Murray A. Straus

The Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2) Development and Preliminary Psychometric Data

This article describes a revised Conflict Tactics Scales (the CTS2) to measure psychological and physical attacks on a partner in a marital, cohabiting, or dating relationship; and also use of negotiation. The CTS2 has (a) additional items to enhance content validity and reliability; (b) revised wording to increase clarity and specificity; (c) better differentiation between minor and severe levels of each scale; (d) new scales to measure sexual coercion and physical injury; and (e) a new format to simplify administration and reduce response sets. Reliability ranges from .79 to .95. There is preliminary evidence of construct validity.

Physical Violence in American Families: Risk Factors and Adaptations to Violence in 8,145 Families

The informative and controversial findings in this book are based on two path-breaking national surveys of American families. Both show that while the family may be the central locus of love and support, it is also the locus of risk for those who are physically assaulted. The book provides a wealth of information on gender differences and similarities in violence, and on the effects of gender roles and inequality. Two landmark American studies of violence from the National Family Violence survey form the basis of this book. Both show that while the family may be the central locus of love and support, it is also the locus of risk for those who are being physically assaulted. This is particularly true for women and children, who are statistically more at risk of assault in their own homes than on the streets of any American city. Physical Violence in American Families provides a wealth of information on gender differences and similarities in violence, and on the effects of gender roles and inequality. It is essential for anyone doing empirical research or clinical assessment.

Societal change and change in family violence from 1975 to 1985 as revealed by two national surveys

Comparisons between two national surveys conducted in 1975 and 1985 on the rates of physical violence against children and spouses are presented in this article. The sample consisted of 2143 families in 1975 and 3520 families in 1985. Findings showed that 1) physical child abuse decreased by 47% from 1975 to 1985; 2) wife beating decreased by 27% while severe assaults declined by 4.3%; and 3) despite these reductions the rates of child abuse and wife beating remain extremely high. The lower rates of severe violence in 1985 are attributed to several factors such as 1) differences in methodology used 2) reluctance of the respondents to report violence and 3) a decrease in the amount of child abuse and wife beating. The policy implications of the reductions and of the continued high rate of child and spouse abuse were discussed in the last part of this paper.

Corporal punishment by American parents: national data on prevalence, chronicity, severity, and duration, in relation to child and family characteristics.

We present data on corporal punishment (CP) by a nationally representative sample of 991 American parents interviewed in 1995. Six types of CP were examined: slaps on the hand or leg, spanking on the buttocks, pinching, shaking, hitting on the buttocks with a belt or paddle, and slapping in the face. The overall prevalence rate (the percentage of parents using any of these types of CP during the previous year) was 35% for infants and reached a peak of 94% at ages 3 and 4. Despite rapid decline after age 5, just over half of American parents hit children at age 12, a third at age 14, and 13% at age 17. Analysis of chronicity found that parents who hit teenage children did so an average of about six times during the year. Severity, as measured by hitting the child with a belt or paddle, was greatest for children age 5–12 (28% of such children). CP was more prevalent among African American and low socioeconomic status parents, in the South, for boys, and by mothers. The pervasiveness of CP reported in this article, and the harmful side effects of CP shown by recent longitudinal research, indicates a need for psychology and sociology textbooks to reverse the current tendency to almost ignore CP and instead treat it as a major aspect of the socialization experience of American children; and for developmental psychologists to be cognizant of the likelihood that parents are using CP far more often than even advocates of CP recommend, and to inform parents about the risks involved.

Prevalence of Violence Against Dating Partners by Male and Female University Students Worldwide

This article presents rates of violence against dating partners by students at 31 universities in 16 countries (5 in Asia and the Middle East, 2 in Australia-New Zealand, 6 in Europe, 2 in Latin America, 16 in North America). Assault and injury rates are presented for males and females at each of the 31 universities. At the median university, 29% of the students physically assaulted a dating partner in the previous 12 months (range = 17% to 45%) and 7% had physically injured a partner (range = 2% to 20%). The results reveal both important differences and similarities between universities. Perhaps the most important similarity is the high rate of assault perpetrated by both male and female students in all the countries.

The Dark Side of Families: Current Family Violence Research.

Introduction - Abridged Contents Violence against Wives Physical and Sexual Abuse of Children Marital Rape Toward a Theory of Intrafamily Violence An Appraisal of Current Issues

The “Drunken Bum” Theory of Wife Beating

We examine the belief that physical abuse of wives is strongly determined by drunkenness and socioeconomic status using interview data from a nationally representative sample of 5,159 families. Our findings show that excessive drinking is associated with higher wife abuse rates, but alcohol use is not an immediate antecedent ofviolence in the majority of families. The combination of blue-collar status, drinking, and approval of violence is significantly associated with the highest rate of wife abuse. Of the three factors, cultural approval of violence by men against women has the strongest association with wife abuse. Although our results provide support for the drunken bum theory of wife beating, they also demythologize the stereotype because they show that alcohol is far from being a necessary or sufficient cause of wife abuse.

Handbook of family measurement techniques

VOLUME ONE Evolution of the Family Field - Walter R Schumm Measurement Principals and Techniques Dimensions of Marital and Family Interaction - Thomas N Bradbury and Frank D Fincham Intimacy and Family Values - Walter R Schumm Parenthood - George W Holden Roles and Power - Constance L Shehan and Gary R Lee Adjustment - Cheryl Buehler VOLUME TWO Family Measurement Overview - Cindy Carlson Developing, Interpreting and Using Family Assessment Techniques - Barry F Perlmutter and Greg Czar Measuring Family Relations - Mark A Fine Measuring Marital Relations - David R Johnson Measuring Parent-Child Relations - Theodore Dix and Elizabeth T Gershoff Measuring Family Adjustment, Health and Well Being - Lawrence H Ganong Measuring Family Problems - Pamela C Miller et al VOLUME THREE Family Relations Instruments Marital Relations Instruments Parent-Child Relations Instruments Family Adjustment, Health, and Well-Being Instruments Family Problems Instruments

A short form of the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales, and typologies for severity and mutuality.

The revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2) is the most widely used instrument for measuring intimate partner violence. This article presents a short form to enable the CTS2 to be used when testing time is very limited. It also presents procedures that can be used with either the full test or the short form to classify individuals on the basis of severity of behavior toward a partner or by a partner, and to classify couples on the basis of mutuality or symmetry in the behaviors measured by the CTS2. The results indicate that the short form is comparable in validity to the full CTS2. Although the short form does not identify as many cases of partner violence as the full scale, it does identify a large number of cases and if there is insufficient time for the full scale, can be a useful screening instrument.

Verbal aggression by parents and psychosocial problems of children.

Analyses of data on a nationally representative sample of 3,346 American parents with a child under 18 living at home found that 63% reported one or more instances of verbal aggression, such as swearing and insulting the child. Children who experienced frequent verbal aggression from parents (as measured by the Conflict Tactic Scales) exhibited higher rates of physical aggression, delinquency, and interpersonal problems than other children. This relationship is robust since it applies to preschool-, elementary school-, and high school-age children, to both boys and girls, and to children who were also physically punished as well as those who were not. Children who experienced both verbal aggression and severe physical violence exhibited the highest rates of aggression, delinquency, and interpersonal problems.