Prevalence and stability of physical aggression between spouses: A longitudinal analysis.

TLDR

Physical aggression between spouses commonly involves pushing, shoving, and slapping. The study followed 272 community couples in a longitudinal assessment of early marriage. Women reported higher aggression rates than men at premarriage and 18 months, and overall prevalence remained higher for women across all periods, with a 72% versus 59% conditional probability of aggression at 30 months and 25–30% of victims experiencing serious marital discord.

Abstract

Community couples (N = 272) were assessed in a longitudinal study of early marriage. More women than men reported physically aggressing against their partners at premarriage (44% vs. 31%) and 18 months (36% vs. 27%). At 30 months, men and women did not report significantly different rates of aggression (32% vs. 25%). However, using either the self-report or the partner's report, the prevalence of aggression was higher for women than men at each assessment period. Modal forms of physical aggression for both men and women were pushing, shoving, and slapping. Conditional probability analyses indicated that the likelihood of physically aggressing at 30 months given that one had engaged in such aggression before marriage and at 18 months after marriage was .72 for women and .59 for men. Furthermore, 25-30% of the recipients of physical aggression at all three assessment periods were seriously maritally discordant at 30 months.