393 engaged couples: assessed 1 month before, 6,18, 30 months post

Select only those who were not physically abusive pre-marriage

83% participated in first 3 assessment phases

69% participated in all four assessment phases

Psychological abuse:  CTS items and their own from another (assertiveness study)

________________________________________________

The idea below is to see whether psychological aggressiveness (abuse) predicts subsequent physical abuse, as before, with the earlier Strauss study. We can use either spouse's report of psychological abuse as the predictor of physical abuse, and we can use different time windows as the basis over which we make the prediction. These windows (or lags) refer to using data at successive points to predict to outcomes (physical abuse) at later times. Recalling that the couples were assessed at 6 month intervals, lag 1 to lag 2 would represent a 6 mth window, but lag 2 to lag 3  represents the 12 mth window. However, lag 1-->3 represent a wider window, until we get to 1-->4 where the window is 30 mths. That is, how well does report at time 1 predict 30 mths later?

                                                                   ___________________________________________________________

II. Continuity of Physical Aggression
           (O'Leary, Malone, & Tyree, 1994 JCCP)

      A. Purpose:

     What factors, both pre-relationship and within relationship, predict marital aggression  30 months after marriage?

       B. Design  View Design (Fig. 1)

                        Two classes of predictor variables :

            (1) Pre-relationship Predictor variables:
                 Parental violence (parents)
                 Parents hit child
                 Hits peers/sibs
                 Personality:
                   Impulsively, defensiveness, aggression

(2) Relationship Variables
        Locke-Wallace MS
        Nonphysical (psychological) marital aggression

                 C.  Dependent Variable

                            Current reports of abuse
                           CTS (Conflict Tactics Scale)

              D. Subjects

393 self-selected couples one month prior to their first marriage
272 remained at 30 months (end of study)

              E. Results: (View Results Figs. 2 and 3)

1. Best single predictor of later physical aggression (PA) was
    prior PA (r's = .79 and .71 for males and females, respectively)

2. Variables better predicted wives' aggression toward husbands than predicted husbands'   aggression toward wives

3. For both H and W PSYCHOLOGICAL aggression was a predictor of PA at   30 months  (High psychological aggression high PA)

4. For both H & W:  presence of aggressive and defensive personalities
         AND presence of marital distress predicted PA

5. Gender differences

For men: parental violence PA toward their wives
Women: No effect of parental violence
6. For women: parents hit & hits peers PA
      For men: violence outside the marriage did not predict PA

7. Women with impulsive personality characteristics:
      Marital unhappiness directly affects their being PA
     (i.e., does not first go through  their own increased
     psychological aggressiveness)
 
 

III. New Typologies of Batterers
 
   A.  Studies by Gottman and Jacobson:
           Type 1 and Type  2 Batterers based on physiological reactions:
 
    Type 1 men:  lower their heart rate from eyes closed resting during
     first 5-min of interaction
         Cobras   Characteristics of Type 1 men:
                        more belligerent and contemptuous
    Type 2 men:  increase their heart rates during first 5-min of interaction
         Pit bulls Generally more overtly angry, but very aggressive
    B. See Holtzworth-Munroe in press typology study
 

---

Return to 473