Langhinrichsen Rohling, J., & Vivian, D. (1994). The correlates of spouses'
                      incongruent reports of marital aggression. Journal of Family Violence, 9(3), 265-283

     Compared 97 couples' reports of engaging in or experiencing marital aggression to
determine congruence (spousal agreement on whether either spouse had been nonviolent,
mildly violent, or severely maritally violent within thepast year). Whereas approximately
equal numbers of clinic couples were incongruent for husband and for wife violence (32%
vs 31%), only incongruence for husband-to-wife (HTW) violence correlated with reports
of affective and relationship functioning. Incongruent HTW wives were more likely to be
depressed and angry. HTW incongruent wives were also more negative about the inter-
spousal communication and rated the relationship as more unsatisfactoryfor them than did
congruent wives. Incongruent HTW husbands also perceived therelationship more negatively,
but their levels of depression and anger did notdiffer from congruent HTW husbands. These
findings were not replicated for spouses who were incongruent for wife violence.

Keywords: spouses/husbands/violence/wives/anger/marriage/partner abuse/family violence/marriage counseling/
                  Human/Adult  Notes: U Nebraska, Dept of Psychology, Lincoln, US : 08857482 English

     (PsycLIT Database Copyright1995 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)

Reporting Wife Abuse : Do men underreport?

         Heyman, R. E. & Schlee, K. A. (1997). Toward a Better Estimate of the Prevalence of Partner Abuse:
                     Adjusting Rates   based on the Sensitivity of the Conflict Tactics Scale. Journal of Family
                     Psychology, 11,  331-338.

Purpose: National studies of prevalence of wife abuse have used reports by men and women, but not by both spouses in a couple. By using data when both spouses' reports were available, we can produce correction factors to estimate what the couple-reported prevalence would have been if we only were to have had access to one-spouse (i.e., if you interviewed 1000 men, what would the rate have been if you had been able to interview their wives as well?)

Community sample

Couple report of severe violence = (% reported by men) x 1.7

Couple report of severe violence = (% reported by women) x 1.5

Clinic sample

Couple report of severe violence = (% reported by men) x 2.4

Couple report of severe violence = (% reported by women) x 1.1

Conclusion: Community men and women report equivalent amounts of husbandwife violence. Underreporting is pronounced only for clinic men.

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