Psychological effects of partner abuse against men: A neglected research area.

Abstract

This article discusses the research on abuse against men in intimate relationships with a primary focus on the effects of this abuse. We begin by discussing the incidence of physical aggression against men, then address methodological and conceptual issues associated with the incidence data. We next review studies assessing the effects of aggression against men and discuss ways in which this research can be furthered and improved. Finally, we discuss why men would choose to stay in these relationships and consider the scant research on emotional abuse against men. In the early 1970s, the abuse of wives by their husbands finally gained the recognition and attention it deserved in the academic community and the public. This recognition was long overdue, as wives tend to be victimized by their husbands at an alarming rate. For example, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, in 1994, 900,000 women were the victims of assault by an intimate partner (Craven, 1997). Nationally representative surveys show an even bleaker picture: In their 1975 survey of American families, Straus and Gelles (1986) found that, among wives reporting violence from their husbands in the previous year. 12.1% said that they had been the victim of some sort of violence and 38% reported that they had been the victim of severe violence. This rate of severe violence toward wives equaled 2.1 million wives nationwide. In their 1985 resurvey, Straus and Gelles found an apparent decline in the incidence of wife beating. Specifically, there was a 27% decrease in the rate of severe violence by husbands, which translated into 432,000 fewer cases of severe violence against wives. Although the severe assault of 1.6 million wives is still not acceptable, Straus and Gelles argued that this apparent decline may have been the result of the increased attention that wife beating had received and the consequences that had been instituted for men who assault their intimate partners. The effects of abuse against women are significant. For instance, many women who are the victims of either minor or severe assaults by their intimate partners are physically injured. Specifically, in Straus’s 1985 nationally representative survey, 7.3% of the women who reported being severely assaulted by their spouses needed to seek medical attention (Stets & Straus, 1990). Similarly. Makepeace (1986) found in a study of dating couples that 7.7% of women sustained a moderate or severe physical injury as a result of the violence they experienced. Cascardi, Langhinrichsen, and Vivian (1992) found even graver statistics: 15% of the women who reported experiencing minor spousal abuse and 11% of the women who reported experiencing severe spousal abuse reported suffering broken bones, broken teeth, or injury to a sensory organ.