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Verbal Marital Conflict and Male Domination in the Family as Risk Factors of Intimate Partner Violence

NCJ Number
227443
Journal
Trauma, Violence, and Abuse Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2009 Pages: 171-180
Author(s)
Carmen Vives-Cases; Diana Gil-Gonzalez; Mercedes Carrasco-Portino
Date Published
April 2009
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article explores the relationship between verbal marital conflict, male domination in the family, and violent behavior by men towards their partner.
Abstract
Findings show that all of the applicable studies found a relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and male domination in the family or verbal marital conflict; the variety of measuring scales and operating definitions used for both verbal marital conflict and male domination make it difficult to fully understand the problem. Clearly highlighted is the existence of important biases that could also affect current knowledge about the impact of verbal marital conflict and male domination in the family on IPV. The articles that were found to take into consideration male domination in the family or verbal marital conflict as a possible risk factor for IPV coincided with the results of other reviews that have attempted to analyze the possible association of this problem with other factors, such as consumption of alcohol by abusers or the low socioeconomic status of the couple. Generally, there were major difficulties to finding information on verbal marital conflict as a risk factor associated with inter-partner violence in the scientific literature given that this factor is often considered as a type of violence against women. In the data collection process, 63 articles dealing with verbal marital conflict were found; 61 articles were rejected because this variable was considered as a result or a form of partner violence against women and not as a possible risk factor. Table and references