Is it coercive controlling violence? A cross-sectional domestic violence and abuse survey of men attending general practice in England

Marianne Hester, Cassandra Jones, Emma Williamson, Eldin Fahmy, Gene Feder
2017 Psychology of Violence  
Is it coercive controlling violence? A cross-sectional domestic violence and abuse survey of men attending general practice in England. General rights This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: ABSTRACT Objective: Surveys that examine prevalence of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) without consideration of impact, severity or context have limitations. The paper uses
more » ... lts from the first survey of a European clinical male population, the largest such study internationally, that measured a range of emotional, physical and sexual behaviours that could be construed as DVA, including experience and perpetration, and a range of impacts. The paper asks to what extent the behaviour reported by the men can be characterised as coercive controlling violence. Method: A survey was administered to male patients in sixteen general practices (family medicine clinics) in England. Of 1,368 respondents who completed four screening questions regarding behaviour consistent with DVA, 707 (52%) completed detailed questions on lifetime experience of possibly harmful emotional, physical and sexual behaviours, perpetration, and impacts, and if they had ever been in a domestically violent or abusive relationship. One-way ANOVA was used to establish optimal thresholds across abuse and impact scales in order to ascertain severity of men's reported experiences. Results: More than half (52.5%; 95% CI 48.7% to 55.9%) the men reported experiencing potentially harmful physical, emotional or sexual behaviour from a partner, however only 4.4% of the men experienced coercive controlling violence and of those nearly half also reported perpetration against their partner. Conclusions: While a large minority of men presenting to general practice experience or perpetrate DVA behaviour in relationships, only a small minority experience coercive controlling violence and only one in forty have experienced such violence as victims only. 2
doi:10.1037/vio0000107 fatcat:2sipqrnqergllnbeyhmolpg7mq