Assault and Injury of Dating Partners by University Students in 19 Countries and its Relation to Corporal Punishment Experienced as a Child
| Author | Emily M. Douglas,Murray A. Straus |
| DOI | 10.1177/1477370806065584 |
| Published date | 01 July 2006 |
| Date | 01 July 2006 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Volume 3 (3): 293–318: 1477-3708
DOI: 10.1177/1477370806065584
Copyright © 2006 European Society of
Criminology and SAGE Publications
London, Thousand Oaks CA, and New Delhi
www.sagepublications.com
Assault and Injury of Dating Partners by
University Students in 19 Countries and
its Relation to Corporal Punishment
Experienced as a Child
Emily M. Douglas
University of New Hampshire, USA
Murray A. Straus
University of New Hampshire, USA
A B S T R A C T
This study tested the hypothesis that the more prevalent the use of corporal
punishment by parents in a social setting, the higher is the prevalence of assault
and injury of a dating partner. The sample is from 36 universities in 19 nations
(N = 9549). The median percent of students who experienced corporal punish-
ment was 56 percent (range 13–73 percent). The median rate of assaulting a
dating partner was 30 percent (range 15–47 percent), and of injuring a dating
partner 7 percent (range = 1–20 percent). The results indicate that settings in
which the rate of corporal punishment experienced by university students is
high, tend to be settings in which the rate of students assaulting and injuring a
dating partner is also high. These findings are discussed in the context of
theories to explain partner violence and for primary prevention of violence.
K E Y W O R D S
Attitudes about Violence / Children / Corporal Punishment / Partner Violence
Numerous studies have found extremely high rates of physical and sexual
assault on dating partners by university students. The typical results show
that from 20 to 40 percent of students physically assaulted a dating partner
in the previous 12 months (Sugarman and Hotaling 1989; Sellers 1999;
Katz et al. 2002). Most of these studies have been in the USA and Canada.
294
European Journal of Criminology 3(3)
One objective of this study is to determine the extent to which these high
assault and injury rates are found among students in other national settings
around the world.
If high rates of violence against dating partners are found to be
characteristic of university students in most or many countries, this adds
urgency to research that can help explain why so many students engage in
this type of behaviour. The research on this issue to be reported was
stimulated by previous theoretical and empirical research which found that
corporal punishment (henceforth, CP) experienced as a child is associated
with a broad range of important behaviour problems, such as antisocial
behaviour as a child (Simons et al. 1998; Straus et al. 1997) and, later in
life, depression (Straus 1995a), physical aggression, violence and other
criminal behaviour (Simons et al. 1994). These results led to what, for
purposes of brevity of exposition, will be called the criminogenic theory of
CP. This theory is presented in detail elsewhere (Straus 2001, 2006 in
press), including specification of mediating and moderating processes and
feedback loops. The research reported in this article was conducted to test
the applicability of this theory to understanding cross-national and cross-
cultural differences in violence against dating partners. Specifically, it was
assumed that if the high rate of physical assault against dating partners
found in the USA is also found elsewhere, part of the explanation might be
because high rates of CP are also found around the world. If that is correct,
we should find that the higher the percentage of students who experienced
CP as a child, the higher will be the percentage who are violent to a dating
partner. Thus, the main objective of this study was to investigate the extent
to which the criminogenic theory of CP operates at the societal level in
ways that are parallel to the link between CP and violence found at the
individual level. An additional objective was to provide estimates for
students in the 19 national settings of the prevalence of CP, of attitudes
approving the hitting a partner, of actually assaulting a dating partner, and
of injury inflicted on a dating partner.
Corporal punishment
The definition of CP that guided this research was ‘the use of physical force
with the intention of causing a child to experience pain, but not injury, for
the purpose of correction or control of the child’s behaviour’ (Straus 2001:
4). This corresponds to the criminal code of all states of the USA and a
number of other countries. These codes exempt parents from prosecution
for criminal assault if their acts against their children are for purposes of
Douglas and Straus
Assault and corporal punishment
295
correction and control (see Straus 2001, for a discussion and illustrative
statutes).
