NCJ Number
155589
Date Published
1994
Length
16 pages
Annotation
A 1992 study of 1,970 families, including a national oversample of Hispanic families, focused on the incidence of spouse abuse in the three major Hispanic-American subgroups (Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Cuban) and in white families and considered how sociocultural status and attitudes toward violence differentially affected assaults on wives.
Abstract
Results revealed that Hispanic Americans, as a whole, did not differ significantly from Anglo Americans in their chances of wife assaults when norms regarding violence approval, age, and economic stressors were held constant. At the same time, considerable heterogeneity was apparent among ethnic subgroups on a number of measures. In addition, being born in the United States increased the risk of wife assaults by Mexican and Puerto Rican-American husbands. However, the presence of norms sanctioning wife assaults within any group, regardless of socioeconomic status, was a risk factor for wife abuse. Tables, notes, and 62 references (Author abstract modified)