Non-concordance in reports of intimate partner violence: Psychological and psychosocial correlates in young adult heterosexual couples Open Access

Abstract

Physical intimate partner violence affects women around the globe daily, and is associated with numerous long- and short-term negative outcomes. Therefore, it is critically important to examine what factors may improve or worsen outcomes for women affected. The current study investigates inter-partner disagreement about the occurrence of male-to-female physical violence, and how this aspect of partner violence impacts couple relationship satisfaction, couple social isolation, and women’s depression and anxiety. A total of 237 young adult heterosexual couples in Australia took part in this study. Independent reports on the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) were used to measure non-concordance between partners. As demonstrated in previous studies, rates of agreement were fair to moderate. Couple relationship satisfaction, measured using the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, was negatively related to non-concordance between partners generally, and male under-reporting relative to his female partner specifically. Couple social isolation, measured using the Young Adult Self Report, was not related to non-concordance generally, but was related to male under-reporting relative to his female partner. Women’s anxiety measured concurrently, and depression measured concurrently and five years later were related to male under-reporting. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.    

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1

           Predictors of non-concordance.……………………..…………………….……………....3

           Non-concordance and victim outcomes ...…………..……………….................................8

  Hypotheses……………………………………………….…………………..…………..10

 Method………………………………………………………………………………………...... 11

            Participants...………………………………………………………………………….….11

   Procedure………...…………………………………………….………………..………..12

    Measures………………………………………………………………………………….12

 Results……………………………………………………………………………………………15

 Discussion………………………………………………………………………………………..18

Implications……….………..……………………………………………………………23

              Strengths and Limitations.………………………………………………....……….…....24

Future directions……………………..…………………………………………………..26

 References………………………………………………………………………………………..28

 Tables…………………………………………………………………………………………….35

 Appendix...……………………………………………………………………………………….41

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Psychology
Subfield / Discipline	Clinical Psychology
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Clinical
Keyword	physical violence disagreement outcomes non-concordance intimate partner violence predictors
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Brennan, Patricia, Emory University
Committee Members	Wilson, Elizabeth, Emory University Fivush, Robyn, Emory University

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