thus question the intergenerational transmission of violence in the case of both victims and perpetrators.
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... Therefore, they give equal weight to all violent acts [60]. Finally, previous research found the endorsement of more acts (i.e., a greater variety of violent acts) generally indicated greater severity as the most severe acts are least frequent [61]. ...
Prevalence and risk factors of intimate partner violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: Results from the population-based study DREAMCORONA
Article
Full-text available
Objectives This study examines the 12-month prevalence rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization, including psychological, physical, and sexual forms, in women and men. It also aims to identify changes in IPV victimization during the COVID-19 pandemic and to explore factors associated with the occurrence of any IPV victimization during this period. Methods Data from the DREAMCORONA study in Germany collected from May 2020 to February 2021 included 737 participants, i.e., (expectant) mothers (64%) and fathers (36%). The Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2S) short form was used to assess the 12-month IPV victimization. Prevalence of IPV victimization as well as changes in IPV victimization during the pandemic were analyzed descriptively, with results stratified by sex. Multiple logistic regression was employed to identify risk factors for IPV. Results Psychological IPV was found to be the most prevalent form of violence, with the occurrence of any psychological IPV affecting 48.5% of women and 39.4% of men, while 2.6% of women and 3.3% of men reported the occurrence of any physical IPV victimization, and 2.8% of women and 1.5% of men reported the occurrence of any sexual IPV victimization. Of those who experienced the occurrence of any IPV in the last 12 months, 89.7% of women and 89.8% of men were victimized by one single act of violence. The majority of affected participants reported no change in psychological and physical IPV victimization during the pandemic. Nevertheless, for certain IPV behaviors on the psychological and physical IPV victimization subscales, both affected women and men also reported higher frequencies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple logistic regression revealed that higher levels of relationship satisfaction were negatively associated with the occurrence of any IPV victimization for women and men, whereas greater levels of own anger-hostility symptoms were positively associated with the occurrence of any IPV victimization. Conclusions Psychological IPV was present in almost every second (expectant) couple. The majority of affected women and men reported no change in their psychological and physical IPV victimization, suggesting that they continued to experience IPV during the pandemic. This underlines the importance of promoting healthier relationship dynamics, coping strategies, and emotional well-being to reduce the risk of IPV, even in times of crisis. Our study sheds light on the early stages of the pandemic and highlights the ongoing need for research into the temporal dynamics of IPV.
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... Moreover, a review by Radford et al. (2019) report several studies that investigated whether people model their behaviour on that of the caregiver of their same sex; therefore, father-to-mother violence may predict a male child's use of violence and a female child's victimisation in adult intimate relationships. The results were mixed with some studies such as that by Kwong et al. (2003) finding no association between the gender pattern of DVA experienced in childhood and DVA in adult relationships. Others (e.g., Heyman & Slep, 2002) supported a gendered approach to the intergenerational transmission of violence by showing that respondents had similar experiences of violence (committing or experiencing DVA) in adulthood as their samesex (male or female) caregivers. ...
‘It’s so Beneficial to be Able to Stop the Cycle’: Perceptions of Intergenerational Transmission of Violence and Parenting Practices Among Pregnant Women and their Abusive Partners
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2024
  • J FAM VIOLENCE
Purpose This study aimed to explore how pregnant women who experience Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) and men who commit DVA understand the impact of their childhood environment on their relationships with their children and co-parents, and how a DVA psychological intervention may shape their parenting. Methods Repeated individual qualitative interviews were conducted with pregnant mothers and fathers who reported DVA and were taking part in a psychological intervention to address DVA. Interviews were carried out at the start (during pregnancy) and end of the intervention (two years post-childbirth). Reflexive Thematic Analysis was used to analyse interviews. Results 56 interviews (26 mothers; 13 fathers) were analysed. Five themes were identified: (1) Acknowledging childhood experiences of DVA; (2) The scars of traumatic experiences; (3) Challenging the silencing of abuse; (4) The transmission of parenting styles and behaviours from one generation to another; (5) Becoming the best parent one can be. The intergenerational transmission of violence was identifiable in most narratives. Despite this, several participants described skills they acquired during the intervention (e.g., emotional regulation strategies) as assisting in interrupting violence and improving their relationships with their children. Conclusions Participants who acknowledged having encountered childhood abuse recognised it as one of several risk factors for DVA in adulthood. They also discussed the potential for trauma-informed interventions to address the intergenerational transmission of violence and poor parenting practices.
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... 6,11 This line of J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f research is particularly important for disrupting intergenerational cycles of maltreatment, as it is possible interpersonal dysfunction and aggression early in life may predict future perpetration of maltreatment and family violence. 45 In terms of indirect effects, we found some evidence to support our hypotheses. Specifically, childhood attachment insecurity mediated the association between chronic maltreatment (compared to a non-maltreated group and compared to a group with only early childhood maltreatment) and self-reported internalizing symptomology in young adulthood. ...