Evidence indicating that almost all American parents use CP on
toddlers has been available for many years. Sears, Maccoby, and Levin
(Sears et al. 1957), for example, found that 99 percent of the children they
studied had experienced CP. Straus and Stewart (1999) found that 94
percent of US parents hit toddlers, and Bryan and Freed (1982) found that
95 percent of a sample of community college students had experienced CP.
Numerous other studies (see Goodenough 1931 (reprint 1975); Wauchope
and Straus 1990; Giles-Sims et al. 1995; Holden et al. 1995; Straus 2001)
also show very high rates of CP. There is evidence that CP is also typical of
the experience of children in many other countries (Levinson 1981; Rohner
et al. 1996; Straus 1996; Tang 1998; Durrant 1999). However, the methods
of measuring CP in these studies differ greatly, which prevents comparable
assessments across society. The research presented in this article makes
such comparisons possible because it uses the same measures of CP in all
the countries in the study.
Corporal punishment, aggression and crime
As mentioned previously, there has been empirical research linking CP to
physical aggression and other child behaviour problems for at least 50
years. This research has been summarized in a meta-analysis of 88 studies
that reported 117 relationships between CP and child behaviours which
concluded that, although CP secures a child’s immediate compliance, it is
associated with an increase in many negative outcomes for children
(Gershoff 2002). For example, CP has been shown to be associated with an
increased probability of hitting other children in kindergarten (Sears et al.
1957; Strassberg et al. 1994), antisocial behaviour and delinquency (Straus
et al. 1997), non-family physical assaults (Straus 2001) and conviction for
committing a major crime (McCord 1997). The studies that are most
directly relevant to this research found that CP is related to adolescents
physically assaulting a marital or dating partner (Straus and Yodanis 1996;
Simons et al. 1998). These empirical studies, plus the theoretical analysis
cited earlier, led to the hypotheses that students in social contexts where CP
by parents is more prevalent have a higher rate of: (1) approving a husband
slapping his wife and a wife slapping her husband; (2) assaulting a dating
partner; and (3) injuring a dating partner.
These hypotheses were tested using ‘macro-level’ data that examined
rates of CP and rates of violence against dating partners by students at 36
universities in 19 different countries.
296
European Journal of Criminology 3(3)
Methods
The International Dating Violence Study
This research is part of the International Dating Violence Study, which is
being conducted by a consortium of researchers in all major world regions.
Each researcher used a core questionnaire that was translated and then
back-translated to maintain ‘conceptual equivalence’ (Straus 1969) across
the sites. A detailed description of the study, including the questionnaire
and all other key documents, is available on the website http://
pubpages.unh.edu/ ~ mas2, and in previous articles reporting results from
this study (Straus 2004; Straus and International Dating Violence Research
Consortium 2004; Straus and Savage 2005).
Samples
This article presents results for a convenience sample of students from the
36 universities and 19 countries listed in Table 1. The data were obtained
by administering a questionnaire during regularly scheduled classes. The
percentage of students in each class who completed the questionnaire
ranged from 40 to 100 percent, with a mean of 86 percent. Most of the
classes were in psychology, sociology, criminology, and family studies. The
results describe what was found for the students in those classes in each
country and cannot be taken as representative of students in general.
The questionnaires were scanned for aberrant response patterns such
as an implausibly high frequency of rare events (for example, 10 instances
of attacking a partner with a knife or gun in the past year); or inconsistent
answers (for example, reporting an injury but no assault). Based on this
screening method, 6.2 percent of the respondents were not used in this
study. This left a total of 9549 students. The sample sizes for each
university are shown in Table 1.
Questionnaire administration
The data were gathered using procedures reviewed by and approved by the
boards for protection of human subjects at each of the universities in the
study. The purpose of the study and the right to not participate were
explained to all students. They were assured of anonymity and con-
fidentiality, and given a debriefing form that explained the study in more
detail and provided contact information for area social service agencies
should they need assistance.
