Understanding Violence Against Women (1996) / Chapter Skim
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3 Causes and Consequences of Violence Against Women
3 Causes and Consequences of Violence Against Women
Pages 49-92
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From page 49... ...
Research has sought causal factors at various levels of analysis, including individual, dyadic, institutional, and social. Studies of offending and victimization remain conceptually distinct except in sociocultural analysis in which joint consideration is often given to two complementary processes: those that influence men to be aggressive and channel their expressions of violence toward women and those that position women for receipt of violence and operate to silence them afterwards.
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From page 50... ...
Both the research on general violence and that on violence against women suggest that violence arises from interactions among individual biological and psychosocial factors and social processes (e.g., Reiss and Roth, 1993 1, but it is not known how much overlap there is in the development of violent behavior against women and other violent behavior. Studies of male batterers have found that some batterers confine their violent behavior to their intimates but others are violent in general Pagan et al., 1983; Cadsky and Crawford, 1988; Shields et al., 1988; Saunders, 1992; Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart, 1994~.
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From page 51... ...
Males were best served by mating with as many fertile females as possible to increase their chance of impregnating one of them; females, who have the tasks of pregnancy and nurturing the young, are often better served by pair bonding. Sex differences in current human mating strategies may be explained as having been shaped by the strategies that created reproductive success among human ancestors.
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From page 52... ...
Even those who favor evolutionary explanations acknowledge that additional factors are necessary to explain sexual assault and intimate partner violence. For example, Quinsey and LaTumiere ~1995)
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From page 53... ...
concluded that the majority of studies showed that high testosterone levels tend to covary with high probabilities of aggressive behaviors, dominance status, and pathological forms of aggression in nonhuman mammals, but that the picture for humans is not as clear. In humans, there appears to be a correlation between testosterone levels and aggression, but it is not clear whether testosterone levels influence aggressive behavior or vary as a result of aggressive behavior.
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From page 54... ...
Neuropsychological deficits in memory, attention, and language, which sometimes follow limbic system damage, have been found to be common in children who exhibit violent or aggressive behavior E.g., Miller, 1987; Lewis et al., 1988; Mungas, 19881. Differences in peripheral measures of nervous system activity, such as heart rate or skin conductance, have been found between control subjects and samples of criminals, psychopaths, delinquents, and conductdisordered children (SiddIe et al., 1973; Wadsworth, 1976; Raine and Venables, 1988; Kagan, 1989; Raine et al., 19901.
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From page 55... ...
The relationship of alcohol to intimate partner violence could be spurious, but the relationship of men's drinking to intimate partner violence remains even after statistically controlling for sociodemographic variables, hostility, and marital satisfaction Leonard and Blane, ~ 992; Leonard, 19931. Men's drinking patterns, especially binge drinking, are associated with marital violence across all ethnic groups and social classes (Kantor, 19931.
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From page 56... ...
Nor a more complete review of the research and methodological weaknesses see Leopard andiacob, 1988;Leonard, 1993.~ Nonetheless, research has consistently found that heavy drinking patterns are related to aggressive behavior, in general, and to intimate partner and sexual violence. However, exactly how alcohol is related to violence remains unclear.
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From page 57... ...
, . Even within the restricted population found in studies ot incarcerated sex offenders, most investigators have concluded that there is a great deal of heterogeneity among rapists and that sexual aggression is multiply determined ~Prentky and Knight, 199 ~ I
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From page 58... ...
Men may be reTuctant to acknowledge that they have engaged in sexually or physically violent behavior or the men who report this behavior may be different from those who have engaged in the behavior but do not report it. Yet, because both intimate partner violence and sexual assault usually take place in private, self-reports play a central role in their study.
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From page 59... ...
Power and control frequently underlie intimate partner violence, but the purpose of the violence may also be in response to a man's feelings of powerlessness and inability to accept rejection jBrowne and Dutton, 1990~. It also has been argued that rape, in particular, represents fulfillment of sexual needs through violence jEllis,1989~, but research has found that motives of power ant!
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From page 60... ...
From this perspective, male violence against women endures in human societies because it is modeled both in individual families and in the society more generally and has positive results: it releases tension, leaves the perpetrator feeling better, often achieves its ends by cutting off arguments, and is rarely associated with serious punishment for the perpetrator. One of the mechanisms through which social learning occurs is social information processing the decoding or interpreting of social interactions, making decisions about appropriate responses on the basis of the decoding, and carrying out a response to see if it has the intended effect.
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From page 61... ...
Anecdotal evidence from battered women suggest that a man often refrains from physical violence until a women has made an emotional commitment to him, such as moving in together, getting engaged or m~rri e.~1 or l~ecomin~ pregnant le.~.. Walker 1979; Giles ~ ~ ~ -~ ,~ - - (_7 1 ~ ~ r Sims, 1983; Browne, ~ 987~.
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From page 62... ...
