Courtship Violence: The Patterns of Conflict Resolution Strategies Across Seven Levels of Emotional Commitment

• NCJ Number: 111036
• Journal: Family Relations Volume: 36 Issue: 3 Dated: (July 1987) Pages: 283-289
• Author(s): R E Billingham
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, Madison, WI, in March 1986.

Annotation

Five hundred thirty-five subjects (174 males and 361 females) completed a questionnaire which used Straus' (1979) Conflict Tactics Scale subscores in an attempt to determine the impact that gender, level of emotional commitment, and interactive status had on the three subscores.

Abstract

Only status yielded significant differences on all three subscores. Gender and level of commitment yielded significant differences only for the reasoning and verbal aggression subscores. The results strongly suggest that violence in relationships occurs much earlier in the development of emotional commitment than has been suggested earlier. In addition, these results suggest that for some couples violence may serve as a catalyst for moving the relationship to more committed levels of involvement. Finally, these data suggest that intervention/prevention programs must be sensitive to the different roles that violence may serve in a relationship. (Author abstract)