Douglas and Straus
Assault and corporal punishment
297
Measures of CP and violence approval
CP by parents and approval of partner violence...
DOI: 10.1177/1477370806065584
Copyright © 2006 European Society of
Criminology and SAGE Publications
London, Thousand Oaks CA, and New Delhi
www.sagepublications.com
Assault and Injury of Dating Partners by
University Students in 19 Countries and
its Relation to Corporal Punishment
Experienced as a Child
Emily M. Douglas
University of New Hampshire, USA
Murray A. Straus
University of New Hampshire, USA
A B S T R A C T
This study tested the hypothesis that the more prevalent the use of corporal
punishment by parents in a social setting, the higher is the prevalence of assault
and injury of a dating partner. The sample is from 36 universities in 19 nations
(N = 9549). The median percent of students who experienced corporal punish-
ment was 56 percent (range 13–73 percent). The median rate of assaulting a
dating partner was 30 percent (range 15–47 percent), and of injuring a dating
partner 7 percent (range = 1–20 percent). The results indicate that settings in
which the rate of corporal punishment experienced by university students is
high, tend to be settings in which the rate of students assaulting and injuring a
dating partner is also high. These findings are discussed in the context of
theories to explain partner violence and for primary prevention of violence.
K E Y W O R D S
Attitudes about Violence / Children / Corporal Punishment / Partner Violence
Numerous studies have found extremely high rates of physical and sexual
assault on dating partners by university students. The typical results show
that from 20 to 40 percent of students physically assaulted a dating partner
in the previous 12 months (Sugarman and Hotaling 1989; Sellers 1999;
Katz et al. 2002). Most of these studies have been in the USA and Canada.
294
European Journal of Criminology 3(3)
One objective of this study is to determine the extent to which these high
assault and injury rates are found among students in other national settings
around the world.
If high rates of violence against dating partners are found to be
characteristic of university students in most or many countries, this adds
urgency to research that can help explain why so many students engage in
this type of behaviour. The research on this issue to be reported was
stimulated by previous theoretical and empirical research which found that
corporal punishment (henceforth, CP) experienced as a child is associated
with a broad range of important behaviour problems, such as antisocial
behaviour as a child (Simons et al. 1998; Straus et al. 1997) and, later in
life, depression (Straus 1995a), physical aggression, violence and other
criminal behaviour (Simons et al. 1994). These results led to what, for
purposes of brevity of exposition, will be called the criminogenic theory of
CP. This theory is presented in detail elsewhere (Straus 2001, 2006 in
press), including specification of mediating and moderating processes and
feedback loops. The research reported in this article was conducted to test
the applicability of this theory to understanding cross-national and cross-
cultural differences in violence against dating partners. Specifically, it was
assumed that if the high rate of physical assault against dating partners
found in the USA is also found elsewhere, part of the explanation might be
because high rates of CP are also found around the world. If that is correct,
we should find that the higher the percentage of students who experienced
CP as a child, the higher will be the percentage who are violent to a dating
partner. Thus, the main objective of this study was to investigate the extent
to which the criminogenic theory of CP operates at the societal level in
ways that are parallel to the link between CP and violence found at the
individual level. An additional objective was to provide estimates for
students in the 19 national settings of the prevalence of CP, of attitudes
approving the hitting a partner, of actually assaulting a dating partner, and
of injury inflicted on a dating partner.
Corporal punishment
The definition of CP that guided this research was ‘the use of physical force
with the intention of causing a child to experience pain, but not injury, for
the purpose of correction or control of the child’s behaviour’ (Straus 2001:
4). This corresponds to the criminal code of all states of the USA and a
number of other countries. These codes exempt parents from prosecution
for criminal assault if their acts against their children are for purposes of
Douglas and Straus
Assault and corporal punishment
295
correction and control (see Straus 2001, for a discussion and illustrative
statutes).