Increased risk of adult intimate partner violence is associated with exposure to violence between a person's parents while growing up. Onethird of children who have been abused or exposed to parental violence become violent adults ;Widom, 1989~.
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From page 63... ...
· 1 · ~ 1 ~ ~ - ~ ~ I AN A; for or simply reinforce already existing aggressive renacn~;~s remains to be determined. In either case, it appears that participation in team sports is a risk factor for sexual aggression.
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From page 64... ...
A meta-analysis of TSS studies found a strong positive association between exposure to television violence and antisocial and aggressive behavior ~Comstock and Paik, 1990; Paik and Comstock, 1994~. Those who are exposed to television and cinema violence may also become desensitized to real world violence, less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, and begin to see the world as a mean and dangerous place {Murray, 1995J.
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From page 65... ...
protective movement, there was increased concern that wife beating should be treated as a crime, although few men were ever punished Speck, 1989~. In the I89Os social casework replaced criminal justice as the preferred system for dealing with family violence and general interest in wife beating waned until the 1960s ~Fagan and Browne, 1994~.
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From page 66... ...
~ ~ r ) ~ of studies have found a significant association between acceptance of rape myths and self-reported sexually aggressive behavior Afield 1978; Koss et al., 1985; Murphy et al., 1986; MuehIenhard and Linton, 1987; Reilly et al., 1992~.
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From page 67... ...
Cultural Mores Ethnographic and anthropologic studies determine the critical role that sociocultural mores play in defining and promoting violence against women. Anthropologists have found cultural differences in the amount of and acceptability of intimate partner violence in different societies.
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From page 68... ...
Rape is also prevalent under conditions of marked social inequity and social disorganization, such as slavery and war ~Quinsey, 19841. Multifactor Models It is generally accepted that multiple classes of influences from the individual to the macrolevel determine the expression of assaultive and sexually aggressive behavior in men For recent reviews see Ellis, ~ 989; Sugarman and Hotaling, 1989; Craig, 1990; Hall, 1990; Malamuth and Dean, ~ 99 I; Berkowitz, ~ 992; Shotiand, ~ 992; White and Koss, ~ 993; White, in press)
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From page 69... ...
Future work guided by these models can examine the relationship of one form of violence to another; make better connections between macrolevel societal variables and indiviclual variables to establish how culture is expressed; address both structural and contextual causes of violence; use a life-span perspective capable of capturing the processes by which earlier experiences affect later ones; and focus on the gendered nature of violence against women that involves personality and cognitive factors embedded in a social structure that directs and defines the meaning of violence in gendered social relationships. An understancling of the multiple factors that lead to violent behavior in general and to specific forms of violent behavior directed at women is critical to developing effective prevention strategies.
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From page 70... ...
Factors that have been at one time or another linked to women's likelihood of being raped or battered are passivity, hostility, low self-esteem, alcohol and drug use, violence in the family of origin, having more education or income than their intimate partners, and the use of violence toward children. However, based on a critical review of all 52 studies conducted in the prior 15 years that included comparison groups, Hotaling and Sugarman ~1986J found that the only risk marker consistently associated with being the victim of physical abuse was having witnessed parental violence as a child.
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From page 71... ...
Koss and Dinero tI989J concluded that sexual assault was generally not predictable, but to the extent it could be, was accounted for by variables that represented the aftereffects of childhood sexual abuse, including influences on drinking, sexual values, and level of sexual activity. Recent prospective data support this assertion ~Gidycz et al., 1995J.
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From page 72... ...
Trouble with alcohol and peer pressure to drink have been associated with adolescents' risks of personal victimization, in general, and sexual victimization, in particular {Esbensen and Huizinga, PHI; Winkle, ~994; Gidycz et al., 1995~. About one-half of college student rape victims report that they were drinking at the time of their assault Moss and Dinero, 1989~, and estimated peak blood alcohol level during the prior 30 days was correlated with lifetime sexual victimization Norris et al., 19961.
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From page 73... ...
In the case of intimate partner violence, there is increasing evidence of the negative impact on children of exposure to violence in the family. Society suffers economically, both in the use of resources and in the loss of productivity due to fear and injury.
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From page 74... ...
Consequences to Victims Research in recent years has brought an increased understanding of the impact of trauma, in general, and of violence against women, in particular. Both rape and intimate partner violence are associated with a host of short- and Tong-term problems, including physical injury and illness, psychological symptoms, economic costs, and death.
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From page 75... ...
Physical Consequences Rape and Sexual Assault Surveys of adult females have found that women characterize the "typical" rape as entailing a high risk of physical injury and of death Aware, 1985; Gordon and Riger, 1989~. However, the data show that between onehalf and two-thirds of rape victims sustain no physical injuries (Beebe, 1991; Koss et al., 1991; Kilpatrick et al., 1992~; and
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From page 76... ...
