Abuse Committed by Women Against Male Intimates (From Abuse of Men: Trauma Begets Trauma, P 41-57, 2001, Barbara Jo Brothers, ed., -- See NCJ-190740)

• NCJ Number: 190744
• Author(s): Tonia L. Nicholls; Donald G. Dutton
• Date Published: 2001
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: Haworth Press, Inc
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This literature review focuses on the empirical research exploring the incidence, prevalence, and characteristics of domestic assault committed by women against male intimates.

Abstract

Information came from national surveys, criminal victimization surveys, surveys of clinical and shelter populations, and literature on dating violence. Results revealed that the majority of abuse in intimate relationships involved mutual aggression. The strongest data indicating that women engaged in comparable rates of domestic violence came from national surveys of the general population and mainly from the National Family Violence Surveys in 1975 and 1985. In addition, women were as likely as men to assault their partners. Moreover, women were more likely than men to experience physical injuries. Finally, severe systematic abuse in intimate relationships was rare. Overall, the findings suggested that reciprocal abuse existed, but it was difficult to determine the prevalence of mutual abuse from the research to date. The analysis concluded that the majority of domestic violence occurred between two combative individuals who both needed therapeutic intervention and that the male batterer who repeatedly, systematically, and severely abuses his wife was a fairly rare reality. Note and 56 references (Author abstract modified)