Citation

Mennicke A, Wilke DJ. J. Aggression Maltreat. Trauma 2015; 24(9): 1002-1021.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10926771.2015.1074135

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Using data from the National Violence Against Women Survey, this study explored the role of gender and other demographic and historical factors that influence initiating threats or use of violence among a sample of intimate partner violence (IPV) victims--an element of bidirectional violence. For this study, involvement in a relationship marked by bidirectional violence was defined as an affirmative response to this question: Were you the first person to use/threaten physical force? after respondents self-identified as IPV victims. The hypothesized model to predict initiating threats or use of violence among male victims was not significant, but marital status, income, employment status, and childhood victimization experiences did significantly predict female behavior. Age, race, education, alcohol use, drug use, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were not useful in explaining model variance for men or women. The rates of perpetration were equivalent for males and females; however, these findings suggest that gender is still an important context to consider when theorizing about bidirectional IPV.

Language: en