Studies show young women becoming more violent with partners

[Dan4510]

Studies show young women becoming more violent with partners

By DAMIAN GRASS
Associated Press

July 19, 2006, 11:49 AM EDT

MIAMI -- Marjorie Lamour's relationship with her boyfriend began fraying with heated arguments over uncontrollable rages and jealousy issues. Soon there was shoving, slapping and kicking. After the break up, the stalking started _ phone calls, showing up unannounced, small gifts offered in hopes of rekindling the relationship.

But Lamour was not the victim of abuse; she was its perpetrator. It wasn't until her family intervened that Lamour realized she had a problem.

``I've always known that I had a bad temper, and that I was taking it out on my boyfriend,'' said Lamour, a 23-year-old college student from Fort Lauderdale.

Contrary to stereotypes, women can be just as likely to mentally and physically abuse their partners, according to two studies recently released by the University of Florida and the University of South Carolina. However, the amount of battered men in the United States is still lower than women and male abusers are much more likely to kill or seriously injure their victims.

The five-month survey of 2,500 students from both universities revealed that 32 percent of the women said they mentally, emotionally or physically abused their partners, compared to only 24 percent of men. In the other study, 25 percent of 1,490 students surveyed admitted to having been stalked, with 58 percent of the stalkers being women. The studies looked at unmarried students who were not living with their romantic partners.

Some of the discrepancy might be explained by women being more willing to classify their actions as abusive than men or acts of self-defense, but that can't be the whole explanation, said Angela Gover, a UF criminologist who led the research.

Donna Leclerc, executive director of Domestic Abuse Shelter Homes in Sarasota, is not surprised by the studies' findings.

``We're definitely seeing a developing trend in our groups,'' Leclerc said. ``In the 1,100 victims of family violence we see a year, I would say 30 to 40 percent of them (victims) are men as young as 19.''

A recent 26-year-old college graduate said it took him a long time before he looked for professional help about his abusive ex-girlfriend.

``Our relationship was great at first. We met on campus and we were fine, but then she started having trouble controlling her anger and jealousy by screaming and hitting me one moment and asking for forgiveness the next, and somehow insinuating that I started the fights,'' said the man, who asked not to be named because family and friends don't know why the couple broke up.

``It really became a roller-coaster of a relationship, which would always leave me confused and actually believing that I was at fault.''

Jan Brown, who runs a national domestic abuse help line for battered women and men, receives hundreds of calls a month from men, including doctors, attorneys, police officers and college students, fed up with living this secret.

``Guys are raised not to show their emotions, and it's hard for them to talk, so I just listen and try to get them the help they need,'' Brown said.

In fact, some experts say the number of men who are the victims of abuse is underreported because the victims are usually too embarrassed to contact authorities. And, some say, many female abusers dismiss the allegations by saying their partners don't listen to them or understand their needs.

Lamour said she began harassing her ex-boyfriend over the phone, and followed him wherever he would go.

``Before my family stepped in, I knew I was in bad shape. I would park in front of his house hours at a time just to get his attention. I did not want him to forget about me, and I was doing whatever it took to get him back,'' she said. ``Yeah, pretty pathetic. I know that now.''

Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

 

[Pablo]

Got to get me some of that.

 

[Steve128]

Justice department studies pretty much mirror this story.

 

[Dan4510]

Studies shatter myth about abuse
By Karen S. Peterson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — It is not just men who hit women. Women hit men, too. And the latest research shows that ignoring the role women play in domestic violence does both women and men a disservice.

There is little doubt that women get hurt more than men. She may slap him. But then he may hit her harder or more often.
A BRUTAL PICTURE
Most researchers agree more women than men are seriously hurt in partner violence. Some
estimates of violence to women:

On average, three women a day are murdered in the USA by husbands or boyfriends.
31% of U.S. women report
being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend.
30% of Americans know a woman who was physically abused by her husband or
boyfriend in the past year.

Source: Family Violence Prevention Fund

By not understanding the mutual role they often play, women are at great risk for injury, new studies show.

Still, the newest findings challenge the feminist belief that "it is men only who cause violence," says psychologist Deborah Capaldi of the Oregon Social Learning Center. "That is a myth."

The number of women who hit first or hit back is "much greater than has been generally assumed," Capaldi says. She says she is surprised by the frequency of aggressive acts by women and by the number of men who are afraid of partners who assault them.

