| Abstract: | The Short Marital Adjustment Test, short form of the Attitudes Toward Women Scale, Short Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test, and measures of assertion were administerd to 52 abused wives (AWs) and 20 abusive husbands (AHs) who were seen at a center that specializes in domestic violence problems. Comparison data were collected from 20 couples with satisfactory marriages and 20 maritally dysfunctional nonviolent couples. Results show that although AWs and AHs were differentiated from satisfactorily married couples on almost every measure, when comparisons were made with nonabused wives in marital therapy, no measures yielded significant between-group differences. Three variables differentiated AHs from nonabusive husbands with marital difficulties: (a) AHs were less assertive with their wives, (b) they were more likely to have been abused children, and (c) they were more likely to have witnessed parental spouse abuse in their families of origin. Alcoholism and conservatism characterized the men who would not come for therapy with their AWs. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
