For the past three years, we have been studying the marital relationships of couples engaging in domestic violence (DV). From January, 1990 through July, 1991 (Time-1), we collected data on 57 couples, 28 who were maritally distressed but not violent (DNV), and 20 who were happily married as well as nonviolent (HM). The data included videotapes of couples discussing areas of conflict, psychophysiological recordings of them during these conversations, detailed structured interviews, and numerous questionnaires. We are just beginning the longitudinal (Time-2) component of this research, an extensive two-year follow-up.
The specific aims of this continuation proposal are to: a) finish collecting the longitudinal data; b) complete data analysis on both Time- 1 and Time-2 data; c) and disseminate the findings. There is currently very little known about the marital relationships of couples where there is domestic violence. Our research questions are: 1) How are these relationships different from those of nonviolent couples? 2) What roles do husbands and wives play in violent arguments, and how do these differ from their roles in nonviolent arguments? 3) How is domestic violence explained, described, and reported by husbands and wives? 4) How do DV marriages change over time, and how do aspects of the relationship predict changes in marital satisfaction, marital stability and frequency/severity of violence?