Self-report and interview-aciministered symptom checklists routinely reveal that victims of rape or sexual assault experienced more symptoms of physical and psychoTogical ill health than nonvictimized women ~Waigant et al., 1990; Koss et al., 1991; ~ ~^^ -I Holing, 1 Ale; Klmerllng and Calhoun, 1994~. Sexual assault victims, compared with nonvictimizec3 women, were more likely to report both medically explained ~30 percent versus 16 percent)
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From page 77... ...
These findings suggest that victimized women may become inappropriate users of medical services by somaticizing their distress; however, the number of sexual assault victims who qualify for the psychiatric diagnosis of somatization disorder is small. In a comparison of sexual assault victims with matched nonvictimized women on nine psychiatric diagnoses and a sample size of more than 3,000, too few cases of somatization disorder were identified to analyze statistically ~Burnam et al., 1988~.
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From page 78... ...
Victims of partner violence were 13 times more likely to have injuries to the breast, chest, or abdomen than were accident victims Stark et al., 19791, and three times as likely as nonbattered women to sustain injuries while pregnant Stark ant! Flitcraft, 19881.
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From page 79... ...
Many differences between rape victims and nonvictimize(1 women disappear after 3 months with the exception of continued reports of fear, selfesteem problems, and sexual problems, which may persist for up to 18 months or longer lovesick, , ~, ~ ~ ~ .
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From page 80... ...
In other studies, 13 percent of rape victims suffered from a major depressive disorder sometime in their life, compared with only 5 percent of nonvictims ~Burnam et al., 1988; Sorenson and Golding, 1990~. Depression scores for victims of intimate partner violence on a widely used epidemiological measure ~RadIoff/ 1977~ were twice as high as the standard norms and well above the highrisk cutoff scores ~Walker, 1984~.
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From page 81... ...
to understand a range of psychoTogical responses to traumatic experiences, from natural disaster or military combat to rape and other forms of criminal attack Wrigley, ~ 985; van der Kolk, 1987; Herman, 1992; Davidson and Foa, ~ 993J. On the basis of clinical and empirical inquiries, a growing number of clinicians now suggest that PTSD may also be the most accurate diagnosis for many survivors of interpersonal and family violence "Herman, 1986, 1992; Bryer et al., 1987; van der Kolk, 1987; Burge, 1989; Gondolf, 1990; Koss, 1990; Davidson and Foa, 1991; Kemp et al., 1991; Koss and Harvey, 1991; Walker, 1991, 1992; Browne, 1992; Dutton, 1992aJ.
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From page 82... ...
Among victims of intimate partner violence recruited from shelters and therapist referrals, 81 percent of those who had experienced physical attacks and 63 percent of those who had experienced verbal abuse were diagnosed with PTSD. Most rape victims ~94 percent)
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From page 83... ...
Third, the description of traumatic events as outside usual human experience is not accurate in describing women's experiences with intimate violence. Fourth, the diagnosis fails to acknowledge the cognitive effects of this kind of violence.
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From page 84... ...
The use of "battered woman syndrome" has been criticized for making those consequences of intimate partner violence for women a pathology and ignoring differences among battered women's responses to violence E.g., Dutton, 1993, Schopp et al., 19941. Furthermore, because expert testimony about the experiences of battered women often encompasses more than just a discussion of psychological consequences, the term battered woman syndrome is misreading Mutton, 19931.
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From page 85... ...
Wiclely cited assertions of intergenerational relationships in intimate partner violence are basecT on crosssectional stuclies, anc! the findings are open to multiple expla self-report ciata.
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From page 86... ...
Some rape victims also experience sexual dysfunction and difficulties with interpersonal relationships, both of which can have negative effects on their family relationships. Sexual dysfunction may be Tong lasting: Burgess and Holmstrom jI979)
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From page 87... ...
It is estimated that between 12 percent and 35 percent of women visiting emergency rooms with injuries are there because of battering ~Randall, ~ 990; Abbott et al., 1995~. Outside of emergency departments, there is practically no information on a myriad of other health costs related to battering and sexual assault, such as treatment for depression and PTSD, drug and alcohol abuse, prenatal complications, sui
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From page 88... ...
In acIdition, anecdotal evidence suggests that some battered women may be forced into performing criminal acts by their batterers {Browne, 19871. Indirect Costs Researchers are just beginning to look at the indirect costs of battering and sexual assault costs that result not from using services but from reduced productivity and changes in quality of life.
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From page 89... ...
Research has begun to identify childhood precursors to later violent aggressive behavior, and criminological research has studied the progression of criminal careers. Yet little research has considered the development of violence against women and whether pathways to violence against women are similar to the development of other violent behaviors.
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From page 90... ...
Some preliminary data indicate that intimate partner violence may play a role in
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From page 91... ...
However, this study did not report outcomes separately for girls, who were far more likely to experience sexual assault, and boys, who experienced much more physical assaults by strangers. Nevertheless, the authors concluded that sexual assault in particular posed a very significant risk factor to the mental health of adolescents.
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