Citation

Barnett OW, Fagan RW, Booker JM. J. Fam. Violence 1991; 6(3): 217-241.

Affiliation

Social Science Division, Seaver College/Pepperdine University, 90263 Malibu, California; Probation Department, Los Angeles County, California

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF00980530

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This research investigated hypothesized differences on the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory between five groups of men who varied in terms of being violent toward female cohabitants, nonfamily members, or no one, and in terms of marital satisfaction. Other measures, such as stress and childhood abuse data, were employed to interpret the findings. A two-way MANCOVA (group by race) with six sociodemographic covariates revealed significant differences on three Hostility Inventory subscales. The maritally violent men had significantly higher total Hostility than any of the other groups and were significantly discriminable from the other groups. Nonetheless, the beliefs and behaviors of violence-prone individuals overlap to some degree. A cognitive-behavioral model with stimulus variables of life Stressors, intervening variables of hostility and negative stress reactions, and response variables of different forms of aggression served as a framework for interpreting the results.