Capaldi and two other female researchers call for a re-evaluation of treatment programs nationwide. Such programs focus on men and ignore women. Men are court-ordered into some type of rehabilitation, and their women are told in support groups or shelters that they had nothing to do with the violence, Capaldi says.

"Prevention and treatment should focus on managing conflict and aggression for both young men and women," Capaldi says. Each needs to understand the role both play while still putting a "special responsibility" on the man, who can inflict greater injury.

The three women did different studies but presented them as a team recently to a conference sponsored by the Society for Prevention Research. The National Institutes of Health sponsored much of the work.

The researchers emphasize they are not blaming women. "We are not saying anybody is at fault," says psychologist Miriam Ehrensaft of Columbia University. "But new data is emerging that says women are also involved in aggression. If we do not tell women that, we put them at risk."

Rita Smith of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence is not convinced that men are afraid of abusive women. "That fear is a critical factor in any domestic violence situation. And the abuse is part of an ongoing pattern to control someone else's behavior."

Murray Straus, co-director of the Family Research Lab at the University of New Hampshire, has found both men and women are involved in physical aggression, but he emphasizes injury rates are not the same. "The likelihood of an injury to a woman requiring medical attention is much greater. Men cause more damage."
HOW INFO GATHERED

The studies presented to the Society for Prevention Research are "community based," meaning they deal with a general population, one not in treatment or in trouble with the law. Data are based on:

Oregon Youth Study. Deborah Capaldi of the Oregon Social Learning Center is looking at 200 men and their romantic partners, collecting data at four stages, from ages 17 to 27. The men are from an "at risk" neighborhood in an Oregon city but include those who are thriving, she says. They and their various partners fill out questionnaires, are interviewed and are videotaped while interacting, frequently with pinches or slaps. Capaldi concludes, in part, that "young women were more likely to initiate physical aggression than young men," and "young men were injured as well as young women" and were sometimes afraid of their partners.
Marriage and Family Development Project. Erika Lawrence's team interviewed 172 newlywed couples recruited from marriage license records. The University of Iowa team checked in every six months for four years. Lawrence found that one-third of couples used physical aggression, including pushing, slapping, shoving and hitting with an object. Her earlier studies show that one-half of engaged or married women and one-third of men are physically aggressive.
Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study. This 30-year study draws on young adults followed from birth in New Zealand. Researchers say study results are applicable to the USA. Miriam Ehrensaft of Columbia University worked with data on almost 1,000 people; 9% were in relationships with abuse that resulted in injury or attention from agencies such as the police. Men and women participated. However, this type of abuse required a very aggressive male and resulted in injuries requiring treatment for more women than men. In less dramatic instances, the "perpetrators were primarily women."

By Karen S. Peterson

The little-talked-about involvement of women in mutual aggression with men is "the third rail of the domestic violence field," says Richard Gelles, dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work. "Touch it and you get electrocuted." Both he and Straus have done studies that caused fiery controversies.

Gelles says the lifetime risk of a woman being struck by a male intimate partner is about 28%. And "depending upon who is doing the survey and how you measure it, you could get numbers of up to 50%." But he says a man's lifetime risk of being struck by a woman is also about 28%.

Many researchers' findings in earlier, government-financed studies emphasize the man's role.

Patricia Tjaden's study for the non-profit Center for Policy Research, sponsored by two government agencies, questioned 8,000 men and 8,000 women. She found women three times as likely to be assaulted in some way over a lifetime by a male partner than the reverse, and seven to 14 times as likely to be attacked, including beaten, choked or threatened with a gun.

Different research tools and methods pick up on different kinds of intimate partner violence, Tjaden says. But still, she says, she has "always had trouble with the mutual-abuse argument. Where are all the male victims?" It is women, she says, who are subjected to "systematic terrorism."

The young are particularly prone to aggression. Erika Lawrence of the University of Iowa told the prevention conference that one-third of newlywed women and one-quarter of newlywed men engage in physical aggression.

The subject of partner violence is a minefield. Even defining it is controversial. Some call verbal abuse a form of battering. And all sorts of studies are done in all sorts of ways. Those based on crime statistics and reports from women's shelters tend to show dramatic aggression by men against women. (Gelles cautions that some men may not realize or admit they have been assaulted by a woman and may not report it as a crime or seek treatment.)

"Family conflict" studies may reflect a broader population, Straus says, and take into account lesser types of aggression that don't lead to arrests or broken limbs. These studies show about the same rates of aggression by men and women.

