Abstract
Few studies have examined gender-specific concerns within intimate relationships that may be associated with conflict escalation and intimate partner violence (IPV). While prior theorizing has emphasized issues such as men’s feelings of jealousy, the role of concerns and conflict related to men’s actions has not been as thoroughly investigated. We draw on the life course perspective as background for assessing conflict areas related to men’s and women’s actions during the young adult period, and subsequently the association between such concerns and the odds of reporting IPV in a current/most recent relationship. Building on a longitudinal data set focused on a large, diverse sample (Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study, n = 904), we administered surveys that assessed whether disagreements about potential conflict areas—including but not limited to infidelity—related to male or female partner’s actions. Concerns about women’s and men’s actions were both related to the odds of reporting IPV experience, but disagreements about male partners’ actions during young adulthood were actually more common, and relative to concerns about women’s actions, more strongly associated with IPV. Research and programmatic efforts should give additional attention to specific areas around which couples’ disagreements develop and conflicts sometimes escalate. A dyadic approach adds to the frequent emphasis on emotion management and control that center primarily on one partner’s problematic relationship style—thus addressing the ‘form’ but not the ‘content’ of intimate partner conflicts. This approach would highlight a broader range of relationship dynamics than are currently included in theorizing and applied efforts.
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Notes
We also estimated models relying on multiple imputation, as well as restricting the sample to those with no missing data (n = 875), and results do not differ.
Most studies of IPV reveal that self-reports of perpetration and victimization are highly correlated, and that reports of both (sometimes labeled mutual violence) are quite common—particularly when relying on the CTS (Straus, 2011). Thus, it is not surprising that focusing on either victimization or perpetration does not reveal a pattern of unique risk factors. Qualitative research and more nuanced measures might reveal a different pattern of responses when one’s substantive role as perpetrator or victim were ascertained with more in-depth assessments.
Factor analyses performed in Stata reveal that only a single factor reaches an eigenvalue of over 1, and a substantial drop after the first factor for both concerns about men’s actions and concerns about women’s actions (1.81 versus 0.54 and 1.52 versus 0.29 respectively). Additionally, all items were loaded most strongly on factor 1.
Given the traditional relationship between jealousy and IPV as reviewed above, we note that supplemental analyses examined models including a 2-item index capturing jealousy in the relationship. In the full model, concerns about men’s and women’s actions were significant as was the measure of jealousy, suggesting that these measures capture somewhat different phenomena. For example, as prior research has suggested, jealousy may be associated with individual differences and attachment styles, as contrasted with the focus of the index on more concrete concerns about the partner’s current actions and future prospects (Marazziti et al., 2010).
Supplemental analyses available from corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by grants from The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD036223) and the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U. S. Department of Justice (Award Nos. 2009-IJ-CX-0503 and 2010-MU-MU-0031), and in part by the Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, which has core funding from The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD050959). The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Department of Justice or National Institutes of Health.
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Giordano, P.C., Grace, M.M., Manning, W.D. et al. Gender, Relationship Concerns, and Intimate Partner Violence in Young Adulthood. J Fam Viol 38, 597–609 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-022-00399-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-022-00399-1