Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T04:37:00.677Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Courtship Violence and Social Control: Does Gender Matter?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Susan L. Miller  and
Sally S. Simpson
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In this exploratory study, we ask whether perceptions of and responses to violence in dating relationships are gendered and whether the factors that affect male perceptions also influence females. Using the social control and feminist literatures as a guide, we explore gender differences in perception of sanction risk and attitudes toward resolution of violence when it occurs. Our data reveal several differences in male and female perceptions of formal and informal sanctions (attachment to significant others and stigmatic costs)—although not always in the expected direction—and show that different factors influence male and female perceptions of sanction likelihood and costs. We also find that females are more likely than males to seek relationship termination, informal controls, or formal justice outcomes if assaulted by their partner. However, the conditions that stimulate victims to consider these decisions vary by gender. These findings are discussed, along with implications for further research.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , 1991 , pp. 335 - 365
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 by The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

Order of authorship is determined alphabetically. Thanks to the University of Maryland Computer Science Center for computer support as well as to the Editor and anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts.

References

BERNARD, M. L., and J. L., BERNARD (1983) “Violent Intimacy: The Family as a Model for Love Relationships,” 32 Family Relations 283.Google Scholar
BERNSTEIN, Ilene, KICK, Edward, LEUNG, Jan, and Barbara, SCHULZ (1977) “Charge Reduction: An Intermediary Stage in the Process of Labeling Criminal Defendants,” 56 Social Forces 362.Google Scholar
BOGAL-ALLBRITTEN, Rosemarie B., and William L., ALLBRITTEN (1985) “The Hidden Victims: Courtship Violence Among College Students,” 26 Journal of College Student Personnel 201.Google Scholar
BOWKER, Lee (1984) “Battered Wives and the Police: A National Study of Usage and Effectiveness,” 7(2) Police Studies 84.Google Scholar
BROWNMILLER, Susan (1975) Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
BUZAWA, Eve Schlesinger, and Carl G., BUZAWA (1990) Domestic Violence: The Criminal Justice System Response. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
CARMONDY, Dianne C., and Kirk R., WILLIAMS (1987) “Wife Assault and the Perceptions of Sanctions,” 2 Violence and Victims 25.Google Scholar
CHERNIAK, Christopher (1986) Minimal Rationality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
CHODOROW, Nancy (1978) The Reproduction of Mothering. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COPAS, John B., and Roger, TARLING (1986) “Some Methodological Issues in Making Predicitions,” in Blumstein, A., Cohen, J., Roth, J. A., and Visher, C. A. (eds.), Criminal Careers and “Career Criminals.” Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
CORNISH, Derek B., and Ronald V., CLARKE (eds.) (1986) The Reasoning Criminal. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DALY, Kathleen (1987) “Discrimination in the Criminal Courts: Family, Gender, and the Problem of Equal Treatment,” 66 Social Forces 152.Google Scholar
EATON, Mary (1986) Justice for Women? Philadelphia: Open University Press.Google Scholar
EDWARDS, Susan S. M. (1989) Policing “Domestic” Violence. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
FINLEY, Nancy J., and Harold G., GRASMICK (1985) “Gender Roles and Social Control,” 5 Sociological Spectrum 317.Google Scholar
FRIEZE, Irene H., NOBLE, Jamie, WASHBURN, Carol, and Gretchen, ZOMNIR (1980) “Characteristics of Battered Women and Their Marriages.” Final Report of Grant 1 ROI MH30193, National Institute of Mental Health. Rockville, MD: U.S. Public Health Service.Google Scholar
GELLES, Richard J. (1974) The Violent Home. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
GELLES, Richard J., and Murray A., STRAUS (1989) Intimate Violence. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
GEERKIN, Michael R., and Walter R., GOVE (1975) “Deterrence: Some Theoretical Considerations,” 9 Law & Society Review 498.Google Scholar
