Wife-beating among 'coloureds' in South Africa: its impact on the marital relationship
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Date
2014-08-26
Authors
Adams, Ingrid Averille
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Abstract
The aim of this research was to assess the impact of wifebeating
and marital satisfaction on the marital relationship.
Due to research and interest in the area of wife abuse being
only a recent phenomenon, the impact of wife-beating on the
marital relationship had not previously been researched. The
findings of this study would have important implications for
the treatment of wife abuse. This study assessed the impact of
wife-beating and marital satisfac ion on the following
dimensions of the marital relationship: communication, sexual
satisfaction, disharmony, feelings toward the spouse,
commitment to the relationship and the dissolution potential of
the relationship. Standardised self-report questionnaires
measuring the above dimensions of the marital relationship were
administered to three groups of women. These three groups of
women comprised of a group of 15 satisfactorily married,
non-abused women, a group of 20 unsatisfactorily married,
non-abused women and a group of 20 unsatisfactorily married,
abused women. Women were selected anj assigned to one of the
three groups on the basis of scores obtained on the Short
Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Scale (Locke & Wallace, 1959)
and the Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1979). The inclusion
of the group of unsatisfactorily married, non-abused women was
crucial and partially controlled for the effects of marital
discord. The data from the above-cited dimensions of the
marital relationships were statistically analysed using a
multivariate statistic MANOVA, followed by , where appropriate,
parametric ANOVAS and Schef f£ comparisons or non-parametr ic
Mann Whitney U tests. Battered women were found to differ
significantly (at the .05 level of significance) from both
comparison groups in their commitment to the relationship,
level of disharmony in the relationship and their feelings
toward the spouse. The importance of these findings for the
theory that battered women are masochistic was discussed. In
addition, the implications of these findings for the treatment
of abusive couples were discussed and suggestions for future
research were made.