New study examines scope of partner violence

A new study of violence between intimate partners by two UW–Madison psychologists reveals a problem of disturbing scope, with as many as one third of respondents reporting being either victims or perpetrators of physical abuse.

A complete copy of the study can be accessed at: http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/170018.txt.

Surprisingly, the researchers found that results by gender were not as lopsided as one would presume: Women reported being perpetrators of physical violence toward their partners slightly more than men.

The study, released Tuesday (July 13) by the National Institute of Justice, chronicles the responses of 861 21-year-olds on their experiences with violence within their relationships over the past year. Relationships included current or former intimate partners – spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends. The subjects are part of a longitudinal study carried out in New Zealand by UW–Madison psychologists Terrie Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi.

“This field is full of surprises,” said Moffitt. “Almost everything we thought we knew isn’t true when we use sound scientific methods to examine it correctly.”

The researchers conducted interviews with the subjects and used a standardized measure of physical abuse, which includes more than a dozen violent acts from shoving, slapping or punching to using a knife or gun.

“One of the first lessons learned from this study is there are no tidy and distinct groups of victims or perpetrators,” Moffitt said, adding that “mutual violence” between both men and women was a strong trend.

However, the consequences of violence against women are more consequential, as they are more likely to be injured by men, she said. Unlike the women, physically abusive men also tend to have other extremely deviant patterns such as drug abuse, chronic unemployment and dropping out of school.

Some of the major findings are:

• About 27 percent of women and 34 percent of men in the study reported they had been physically abused by their partner. The abuse was most prevalent among couples living together.
• Young adults most likely to be involved in violent relationships are also most likely to be parents. Women who had children by age 21 were twice as likely to be victims of domestic violence, and men who were fathers by age 21 were three times as likely to be physical abusers.
• The strongest risk factor for both male and female perpetrators was a history of physical aggression before age 15. Male perpetrators were more likely to have backgrounds of poverty and low academic achievement; while disturbed family relationships and harsh discipline were common backgrounds for female perpetrators.

Moffitt suggested that future interventions include the teaching of non-violent problem-solving to teenagers and young parents, and better coordination between police, the judiciary and psychiatric professionals.

The methodology of the study was solid, Moffitt said. The New Zealand study group includes all the males and females born in the city of Dunedin in 1972, so it represents a snapshot of the full population. Researchers also interviewed 360 of the partners independently, and there was 80 percent agreement about the violence reports.

Moffitt noted that the results are quite similar to two other national studies of domestic violence that were used for comparison.

The Dunedin study participants have been surveyed over a variety of ages from childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. While the primary focus of the study was on teen behavioral problems and delinquency, the partner violence question became a natural extension of that earlier work, Moffitt said.

Both Moffitt and Caspi are on extended leave from UW–Madison and are serving on the psychiatry faculty of the University of London. For more information on the study, contact Moffitt at t.moffitt@iop.kcl.ac.uk or by phone at 011-44-171-919-3936.

A complete copy of the study can be accessed on the NIJ web site at: http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/170018.txt