It is clear that women suffer physically more at the hands of men than the reverse, says Faye Wattleton of the Center for the Advancement of Women. But still she says it is good to bring new research to public attention. "I applaud the women who had the courage to present these findings. We don't make progress by suppressing the evidence."

 

[Benzadmiral]

About flippin' time the media began to admit this! Women are the experts in emotional abuse. And any cop will tell you women are just as bad as men at domestic violence -- in fact, more likely to start the scuffle. Men tend to finish the scuffle because they generally are stronger.

A woman is more likely to use a weapon. Where do you think the old cartoon stereotype of the battleax wife brandishing the rolling pin over her husband's head came from? Stereotypes become stereotypes because they are so often found in reality.

But you'll notice the article still harps on how much more women suffer, the poor widdle things.

-- Paul W.

 

[MarkC]

I can say this is true. My wife used to leave me black and blue.
Unfortunately, the legal system is still very biased in women's favor. They can and do lie, and get away with it.
I wish I could find a way to fight the system, but no one listens.

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

Two of my sons got involved with women like that. The local term for them is Psycho B1tch.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Animal urges prevent men from thinking with the head on their shoulders.

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

I think I remember those days.

No longer a problem these days.

 

[Gary Allan]

quote:

---

Studies show young women becoming more violent with partners

---

So? Although men may have had a monopoly on physical abuse (who knows) ..they surely had no monopoly on abuse.

Abuse doesn't have to be physical to be cruel, emotionally damaging, and permanently crippling.

Women groups have successfully neutralized all environments. If you can't lift 100lbs ..it's a man's job ...that doesn't work ..so now machines do the stuff ..or packages are now light enough for women. If the language is too crude ..it's a man's problem ...now we are mute.

Since women, on average, cannot compete with men physically ...they've totally ignored the emotional abuse ..and actually view it as a compensatory right due to their "envy".

Now how long before they purge the man haters out of the court system??

 

[rpn453]

I've never hit a woman, but I had a girlfriend hit me one time. She was quite upset with me for refusing to get out of bed to go somewhere with her (it wasn't really important, except to her). She hammer-fisted me in the chest/shoulder area about 3 times and hurt her hand. I went back to sleep. Reminded me of the couple of times in my youth that my sister hit me and hurt her hand while I laughed at her!

Seriously though, I have no sympathy for anyone that is abused by the same person more than once. Stalkers and the sudden use of weapons could be a little frightening though!

As an aggressive, physically active, politically incorrect male, I think a man being physically abused by an unarmed woman is amusing. A women being physically abused is just not right.

[ July 21, 2006, 08:27 PM: Message edited by: rpn453 ]

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

No abuse is funny. Some types just gets us angrier than others.

 

[dima]

I think mental abuse just as harmful as physical.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Sounds like there's a case or two of borderline personality disorder in the mix of these stories.

 

[JHZR2]

cripes!!!!

 

[OriginHacker21]

wow.

getting married doesn't sound so awesome anymore.

 

[acewiza]

Guess I better watch out. The wife and two daughters have been taking Tae Kwon do classes. Probably settin' myself up for a good butt kickin' one of these days...

 

[Auto-Union]

The same women get "abused" over and over by different guys because they elicit the behavior. Often, it's about the make-up cycle. Attention, gifts, tender caresses....HOT! Seriously, I had a GF that we would fight every day...and then...

Now my GF and I NEVER fight. Much better situation...so, was it my fault we fought or hers? Now I don't have that problem, but guess she still does.

 

[milwaukee]

Men are very often the victim in domestic assault situations but the man goes to jail 90% of the time due to the "severity of the wounds" language in the statute. I was a cop for 5 yrs and the law is very one sided in the woman's favor on domestic assualt.

I had to put many men in jail that didn't deserve to go but I had to enforce the law as written or be held "personally responsible" for anything that may have happened if I did not enforce the law to the fullest extent.

Regardless of the aggressor both parties are usually crazy and/or stupid to place themselves in such a horrible environment. Domestic assaults are not isolated incidents. These sort of people tend to be drawn to "high drama" relationships.

 

[MarkC]

"As an aggressive, physically active, politically incorrect male, I think a man being physically abused by an unarmed woman is amusing. A women being physically abused is just not right."

Glad you find it funny.
I'm physically active, not small, and have a third degree black belt.
My ex punched, slapped, pinched and kicked me.
I didn't return the favor because I don't do such things to women. Had I reported it, assuming anyone believed me, she would have been deported. Plus, I'm not one to involve police in my life if I can avoid it. I should have left, but that's easier to say from a distance.