GILBERT, Lucy, and Paula, WEBSTER (1982) Bound by Love: The Sweet Trap of Daughterhood. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
GILLIGAN, Carol (1982) In a Different Voice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
GORDON, Linda (1988) Heroes of Their Own Lives. New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
GOTTFREDSON, Don M., WILKINS, Leslie T., and Peter B., HOFFMAN (1978) Guidelines for Parole and Sentencing. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
GOTTFREDSON, Michael R., and Travis, HIRSCHI (1990) A General Theory of Crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GOTTFREDSON, Stephen D., and Don M., GOTTFREDSON (1985) “Screening for Risk among Parolees,” in Farrington, D. F. and Tarling, R. (eds.), Prediction in Criminology. Albany: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
JENSEN, Gary F., Maynard, ERICKSON, and Jack P., GIBBS (1978) “Perceived Risk of Punishment and Self-reported Delinquency,” 57 Social Forces 57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JOHNSON, Miriam M. (1988) Strong Mothers, Weak Wives. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
KRUTTSCHNITT, Candace (1982) “Respectable Women and the Law,” 23 Sociological Quarterly 221.Google Scholar
LANE, Katherine E., and Partricia A., GWARTNEY-GIBBS (1985) “Violence in the Context of Dating,” 6 Journal of Family Issues 45.Google Scholar
LANER, Mary Riege, and Jeanine, THOMPSON (1982) “Abuse and Aggression in Courting Couples,” 3 Deviant Behavior 229.Google Scholar
LANGAN, Patrick A., and Christopher A., INNES (1986) “Preventing Domestic Violence against Women.” Special Report, Bureau of Justice Justice Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.Google Scholar
LEES, Sue (1989) “The Policing of Girls in Everyday Life,” in Cain, M. (ed.), Growing up Good. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
MacKINNON, Catharine A. (1985) “Feminist Discourse, Moral Values, and the Law — A Conversation,” 34 Buffalo Law Review 11.Google Scholar
MAKEPEACE, James M. (1981) “Courtship Violence among College Students,” 30 Family Relations 97.Google Scholar
MAKEPEACE, James M. (1989) “Dating, Living Together, and Courtship Violence,” in Pirog-Good, M. A. and Stets, J. E. (eds.), Violence in Dating Relationships. New York: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
MATTHEWS, William J. (1984) “Violence in College Couples,” 18 College Student Journal 150.Google Scholar
MILLER, Susan L. (1989) “Unintended Side Effects of Pro-Arrest Policies and Their Race and Class Implications for Battered Women: A Cautionary Note,” 3 Criminal Justice Policy Review 299.Google Scholar
NISBITT, Richard E., and Lee, ROSS (1980) Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgments. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
NUTTALL, C. P., et al., (1977) Parole in England and Wales. Home Office Research Study No. 38. London: H.M. Stationery Office.Google Scholar
OHLIN, Lloyd, and Michael, TONRY (1989) Family Violence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
OKUM, Lewis. (1988) “Termination or Resumption of Cohabitation in Woman Battering Relationships: A Statistical Study,” in Hotaling, G. T., Finkelhor, D., Kirkpatrick, J. T., and Straus, M. A. (eds.), Coping with Family Violence: Research and Policy Perspectives. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
PAGELOW, Mildred Daley (1981) Woman-Battering: Victims and Their Experiences. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
PATERNOSTER, Raymond (1987) “The Deterrent Effect of the Perceived Certainty and Severity of Punishment: A Review of the Evidence and Issues,” 4 Justice Quarterly 173.Google Scholar
PATERNOSTER, Raymond, SALTZMAN, Linda E., CHIRICOS, Theodore, and Gordon, WALDO (1983) “Perceived Risk and Social Control: Do Sanctions Really Deter?” 17 Law & Society Review 457.Google Scholar
PIROG-GOOD, Maureen A., and Jan E., STETS (eds.) (1989) Violence in Dating Relationships. New York: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
RICHARDS, Pamela, and Charles R., TITTLE (1981) “Gender and Perceived Chances of Arrest,” 59 Social Forces 1182.Google Scholar
RIGER, Stephanie, and Margaret T., GORDON (1981) “The Fear of Rape: A Study in Social Control,” 37 Journal of Social Issues 71.Google Scholar
RUSSELL, Diane E. H. (1982) Rape in Marriage. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
