Domestic Violence: Domestic Violence: Male VictimsMale Victims

• Patricia Lara• California State University, Northridge

Domestic Violence‣ “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or

maintain power and control over another intimate partner.  Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone” (USDJ).

• The PURPOSE of this paper is to bring to attention the neglect of male victims of domestic violence.

• Due to societies perception of masculinity, men adopt the perceptions society has on how male victims is not viewed as an important issue in society. Some, people have argued that male victims of domestic violence does not exist.

Abstract• focus on the cycle of violence directed against women within abusive

relationships

• little research has addressed mens’ accounts of victimization.

• domestic violence typically viewed as violence committed by men against women and/or children.

• The main reasons abused men do not report incidents of mistreatment include their strong endorsement of social/cultural values and avoidance of gender role conflict.

Theories• theory of

masculinity

• gender role theory

• most research on domestic violence focuses on female victims.

• There is a gender bias within society; females are seen as vulnerable and thus more susceptible abusers; while a man is supposed to be strong and capable of handling any tribulations they may encounter

• According to a study by Wigman, women engage in comparable levels of emotionally abusive and controlling behaviors as men

• A male must be masculine. The term masculinity convey’s that a man must have power and control in everything, including their relationships.

Generally....

• The saying “be a man” comes to mind in how society, not only believes, but expects a male to be able to handle any situation on their own.

•Men are generally more reluctant to file a report on domestic violence than women because of the prevailing norms regarding masculinity.

• According to Durfee, some ways in which they do so is by describing their victimization in ways that minimize their injuries, portray themselves as self-reliant, and express a fear that they would be less masculine if they disclose their abuse

Concern of Public Perception

• If women are not believed or are belittled, and sometimes blamed for being victims of these domestic abuse; men who experience the same type of abuse would be even less likely than women in discussing these matters, let alone reporting it.

• evident that intimate partner violence is a human problem, and not simply one of gender.

• However, it seems that males believe their own victimization is not serious enough to report.

Secondary Analysis using the ‘Violence and Threats of Violence against Women and Men in the

United States’ Study

• 1994-1996

• All men and women in the United States 18 years of age or older.

• Following an extensive pre-test, completed interviews were obtained using a computer-assisted interviewing system from 8,000 women and 8,005 men who were 18 years of age or older residing in households throughout the United States.

• funded by the United States Department of Justice, office of Justice Programs.

Methods• The purpose of this study was to provide descriptive data on

victims and perpetrators, including male-to-female and female-to-male intimate partners and victims of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.

• telephone survey to conduct interviews

• female respondents were interviewed by female interviewers.

• to test for possible bias caused by the gender of the interviewers when speaking to men, a split sample was used so that half of the male respondents had female interviewers and the other half had male interviewers.

Methods• The questionnaires contained 14 sections, each covering

a different topic. Of the eligible respondents who started the interview, 97 percent of the women and 98 percent of the men followed the survey through to completion

• Because the Dependent Variable is a non-quantitative dichotomy and the Independent Variables are categorical, the statistical analysis used was Logistic Regression and Descriptive Analysis

•Due to societal perception of masculinity, victims of domestic violence are less likely to report an incident of abuse at the hands of a female.

• Logistic Regression was used to predict the likelihood of reporting an incident to the police or not from three independent variables

• To what extent do the variables: R’s concern about own safety, previous violence, and injuries sustained in this incident; affect the probability of a male victim of violence reporting an incident to police?

Logistic Regression Variables:• Dependent Variable:

• (k66) Was this incident reported to the police?

• Independent Variables

• (k28) What injuries did you sustain?

• (k2) You said before that [PERPETRATOR]] has been physically violent towards you. Has he/she...[mark all that apply] (thrown, pushed, pulled, slapped, kicked...knife, gun)

• (a6) How concerned are you about your own personal safety? Are you... (very concerned, concerned, somewhat concerned, not concerned)

Logistic Regression Results

interpretation

Descriptive Statistics

• (K72) Is there a reason why you didn't report this incident to the police?

T1A:REASON R DIDN'T REPORT TO POLICE

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid Wouldn't be believed/incident viewed as 39 0.5 1.6 1.6

Didn't think police could do anything 126 1.6 5.1 6.7

Fear of offender 15 0.2 0.6 7.3

Too minor/not a police matter 1283 16.0 52.2 59.6

Keep incident private 2 0.0 0.1 59.6

Shame/embarrassment/thought it was own f 25 0.3 1.0 60.7

Not want anyone to know 41 0.5 1.7 62.3

Not want involvement w/police or courts 133 1.7 5.4 67.8

Not want him/her arrested/jailed, etc. 33 0.4 1.3 69.1

Distance, R moved, R/he/she moved away 10 0.1 0.4 69.5

R handled it/got revenge/family handled 174 2.2 7.1 76.6

Assailant was husband(wife)/not want end 7 0.1 0.3 76.9

Was police officer/justice officer 13 0.2 0.5 77.4

R too young to understand/a child 14 0.2 0.6 78.0

R not turn in family member, etc. 36 0.5 1.5 79.4

One time incident/last incident/it stopp 50 0.6 2.0 81.5

Military handled it 25 0.3 1.0 82.5

R reported it to other 25 0.3 1.0 83.5

Other 60 0.8 2.4 86.0

Don't know 276 3.5 11.2 97.2

Refused 66 0.8 2.7 99.9

Did report incident to police 3 0.0 0.1 100.0

Total 2456 30.7 100.0

Missing Missing 5544 69.3

Total 8000 100.0

Discussion• cases predicted correctly

• 45 cases were observed to be yes and correctly predicted,471 cases were observed to be no

• cases not correctly predicted

• 267 cases were observed to be yes, but predicted as no, 28 cases were observed to be no, but it was predicted as yes.

• k28, k2, and a6 showed to be all significant predictors of whether a male victim of domestic violence reported their incident to cops.

• Even so, it only correctly classified 63.6% . model is still misclassifying 36.4 % of the cases

Interpretation

• It appears as if injuries, past injuries, and concern for one’s own safety are significant variables in predicting whether a respondent will report an incident of physical assault to the police

• doesn’t explain everything though

• there are other factors that this data set doesn’t cover

Interpretation

• More research is needed on male victims of domestic violence so that advocacy agencies may have a better idea on how to approach the situation.

• A study that focuses on domestic violence between intimate partners.

• questionnaires that apply to different forms of violence, not just stalking and physical assault.

Future Research Suggestions

• Durfee, A. (2011). ““I’m not a victim, she’s an abuser”: Masculinity, victimization, and protection orders.” Gender & Society, 25(3), 316-334.

• Eckstein, J. (2011). “Reasons for staying in intimately violent relationships: Comparisons of men and women and messages communicated to self and others.” Journal of Family Violence, 26(1), 21-30.

• Hamel, J. (2007). “Toward a gender-inclusive conception of intimate partner violence research and theory: Part 1 - traditional perspectives.” International Journal of Men's Health, 6(1), 36-53.

• Hines, D. , Brown, J. , & Dunning, E. (2007). “Characteristics of callers to the domestic abuse helpline for men.” Journal of Family Violence, 22(2), 63-72.

• Wigman, S. (2009). “Male victims of former-intimate stalking: A selected review.” International Journal of Men's Health, 8(2), 101-115.

• Worrall, John L., Jay W. Ross and Eric S. McCord. 2006. "Modeling Prosecutors' Charging Decisions in Domestic Violence Cases." Crime and Delinquency 52(3): 472-503

References

1. What was the most common reason male victims gave for not reporting an incident of abuse to police?

2. What was the dependent variable in the logistic regression?

3. How were interviews conducted?

Questions