Marital Power, Conflict, Norm Consensus, and Marital Violence in a Nationally Representative Sample of Korean Couples

• NCJ Number: 221958
• Journal: Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2003 Pages: 197-219
• Author(s): Jae-Yop Kim; Clifton Emery
• Date Published: February 2003
• Length: 23 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study replicated Coleman and Straus's 1990 U.S. research in analyzing the relationships between marital power, conflict, norm consensus, and domestic violence in a national random sample of the population of South Korea.

Abstract

The study found that marital power was highly correlated with husband-to-wife violence. The traditional South Korean family has a patriarchal authority structure. Among the four classified types of marital power, the male-dominant power type characterized the traditional family structure. The study also found that as conflict about the division of household responsibilities between husbands and wives increased, the incidence of violence increased. Such spousal conflict has a close link with the marital power structure and norm consensus regarding gender-related responsibilities and behaviors. Norm consensus pertained to consensus about who had the right to make final decisions regarding household matters. As the degree of norm consensus increased, the incidence of violence decreased. Controlling for the other variables in the model, conflict had the most impact on violence. Although still statistically significant, norm consensus was found to have the lowest significance in predicting violence in both husband-to-wife violence and wife-to-husband violence. In comparing the American and South Korean findings, the violence committed by husbands against wives compared with that of wives against husbands was larger in the South Korean sample. Further, when the mutual violence statistic is subtracted from the violence-by-wives statistic, the amount of violence committed by South-Korean wives alone is quite small. A nationally representative sample of 1,523 individuals was involved in the study. A telephone survey conducted between June 1, 1997, and July 31, 1997, contained items that measured marital power, norm consensus, marital conflict, and domestic violence. 12 tables, 3 figures, and 16 references