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Published in: Journal of Family Violence 8/2015

01-11-2015 | Original Article

Reporting Patterns of Unidirectional and Bidirectional Verbal Aggression and Physical Violence Among Rural Couples

Authors: Lynette M. Renner, Laura M. Schwab Reese, Corinne Peek-Asa, Marizen Ramirez

Published in: Journal of Family Violence | Issue 8/2015

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Abstract

In this study, we examined the occurrence of verbal aggression and physical violence along with the concordance of reporting in 517 cohabiting rural couples. More female partners reported perpetrating verbal aggression than their male partners reported being a victim. Male partners reported being a victim of physical violence more than females reported perpetrating physical violence. Female partners reported being a victim of both verbal aggression and physical violence more than males reported being a victim or perpetrator. Based on reporting patterns, the prevalence of violence varied considerably. The findings have implications for how violence is measured in couples and how prevalence is reported.
Footnotes
1
According to the U.S. Census Bureau classification, ‘rural’ consists of all territory, population and housing units located outside of urbanized areas (>50,000 people) and urban clusters (>2500 people but < than 50,000 people).
 
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Metadata
Title
Reporting Patterns of Unidirectional and Bidirectional Verbal Aggression and Physical Violence Among Rural Couples
Authors
Lynette M. Renner
Laura M. Schwab Reese
Corinne Peek-Asa
Marizen Ramirez
Publication date
01-11-2015
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Family Violence / Issue 8/2015
Print ISSN: 0885-7482
Electronic ISSN: 1573-2851
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-015-9737-3

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