Citation

Demaris AA. J. Marriage Fam. 2001; 63(1): 235-246.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, National Council on Family Relations, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00235.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Does the experience of violence in a cohabiting union lead participants away from marriage and toward separation, or does violence have only minimal impact once other characteristics of unions and their participants are controlled? This issue is examined using a sample of 411 cohabiting couples followed in both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. Marriage and separation are treated as competing risks. Results show that violence does have an effect, although dissimilar effects emerge for transitions to separation, as opposed to marriage. Net of other factors, intense male violence—male violence that is more severe than the female partner's—raises the hazard of separation. In contrast, female violence, but not male violence, lowers the rate of marriage. The findings appear robust to a variety of operationalizations of partner violence.