Assertion and Family Violence: Correlates of Spouse Abuse

Abusive couples, discordant couples, and satisfactorily married couples were compared on self‐report measures of general assertion, spouse‐specific assertion, spouse‐specific aggression, and spousal physical aggression in their families of origin. Men and women in abusive relationships as well as those in discordant, but non‐abusive, relationships have lower levels of spouse‐specific assertion than satisfactorily married couples. However, men and women in abusive relationships did not differ from discordant, non‐abusive men and women, on these measures. In brief, low levels of spouse‐specific assertion are characteristic of discordant couples whether they are abusive or not. However, as in our past research, spousal violence in the family of origin was a critical distinguishing factor of physically abusive men versus discordant, but non‐abusive, men. Also, as in ourpast research, violence in the family of origin was not a critical distinguishing characteristic of women in abusive relationships.