Control issues and dating violence : women's attitudes and experiences /
The major finding from this study was that women's personality variables, family-of-origin issues, and history of abuse are not strong predictors of women's receipt of physical force in dating relationships. Although twelve variables about women were included in this study, only two had a...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
1995.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=742534811&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | The major finding from this study was that women's personality variables, family-of-origin issues, and history of abuse are not strong predictors of women's receipt of physical force in dating relationships. Although twelve variables about women were included in this study, only two had any significant ability as predictors. Childhood sexual abuse and women's attachment anxiety in dating relationships predicted only nine percent of the variance in dating violence, even when the most powerful correlate to physical force was purposely excluded. The most powerful predictor of sustaining violence, for women, was the report of experiencing "controlling" behaviors from male dating partners. The behaviors in question are indicators of jealousy and emotional abuse-accusations of infidelity, checking behaviors, intimidation, and verbal denigration. 'The more controlling behavior that women experienced from partners in serious dating relationships, the more incidents of physical force they reported. Women's experience of male dating partners' controlling behavior predicted sixty percent of the variance in mild and severe physical aggression they had experienced in dating relationships. When the variable for men's controlling behavior was included in regression analyses, the variance predicted by women's anxiety and childhood sexual abuse was reduced to two percent, at most. Of the four domains into which risk markers for dating violence can be classified, three lack power to predict women's receipt of dating violence. Family history is not a powerful predictor; although this study used well validated measures of childhood abuse, the influence of those variables was relatively small. Witnessing domestic violence also had little effect on dating violence, although observing her father behave in a jealous, hypercritical way toward her mother predicted women's later acceptance and experience of similar behaviors. Women's personality variables were mixed, as predictors: self esteem had no effect, but anger predicted women's experience of controlling behavior. Dating violence appears to be more closely associated with present interpersonal problems than past stressors. Attachment anxiety, which is related to insecurity in relationships, increased a woman's likelihood of allowing and experiencing domineering behavior; to a lesser extent, so did avoidance. The primary predictor of dating violence sustained by women, however, was one interpersonal factor:the use of controlling behaviors by their male partners. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Psychology". |
| Physical Description: | x, 127 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilms Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references. |