Gender, Status, and Domestic Violence: An Integration of Feminist and Family Violence Approaches

Family researchers suggest that sociodemographic indicators of structural inequality influence propensities for domestic assaults. Feminist scholars argue that domestic is rooted in gender and power and represents men's active attempts to maintain dominance and control over women. This article integrates both approaches by proposing that elements of structural inequality influence violent behavior differently for women and men. Using self- and partnerreported data from Wave I of the National Survey of Families and Households, this study examines the relationships among sociodemographic characteristics, gender, status (in)compatibility, and domestic assaults. Results indicate that incompatibilities in income and educational status are differentially associated with domestic perpetrated by women and men. Discrepancies between self- and partner-reported are examined to determine correlates of reporting differences. The findings suggest that future research would benefit from an integration of and feminist approaches. Key Words: domestic violence, gender, status incompatibility, structure. Efforts to identify risk factors, correlates, and causes of domestic have burgeoned in recent decades. However, sociological scholarship on domestic is characterized by substantial controversy, particularly around issues of gender (Gelles, 1993; Johnson, 1995; Yllo, 1993). The heart of the debate centers on the relative importance of patriarchy in the etiology of domestic violence. Feminist sociologists contend that issues of gender and power are the ultimate root of intimate (Dobash Stark Yllo,1993), but sociologists from other substantive traditions (e.g., sociology) argue that patriarchy is just one variable in a complex constellation of causes (Gelles, 1993; Straus, Gelles, Martin, 1976; Stark Smith, 1990; Stets, 1991; Straus et al., 1980). These scholars also suggest that the privacy and isolation of modern households in the United States and cultural support for facilitate domestic assaults (Gelles Johnson, 1995; Straton, 1994). Additionally, feminists contend that national survey data are biased by underreporting of male due to social desirability (Arias Gelles & Straus, 1988). …