NCJ Number
83727
Date Published
1982
Length
109 pages
Annotation
One hundred married, divorced, and widowed female college students were surveyed to determine the degree to which the relative difference between spouses in such resources as education and work prestige affects their perceptions of family power and their use of physical abuse against the spouse.
Abstract
The questions covered the demographic characteristics of the respondent and the respondent's spouse, the respondent's attitudes, and methods of resolving differences within the family during the past year and throughout the marriage. For each resource variable, the families were categorized according to whether the spouses were equal or unequal with respect to the resource. The variables included age, income, employment, education, work prestige, and religious participation. The test factor standardization method was used to analyze the data, because the sample was purposive rather than random in nature. Results did not support the existing research, suggesting that the chances for physical abuse by either spouse will be enhanced if the wife has higher resources but perceives her husband as having greater power in the family decisionmaking process. About 18 percent of the respondents and 28 percent of their spouses were reported to have used one or more physically violent techniques during the previous year to resolve conflicts within the family. A literature review, discussions of study limitations and needs for future research, tables, notes, 92 references, and the study instruments are provided.