Incidence and Chronicity of Assaults by Wives on Husbands: Implications for Primary Prevention of Wife-Beating

• NCJ Number: 132155
• Author(s): M A Strauss
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 19 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Presented at the 1989 meeting of the American Society of Criminology. Journal of Marriage and the Family, forthcoming

Annotation

Surveys of the general population consistently find a high rate of physical assault by wives against their husbands that equals rates of assaults by husbands. Homicide data show that women murder their husbands at 60 percent of the male rate, while the rate of women murdering strangers is only 5 percent that of the male rate.

Abstract

However, official data including police reports and National Crime Survey domestic assault data show much lower assault rates by wives than husbands. This discrepancy with general survey results can be explained largely by the degree to which each accounts for injuries inflicted on the victim. When injury adjusted rates are computed from general survey responses, they also show a predominance of male assault. The author argues that the high rate of minor assaults by wives contributes to the societal justification for wife beating. Therefore, primary prevention of wife beating should include steps to reduce the high incidence of assaults by wives as well as by husbands. 1 figure, 2 notes, and 64 references (Author abstract modified)