Citation

Cantos AL, Neidig PH, O'Leary KD. J. Fam. Violence 1993; 8(4): 289-302.

Affiliation

University Marital Clinic, Psychology Department, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 11794 Stony Brook, New York

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF00978094

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Attributions of blame for the first and latest episodes of violence were assessed in a sample of 139 couples who were referred to a mandatory domestic violence treatment program in the military. Use of a methodology which allows for reports of nonmutually exclusive categories of attribution from both members of the dyad revealed more complex patterns of attributions than reflected in the existing literature. In addition, there were low rates of agreement within couples as to who was to blame for the violence. Although both men and women exhibited a high frequency of blaming their partner for both episodes of violence, men were significantly more likely to blame themselves for the latest than for the first episode. Attributions of blame were related to contextual variables in both men and women. Sex specific relationships emerged. These results were discussed with specific reference to predictions derived from attribution theory and their clinical implications.