NCJ Number
181791
Journal
Criminology Volume: 38 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2000 Pages: 199-232
Editor(s)
Robert J. Bursik Jr.
Date Published
2000
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This investigation of a birth cohort of over 800 young adults in Dunedin, New Zealand, examined whether partner abuse and general crime violated the rights and safety of victims, whether persons who abused their partners were the same people who committed other crimes, and whether partner abuse and general crime shared the same correlates.
Abstract
The purpose of the investigation was to test whether a personality model known to predict general crime would also predict partner abuse. Personality data were gathered at age 18, and self-reported partner abuse and general criminal offending were measured at age 21. Results from modeling latent constructs showed that partner abuse and general crime represented different constructs that were moderately related; they were not merely two expressions of the same underlying antisocial propensity. Group comparisons showed that many but not all partner abusers also engaged in violence against non-intimates. Personality analysis showed partner abuse and general crime shared a strong propensity from a trait called negative emotionality. However, crime was related to weak constraint (low self-control) but partner abuse was not. All findings applied to women as well as to men, suggesting that women's partner abuse may be motivated by the same intra-personal features that motivate men's abuse. The results are consistent with theoretical and applied arguments about the "uniqueness" of partner violence relative to other crime and violence. 78 references, 5 footnotes, 2 tables, and 3 figures