Evidence indicating that almost all American parents use CP on
toddlers has been available for many years. Sears, Maccoby, and Levin
(Sears et al. 1957), for example, found that 99 percent of the children they
studied had experienced CP. Straus and Stewart (1999) found that 94
percent of US parents hit toddlers, and Bryan and Freed (1982) found that
95 percent of a sample of community college students had experienced CP.
Numerous other studies (see Goodenough 1931 (reprint 1975); Wauchope
and Straus 1990; Giles-Sims et al. 1995; Holden et al. 1995; Straus 2001)
also show very high rates of CP. There is evidence that CP is also typical of
the experience of children in many other countries (Levinson 1981; Rohner
et al. 1996; Straus 1996; Tang 1998; Durrant 1999). However, the methods
of measuring CP in these studies differ greatly, which prevents comparable
assessments across society. The research presented in this article makes
such comparisons possible because it uses the same measures of CP in all
the countries in the study.
Corporal punishment, aggression and crime
As mentioned previously, there has been empirical research linking CP to
physical aggression and other child behaviour problems for at least 50
years. This research has been summarized in a meta-analysis of 88 studies
that reported 117 relationships between CP and child behaviours which
concluded that, although CP secures a child’s immediate compliance, it is
associated with an increase in many negative outcomes for children
(Gershoff 2002). For example, CP has been shown to be associated with an
increased probability of hitting other children in kindergarten (Sears et al.
1957; Strassberg et al. 1994), antisocial behaviour and delinquency (Straus
et al. 1997), non-family physical assaults (Straus 2001) and conviction for
committing a major crime (McCord 1997). The studies that are most
directly relevant to this research found that CP is related to adolescents
physically assaulting a marital or dating partner (Straus and Yodanis 1996;
Simons et al. 1998). These empirical studies, plus the theoretical analysis
cited earlier, led to the hypotheses that students in social contexts where CP
by parents is more prevalent have a higher rate of: (1) approving a husband
slapping his wife and a wife slapping her husband; (2) assaulting a dating
partner; and (3) injuring a dating partner.
These hypotheses were tested using ‘macro-level’ data that examined
rates of CP and rates of violence against dating partners by students at 36
universities in 19 different countries.
296
European Journal of Criminology 3(3)
Methods
The International Dating Violence Study
This research is part of the International Dating Violence Study, which is
being conducted by a consortium of researchers in all major world regions.
Each researcher used a core questionnaire that was translated and then
back-translated to maintain ‘conceptual equivalence’ (Straus 1969) across
the sites. A detailed description of the study, including the questionnaire
and all other key documents, is available on the website http://
pubpages.unh.edu/ ~ mas2, and in previous articles reporting results from
this study (Straus 2004; Straus and International Dating Violence Research
Consortium 2004; Straus and Savage 2005).
Samples
This article presents results for a convenience sample of students from the
36 universities and 19 countries listed in Table 1. The data were obtained
by administering a questionnaire during regularly scheduled classes. The
percentage of students in each class who completed the questionnaire
ranged from 40 to 100 percent, with a mean of 86 percent. Most of the
classes were in psychology, sociology, criminology, and family studies. The
results describe what was found for the students in those classes in each
country and cannot be taken as representative of students in general.
The questionnaires were scanned for aberrant response patterns such
as an implausibly high frequency of rare events (for example, 10 instances
of attacking a partner with a knife or gun in the past year); or inconsistent
answers (for example, reporting an injury but no assault). Based on this
screening method, 6.2 percent of the respondents were not used in this
study. This left a total of 9549 students. The sample sizes for each
university are shown in Table 1.
Questionnaire administration
The data were gathered using procedures reviewed by and approved by the
boards for protection of human subjects at each of the universities in the
study. The purpose of the study and the right to not participate were
explained to all students. They were assured of anonymity and con-
fidentiality, and given a debriefing form that explained the study in more
detail and provided contact information for area social service agencies
should they need assistance.
Douglas and Straus
Assault and corporal punishment
297
Measures of CP and violence approval
CP by parents and approval of partner violence...
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