SALTZMAN, Linda E., PATERNOSTER, Raymond, WALDO, Gordon P., and Theodore G., CHIRICOS (1982) “Deterrent and Experiential Effects: The Problem of Causal Order in Perceptual Deterrence Research,” 19 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 172.Google Scholar
SAUNDERS, Daniel G. (1988) “Other ‘Truths’ about Domestic Violence: A Reply to McNeely and Robinson-Simpson,” Social Work, March-April, 179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SAUNDERS, Daniel G. (1986) “When Battered Women Use Violence: Husband-Abuse or Self-Defense?” 1 Violence and Victims 47.Google Scholar
SCHULMAN, Mark A. (1980) A Survey of Spousal Violence Against Women in Kentucky. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
SCHUR, Edwin M. (1983) Labeling Women Deviant: Gender, Stigma, and Social Control. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
SCHECHTER, Susan (1982) Women and Male Violence: The Visions and Struggles of the Battered Women's Movement. Boston: South End Press.Google Scholar
SIGELMAN, Carol K., BERRY, Carol J., and Katharine A., WILES (1984) “Violence in College Students' Dating Relationships,” 14 Journal of Applied Social Psychology 530.Google Scholar
SIMPSON, Sally S. (1991) “Caste, Class, and Violence Crime: Explaining Difference in Female Offending,” 29 Criminology 115.Google Scholar
SNYDER, Douglas K., and L. A., FRUCHMAN (1981) “Differential Patterns of Wife Abuse: A Data-based Typology,” 49 Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 878.Google Scholar
SNYDER, Douglas K., and Nancy S., SCHEER (1981) “Predicting Disposition Following Brief Residence at a Shelter for Battered Women,” 9 Journal of Community Psychology 559.Google Scholar
STANKO, Elizabeth A. (1985) Intimate Intrusions: Women's Experience of Male Violence. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
STEINMETZ, Suzanne K. (1977) The Cycle of Violence: Assertive, Aggressive, and Abusive Family Interaction. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
STETS, Jan E., and Maureen A., PIROG-GOOD (1987) “Violence in Dating Relationships,” 50 Social Psychological Quarterly 63.Google Scholar
STETS, Jan E., and Murray A., STRAUS (1989) “Gender Differences in Reporting Marital Violence and Its Medical and Psychological Consequences,” in Straus, M. A. and Gelles, R. J. (eds.), Physical Violence in American Famillies: Risk Factors and Adaptations to Violence in 8,145 Families. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.Google Scholar
STRAUS, Murray A. (1979) “Measuring Intrafamily Conflict and Violence: The Conflict Tactics (CT) Scales,” 41 Journal of Marriage and the Family 75.Google Scholar
STRAUS, Murray A., and Richard J., GELLES (1986) “Societal Change and Change in Family Violence from 1975 to 1985 as Revealed by Two National Surveys,” 48 Journal of Marriage and the Family 465.Google Scholar
STRAUS, Murray A., GELLES, Richard J., and Suzanne K., STEINMETZ (1980) Behind Closed Doors: Violence in the American Family. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday.Google Scholar
STRUBE, Michael J. (1988) “The Decision to Leave an Abusive Relationship,” in Hotaling, G. T., Finkelhor, D., Kirkpatrick, J. T., and Straus, M. A. (eds.), Coping with Family Violence: Research and Policy Perspectives. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
STRUBE, Michael J., and Linda S., BARBOUR (1983) “The Decision to Leave an Abusive Relationship: Economic Dependence and Psychological Commitment,” 45 Journal of Marriage and the Family 785.Google Scholar
STRUBE, Michael J., and Linda S., BARBOUR (1984) “Factors Related to the Decision to Leave an Abusive Relationship,” 45 Journal of Marriage and the Family 837.Google Scholar
SUGARMAN, David B., and Gerald T., HOTALING (1989) “Dating Violence: Prevalence, Context and Risk Markers,” in M. A. Pirog-Good and J. E. Stets (eds), Violence in Dating Relationships. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
WALKER, Lenore E. (1979) The Battered Women. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
WALKER, Lenore E. (1977) “Battered Women and Learned Helplessness,” 2 Victimology 528.Google Scholar
WARSHAW, Robin (1988) I Never Called It Rape. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
WILLIAMS, Kirk R., and Richard, HAWKINS (1989) “The Meaning of Arrest for Wife Assualt,” 27 Criminology 163.Google Scholar
WILLIAMS, Kirk R., and Richard, HAWKINS (1986) “Perceptual Research on General Deterrence: A Critical Review,” 20 Law & Society Review 545.Google Scholar