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Attaccamento, Cura e Responsabilità educativa per la prevenzione della violenza di genere
Article
  • Oct 2024
La violenza di genere in Italia è un dato di fortissimo allarme criminale e sociale. Il razionale che sostiene l'analisi del presente articolo è che il lavoro socioculturale per la prevenzione della violenza di genere vada realizzato soprattutto in sede educativa anche attraverso, ad es., l'educazione delle madri che educano giovani maschi. La letteratura evidenzia il ruolo che hanno la qualità dell'attaccamento primario (rapporto madre-figlio) per la costruzione di relazioni adulte equilibrate; aver sperimentato specifici stili di attaccamento nel corso dell'infanzia può costituire pregiudizio nella capacità di esercizio di una affettività sana in età adulta. Tali osservazioni sono supportate da evidenze di studi che hanno rilevato più elevati livelli di aggressività e violenza, fisica e psicologica, nelle coppie ove uno o entrambi i partner, presentavano un attaccamento insicuro (Wilson et al., 2013). La presente riflessione, lungi dal voler apparire come un'analisi volta ad attribuire alle madri una sorta di "stigma di colpevolezza" ha lo scopo, al contrario, di sottolineare quanto l'infanzia rappresenti un terreno delicatissimo. Da qui l'utilità di investire in ricerca ed interventi nel campo dell'empowerment al materno per lo sviluppo di risorse, soprattutto di madri in condizioni di scarse possibilità economiche e culturali, allo scopo di esercitare azioni positive di cambiamento della propria vita e dunque maggiormente protettive, in termini bio-psicosociali, anche della prole.
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Violência emocional intrafamiliar: vivências, conexões e repercussões
Book
Full-text available
  • Jan 2024
O que é violência emocional? É o mesmo que violência psicológica? Quais os atos de violência emocional mais praticados na família? Quem mais figura como agressor ou agressora, mãe, pai, irmão? Em que contexto as famílias estão inseridas? Há outras formas de violência associadas à violência emocional intrafamiliar? Quais as consequências dessas violências? O livro “Violência emocional intrafamiliar: vivências, conexões e repercussões” aborda a temática da violência contra crianças e adolescentes no contexto familiar, a partir de diferentes óticas e busca responder a estas e a outras perguntas, urgentes e presentes no nosso cotidiano. Este livro é direcionado a todos os públicos interessados pelo campo da Psicologia Social e do Desenvolvimento, professores, estudantes, mas também, a todas as pessoas que tenham aproximação pela temática, incluindo profissionais de saúde, educadores, gestores, pais, mães, avôs, avós, tios, tias e demais familiares. Na primeira parte deste livro, são apresentadas considerações teóricas acerca das diferentes expressões da violência contra crianças e adolescentes e sobre vivências de violência entre estudantes universitários. Na segunda parte, o livro examina a violência emocional a partir de estudos realizados com diferentes populações, identificando os atos de violência emocional comumente praticados contra crianças e adolescentes e verificando os impactos da violência em diferentes fases do curso de vida. Na terceira parte deste livro, pode-se conhecer os dados de uma investigação complexa que objetivou traçar o panorama de violências vivenciadas no contexto familiar e no contexto universitário, por meio de uma amostra de 600 alunos da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES). Este livro tem o intuito de contribuir para a literatura sobre violência, retirando a violência emocional da sua condição de invisibilidade, ao trabalhar com cuidado o seu conceito, suas expressões e suas repercussões. Fica o convite para a leitura e espera-se que esta investigação possa fornecer amparo científico para reflexões, novas pesquisas e futuras intervenções.
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Depressive Symptoms in Later Life in China: Situating "Long Arm" of Child Physical Maltreatment Within a Family Context
Article
  • Jan 2024
  • INT J AGING HUM DEV
Objective: This article intends to reveal the long-term effects of physical maltreatment in childhood on depressive symptoms in later life in China. Methods: Data were drawn from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). 8676 respondents aged 45 and older were included in the study. In this study, we use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models to estimate the long-term impact on children of physical punishment from their parents. Results: We found that individuals who recalled being hit by their mother in early life reported more depressive symptoms than those who recalled being punished by their father. Difficult family contexts (e.g., comparative poverty, family violence, and parent's poor mental health) had a weak association with higher risk of reporting physical maltreatment and more depressive symptoms among respondents in later life. Conclusion: This article extended the exploration of the long-term impact of child physical maltreatment beyond adolescence and into until later adult life. Effective policies to protect children from maltreatment in the form of physical punishment require further attention to the challenges posed by tradition and culture.
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Physical Aggression in Early Marriage: Prerelationship and Relationship Effects
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 1994
Spousal physical aggression at 30 months after marriage was predicted for 393 young couples who were interviewed for a longitudinal study. The prerelationship predictor variables were history of violence in the family of origin, aggression against others during childhood and adolescence, and personality characteristics. Relationship predictor variables were marital discord and spouse-specific psychological aggression, both measured at 18 months after marriage. The findings suggest that predictive models are different for husbands and wives. For both sexes, there were direct paths to marital violence that were not mediated by characteristics of the relationship, as well as paths that originated in or flowed through indicators of the marital relationship. Implications for intervention through marital therapy, individual therapy, or both are discussed.
