NCJ Number
245433
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 28 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2013 Pages: 141-152
Date Published
February 2013
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This paper argues that child abuse potentiates patriarchal beliefs, allowing husbands to extend rationalizations for child abuse to rationalizations for wife abuse.
Abstract
This paper draws on Matza's (1964/1990) theory of deviance to propose that the father's current abuse of the child moderates the relationship between father's patriarchal beliefs and current perpetration of husband violence in South Korea. Drawing on Matza's concept of neutralizing beliefs, the paper argues that child abuse potentiates patriarchal beliefs, allowing husbands to extend rationalizations for child abuse to rationalizations for wife abuse, resulting in an interaction effect. The paper tests this hypothesized interaction effect using data from a nationally representative sample of 585 South Korean men. The paper then tests a competing alternative hypothesis that any type of violence (including violence outside the family) by the father acts as a moderator. Support is found for the child abuse as moderator hypothesis but not for the competing hypothesis. Abstract published by arrangement with Springer.