AggressiVE Relationships in the World today

 Men and women are both equally violent in intimate relationships. The public supports and shows sympathy towards female victims of male violence but disregard violence inflicted on men by women in relationships. Men are stereotyped as the dominant partner in intimate relationships; therefore he is seen as being stronger and has control over the relationship and rarely does the public hear of men facing victimization from a female partner. Research and studies by Archer (2000), Sellers, Cochran, &Branch (2005), and Hines & Malley-Morrison (2001) reveal that no matter what gender is more aggressive, both women and men are aggressive and both are affected by the consequences of aggressive behaviors in intimate relationships. Some consequences of aggressive behavior in intimate relationships are unhealthy relationships, separation, injuries and or death.The exposure to aggressive behavior in childhood has an affect on daily conflict in intimate relationships. Aggression and violence among intimate relationships are gendered in the meaning of experiences, motives, and aggravations

A bETTER YoU!

Along with prevention and treatment comes strengthening the person as a whole. Self esteem is addressed in Murphy, Stosny & Morrel (2005)’s study in which self-esteem is associated with violence. Murphy et al. (2005) indicate that it is not low esteem that is a causative factor in human aggression, but it is the unstable high self-esteem that promotes aggression in defense. Sixty-one men completed a cognitive-behavioral treatment program designed to enhance motivation to change abusive behavior and improve skills that reduce anger. Results indicate that the improvement of self-esteem during treatment for partner violence reduced the amount of violence exhibited in intimate relationships.  

Change Begins with You

Ignorance leads to frustration; Frustration leads to Anger and Anger leads to Isolation. If u were better INFORMED u'd be better EQUIPPED to handle MOST situations. DO the work UPFRONT to LEARN the information u need and the typical negative feelings, actions and results associated will diminish. "Change Begins & Ends With You"

BE 1 LESS

Approximately 30% of all married couples in the United States report at least one incident of violence between them and 1,300 deaths have occurred nationwide each year as a result of intimate partner violence (LaTaillade, Epstein, & Werlinich, 2006).  LaTaillade and colleagues (2006) study describes the rationale and methods of couple-based interventions designed to treat and prevent intimate partner violence. These conjoint treatments are intended to reduce the incidence of abusive behavior among couples in which one or both couples have engaged in physical aggression. Conjoint treatments focus on anger management and modification on beliefs that supports the use of aggression toward partners during conflict. The Couples Abuse Prevention Program indicates that this program is appropriate in reducing abusive behaviors in couple relationships and bettering communication skills within relationships. Therapy along with conjoint programs targets abusive behavior and offer partners opportunities to reveal fears and abusive experiences toward one another.  These treatments and programs intend to reduce psychological and physical aggression between partners to enhance the quality of the couple’s relationship. 

How did we get here?

According to Sugihara and Warner (2002) dominance, a male gender role trait, has been identified as a risk factor in the genesis of domestic violence. Furthermore, relationships in which power is expressed by male partners are generally more likely to be domestically violent relationships (Sugihara & Warner, 2002). On the contrary, males who lack power and are not dominant in their relationships use violence to compensate (Sugihara & Warner, 2002).




Even though males are typically stereotyped as the aggressor in intimate relationships, women also express dominance and act aggressively. Aggressive behaviors in intimate relationships occur when the dominant partner feels they have to maintain their dominance and their partner is a threat to their power. Men often resort to violence in order to punish his partner (Sugihara & Warner, 2002) and women use violence in means of self-defense and protection against their partner’s violence.

What forms does aggression take?

Buunk, Schaap, and Prevoo (2001) presented a model that assumed five typical conflict styles in intimate relationships: aggression-pushing; avoidance; soothing; compromise and problem-solving. Aggression-pushing is when a partner is assertive and neglects the interest of the relationship. Avoidance can be characterized as a partner physically and emotionally retreating from the situation, and ignoring the interests of one another. Soothing is when a partner tries to prevent conflict and defends interest. Compromise is where both partners find a solution that works well for the both of them. Finally, problem-solving is the search for a mutually satisfactory solution (Buunk et al., 2001).

DOes seeing aggressive behavior manifest when children become adults?

Adults exposed to aggressive behavior at a young age are more prone to exhibit aggressive characteristics within their own intimate relationships. Bandura’s social learning theory (Duggan, O’Brien & Kennedy) plays a major role in aggressive behavior in which individuals learn by imitating what they have been exposed to or what they have seen (2001). For example, if a child were to see his father beat his mother on more than one occasion he could possibly develop the mind frame that it is socially acceptable to assault a woman, and in the future, result in assaulting his wife. Researchers reported that “a recent estimate from the Second National Family Violence Survey revealed that 10 million children were exposed to marital violence annually” (Duggan et al., 2001).