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Biological and Genetic Contributors to Violence—Widom’s Untold Tale
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 1991
In her review of the literature on the intergenerational transmission of violent behaviors, Widom (1989a) addressed the social issues but omitted all references to the relevant biological and genetic literature. This addition to her review introduces studies of criminality, delinquency, and violence from a behavioral genetic standpoint. There is clear evidence for a genetic role in criminality and for a physiological basis for violent behavior. The inclusion of such genetic and biological evidence is necessary for a more complete understanding of the transmission of violence from one generation to another.
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Developmental antecedents of partner abuse: A prospective-longitudinal study.
Article
  • Aug 1998
Prospective measures of risk factors for partner abuse were obtained from a large birth cohort in 4 domains: socioeconomic resources, family relations, educational achievements, and problem behaviors. Partner abuse outcomes were measured at age 21. Results showed that antecedents of abuse included risk factors from all 4 domains. Risk factors were similar for men and women. Some age 3 antecedents were significant, but the strongest correlations were from age 15. In multivariate analyses, the most consistent predictor was the presence of early problem behaviors. In a cross-validation test, abuse was moderately predictable by the same antecedents, whether the outcome measure was self-report or reports from partners of sample members. Findings suggest that theories of partner abuse should account for developmental influences from multiple life domains and that primary prevention of partner abuse should begin in adolescence.
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Intergenerational Transmission of Violence
Article
  • Aug 2015
Living in a violent home and child maltreatment are major public health and social justice concerns that affect numerous children and adolescents in the USA and around the world (Gilbert et al. 2009). In fiscal year 2010, nearly 3 million children were referred to child protection service agencies for suspectedmaltreatment in theUSA.Of them, about 700,000 children were determined by state and local child protective service agencies to be victims of maltreatment, and about 1,700 children died as a result of child abuse or neglect (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2011). The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Bulletin (Finkelhor et al. 2009) reported that 60.6 % of children in a US national survey were exposed to violence during the past year, either directly or indirectly. The costs of child maltreatment in the USA have been estimated to be in the billions of dollars annually (Wang and Holton 2007) and lost income (Currie and Widom 2010). As an abused or neglected child matures, the social costs of maltreatment shift to the adult criminal justice system, rehabilitation services, and income maintenance systems. Other evidence suggests that as many as 10 million US children witness violence between their caregivers each year (Straus 1991). Although children can encounter violence in a number of settings, violence in the home may have the greatest impact on children’s development (Margolin and Gordis 2000; Osofsky 1999).
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Patriarchal Terrorism and Common Couple Violence: Two Forms of Violence Against Women
Article
  • May 1995
This article argues that there are two distinct forms of couple violence taking place within families in the United States and other Western countries. A review of evidence from large-sample survey research and from qualitative and quantitative data gathered from women's shelters suggests that some families suffer from occasional outbursts of violence from either husbands or wives (common couple violence), while other families are terrorized by systematic male violence (patriarchal terrorism). It is argued that the distinction between common couple violence and patriarchal terrorism is important because it has implications for the implementation of public policy, the development of educational programs and intervention strategies, and the development of theories of interpersonal violence.
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The Intergenerational Transmission of Marital Aggression
Article
  • Feb 1984
Data from a nationally representative sample of 2,143 adults were used to explore the relationship between two types of childhood family aggression and severe marital aggression in the next generation. The results indicate that observing hitting between one's parents is more strongly related to involvement in severe marital aggression than is being hit as a teenager by one's parents. In addition, the modeling of marital aggression does not appear to be sex specific. Observing one's father hitting one's mother increases the likelihood that sons will be victims as well as perpetrators, and that daughters will be perpetrators as well as victims of severe marital aggression. These results suggest that the transmission of family aggression across generations, while not sex specific, tends to be role specific and should be studied as such.
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Coefficients of Determination for Multiple Logistic Regression Analysis
Article
  • Feb 2000
Coefficients of determination for continuous predicted values (R analogs) in logistic regression are examined for their conceptual and mathematical similarity to the familiar R statistic from ordinary least squares regression, and compared to coefficients of determination for discrete predicted values (indexes of predictive efficiency). An example motivated by substantive concerns and using empirical data from a national household probability sample is presented to illustrate the behavior of the different coefficients of determination in the evaluation of models including dependent variables with different base rates—that is, different proportions of cases or observations with “positive” outcomes. One R analog appears to be preferable to the others both in terms of conceptual similarity to the ordinary least squares coefficient of determination, and in terms of its relative independence from the base rate. In addition, base rate should also be considered when selecting an index of predictive efficiency. As expected, the conclusions based on R analogs are not necessarily consistent with conclusions based on predictive efficiency, with respect to which of several outcomes is better predicted by a given model.
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