Spousal Abuse

Essay by OhhBoy5784University, Bachelor'sA-, May 2007

download word file, 7 pages 5.0

The study, "Dimensions of Self-Concept as Predictors of Men Who Assault Their Female Partners", D. Mark Ragg, deals with the issue of spousal abuse. Using self-concept literature, this study attempts to provide promise for understanding personality attributes that can help explain why some men assault their partners and others do not. I chose this article because, as I explained in my panel presentation, a good friend of mine was beaten badly, and no one saw it coming. I have since then volunteered in many shelters educating myself as well as other women on the dangers and warning signs of spousal and partner abuse.

The independent variable(s) for this study is the role of self-concept. There are two constructs that help to explain aggressive reactions in relationships. The first construct is negative self-concept, which is associated with relationship role performance. The second construct is an unstable self-conception. This study uses negative self-concept and unstable self-concept to predict known wife-assaulters from their non-assaultive peers.

The dependent variable(s) in this study are thee aggressive behavior and battering done by the male partner. Among the demographic variables, there were two measures of violence. The first measure of violence focused on violence in the respondent's family of origin. Three types of violence were explored. These include adult to adult, adult to child, and child to child violence. The scaling for each question included the response options of never, almost never, sometimes, often, and very often. The questionnaire also asked information about the frequency of yelling, symbolically violent acts (implied violence through property destruction or hitting inanimate objects), pushing/grabbing, and hitting.

IntroductionBatterers are found to have negative self-concepts and low self-esteem (Goldstein and Rosenbaum, 1994). Batterers are also found to maintain unrealistically high expectations of themselves which they are often unable to achieve (Bernard...