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Published in: Journal of Family Violence 7/2010

01-10-2010 | Original Article

Physical, Psychological, and Sexual Intimate Partner Aggression Among Newlywed Couples: Longitudinal Prediction of Marital Satisfaction

Authors: Jillian Panuzio, David DiLillo

Published in: Journal of Family Violence | Issue 7/2010

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Abstract

This study examined associations between physical, psychological, and sexual intimate partner aggression (IPA) perpetration during the first year of marriage (T1) and victim marital satisfaction one (T2) and two (T3) years later among a sample of 202 newlywed couples. Prevalence rates of all forms of IPA were consistent with those documented in prior research. Higher levels of all types of IPA generally were associated with lower victim marital satisfaction at all time points, when controlling for initial levels of satisfaction. Couples who reported severe bidirectional psychological IPA demonstrated lower husband and wife marital satisfaction at T2 and lower husband satisfaction at T3 than couples who reported husband-only, wife-only, or no psychological IPA. Analyses examining the relative predictive abilities of all forms of IPA perpetration showed that psychological IPA was the most consistent unique contributor of victim marital satisfaction. Study findings highlight the importance of psychological IPA, in addition to physical IPA, in examinations of correlates of marital satisfaction.
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Metadata
Title
Physical, Psychological, and Sexual Intimate Partner Aggression Among Newlywed Couples: Longitudinal Prediction of Marital Satisfaction
Authors
Jillian Panuzio
David DiLillo
Publication date
01-10-2010
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Family Violence / Issue 7/2010
Print ISSN: 0885-7482
Electronic ISSN: 1573-2851
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-010-9328-2

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