NCJ Number
191155
Journal
Domestic Violence Report Volume: 6 Issue: 5 Dated: June-July 2001 Pages: 67, 68,74
Date Published
June 2001
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article discusses recent research regarding the self-esteem of men who abuse women and on the role of alcohol use as a predictor of wife assault.
Abstract
A study authored by Baumeister and published in Scientific American in April 2001 confirmed that narcissism and not low self-esteem was central to battering. Baumeister and Bushman conducted studies of aggression in response to threatened egos, aggression against innocent bystanders, and narcissism among violent criminals. Results revealed that aggression was highest among narcissistic men who received insulting criticism in comparison to narcissists who had been praised and nonnarcissists, that violence against innocent bystanders was rare, and that violent criminals differed from other young adult males in their high narcissism scores. Another study conducted by Wilson and seven other researchers examined the effects of drugs and alcohol on physical violence and stalking in 180 cases where abused women had sought protective orders or assault charges. In addition, a Canadian study compared the perceptions of 333 recent victims of intimate partner violence with those of 7,374 nonvictims. Results revealed that alcohol use was not a significant predictor in wife assault compared to men’s sexism. The Canadian analysis concluded that men’s alcohol use was only a proxy for measuring other factors that far better predicted men’s violence against their female partners and that unemployment was a major predictor.