Female Aggression Toward Male Intimate Partners: An Examination of Social Norms in a Community-Based Sample

• Published in: Psychology of women quarterly 2005-03, Vol.29 (1), p.78-96
• Main Authors: Sorenson, Susan B., Taylor, Catherine A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceptance; Aggression; Aggressiveness; Attitude Measures; Behavior Standards; Domestic violence; Family Violence; Female offenders; Females; Feminism; Feminist psychology; Gender; Gender Differences; Gender studies; Heterosexuals; Interpersonal Relationship; Intimacy; Intimate others; Judgments; Norms; Partners; Psychology; Social Behavior; Social norms; USA; Violence; Women; Women's studies; Womens studies
• ISSN: 0361-6843; 1471-6402
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-6402.2005.00170.x

We investigated the effect of assailant gender on injunctive social norms (i.e., beliefs about what ought to happen) regarding violence toward an intimate heterosexual partner. In a random-digit-dialed survey conducted in four languages, 3,769 community-residing adults were presented with five vignettes in which we experimentally manipulated characteristics of the assailant, victim, and incident. We examined the vignette variables and measured respondent characteristics using multivariate logistic regressions. Judgments about women's violence against male intimates (vs. men's violence against female intimates) were less harsh and took contextual factors more fully into account. The type of violence and the presence of a weapon played a central role in respondent judgments. Respondent demographic characteristics were largely unrelated to their judgments.