Citation

Merten MJ, Williams AL. Coll. Student J. 2009; 43(3): 843-851.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Project Innovation)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of gender, current relationship status, and the interaction between gender and relationship status on the acceptability of marital violence among college men and women. Participants completed a questionnaire containing measures of marital violence acceptability and current relationship status. Findings revealed that female college students are less accepting of marital violence, regardless of the sex of the perpetrating spouse. Current relationship status of both men and women does not appear to be a significant predictor of marital violence acceptability. However, there is an interaction between gender and current relationship status which indicates females who are not currently in a relationship are more accepting of wife-perpetrated marital violence than female college students currently in a dating relationship. This study lends insight into the mechanisms that make men and women more accepting of violence among marital partners.