The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S.

Department of Justice and prepared the following final report:

Document Title: Men’s Domestic Violence and Other Forms of

Deviant Behavior, Executive Summary

Author(s): Ernest N. Jouriles ; Renee McDonald ; Paul R.

Swank ; William D. Norwood ; Wendy M. Buzy

Document No.: 197205

Date Received: November 06, 2002

Award Number: 1998-WT-VX-0005

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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traditional paper copies.

Opinions or points of view expressed are those

of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect

the official position or policies of the U.S.

Department of Justice.
Men's Domestic Violence and Other Forms of Deviant Behavior 

Executive Summary 

September 2002 

Ernest N. Jouriles and Renee McDonald 

University of Houston 

Paul R. Swank 

University of Texas - Houston School of Medicine 

William D. Norwood and Wendy M. Buzy 

University of Houston 

FINAL 

Approved 

REPORT 

By: 

W' 

L 

This research was supported by Award 98-WT-VX-0005 from the National Institute of Justice, 

Ofice of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in this report are those of 

the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Department of 

Justice. a wmwu-y OF 

National Criminal Justice Referma Senria (NeJRS) 

Box 6000 

bckv!ile, MD 20849-6000 

 and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

 been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 
Men’s Domestic Violence (Executive Summary) 2 

Men’s Domestic Violence and Other Forms of Deviant Behavior 

Physical violence against women by their male intimate partners (referred to in this 

report as domestic violence) is a significant so’cial problem, and identifying and understanding 

the precursors of such violence are worthy goals. One potentially important precursor to 

domestic violence is engagement in other forms of deviance. There is evidence that a substantial 

proportion of clinic- and court-referred domestically violent men engage in other forms of 

deviance, such as substance abuse and violence toward non-family members. There is also 

evidence for continuity between early deviance (e.g., deviant activity in adolescence) and later 

domestic violence. However, very few investigators have used data fiom samples representative 

of the general population to evaluate associations between domestic violence and other forms of 

deviance. In addition, very few investigators have used longitudinal data to document links 

between deviance during adolescence and later domestic violence. The primary goal of the 

present research is to build upon our understanding of the link between general deviance and 

domestic violence. We attempt to do this by: (1) assessing the co-occurrence of domestic ‘ 

violence and a wide variety of other forms of contemporaneous deviant behavior in a large 

community sample, (2) examining links between deviance during adolescence/young adulthood 

and later domestic violence, considering the roles of violent deviance in particular and the 

persistence of deviant activity, and (3) evaluating specific pathways by which early deviance 

may be linked to men’s domestic violence. 

a 

The National Youth Survey (NYS) data set was used for this research. The NYS sample 

is a national probability sample of households in the continental United States in 1976. All 

youths between the ages of 11 and 17 (inclusive) on December 3 1, 1976 were eligible for the a 

 and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

 been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 
Men's Domestic Violence (Executive Summary) 3 

NYS. The initial survey sample consisted of 1,725 youths (918 males) interviewed in 1976, with 

0 follow-up interviews conducted in 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983 and 1986. Data for the present 

research were obtained from 175 male participants who reported being married or cohabiting 

with a female partner at Wave VI (1983). Meri's violence toward their female partners was 

measured at Wave VI with eight items from the physical violence sub-scale of the Conflict 

Tactics Scales. Men's general deviance (that is, deviance as indicated by acts other than domestic 

violence) was measured at Wave VI and at earlier waves with items describing illegal or socially 

proscribed behavior. Deviance was operationalized in several different ways in this research, so 

that the persistence and frequencyheriousness of different forms of deviance (violent and 

nonviolent deviant acts) could be considered. To evaluate specific pathways by which early 

deviance may be linked to domestic violence, measures of marital dissatisfaction, peer deviant 

behaviors, and peer approval of deviance were created. a - Co-occurrence of Domestic Violence and Ot her Forms of Conte m poraneous De viant Behavio r 

Of the 175 married or cohabiting men in our sample, 38% reported having engaged in 

domestic violence in the year prior to the Wave VI assessment. This one-year prevalence rate is 

comparable to rates obtained from other large samples ofyoung couples. With regard to the 

prevalence of deviant behavior, 64% of the sample reported engaging in one or more deviant acts 

during the year prior to the Wave VI assessment. As hypothesized by general theories of crime 

and deviance, we found a large proportion of domestically violent men (74%) had engaged in 

other deviant behaviors, and a greater proportion of domestically violent men engaged in other 

forms of contemporaneous deviant behavior than men who were not domestically violent. 

Deviance During Adolescence and Young Adulthood 

We first evaluated how different operationalizatons of deviance during adolescence and 

 and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

 been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 
Men’s Domestic Violence (Executive Summary) 4 

young adulthood (i.e., the persistence and frequency/seriousness of deviant activity, broadly 

conceived, at Waves I, 111, IV, and V) predicted domestic violence at Wave VI. As expected, 

both the persistence of deviant activity and the fiequency/seriousness of deviant activity 

predicted later domestic violence. However, in logistic regression analyses, neither of these two 

measures of deviance contributed uniquely in the prediction of domestic violence after 

accounting for the other. Thus, the information contained in these two measures of deviance 

appeared to be redundant with respect to the prediction of domestic violence. 

We next examined violent and nonviolent deviance separately, evaluating relations 

between different forms of deviance (persistence of violence, fiequencyheriousness of violence, 

persistence of nonviolent deviance, fiequency/seriousness of nonviolent deviance) and domestic 

violence. As expected, the persistence and the frequency/seriousness of violent and nonviolent 

deviance predicted later domestic violence. In logistic regression analyses, the persistence of 

violence contributed in the prediction of domestic violence after accounting for the 

fiequencyheriousness of violence, but not the converse. Similarly, the persistence of nonviolent 

deviance contributed in the prediction of domestic violence after accounting for the 

frequencyheriousness of nonviolent deviance. 

a 

We then evaluated the independent contributions of violent and nonviolent deviance in 

the prediction of domestic violence. In logistic regression analyses, the persistence of violence 

contributed in the prediction of domestic violence after accounting for the persistence of 

nonviolent deviance, but the persistence of nonviolent deviance did not contribute in the 

prediction of domestic violence after accounting for the persistence of violence. In sum, the 

persistence of violence emerged as an important aspect of youth deviance in the prediction of 

i 

domestic violence in this community sample. a 

 and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

 been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 
Men's Domestic Violence (Executive Summary) 5 

Pathwavs Linking Youth Deviance to Domesti 'c Violence .. 

We evaluated two models linking the persistence of violence during adolescence and 

young adulthood to later domestic violence. One model links youth violence to men's 

relationship dissatisfaction, which, in turn, inc'reases the likelihood of domestic violence. That is, 

youth violence is hypothesized to be linked directly to domestic violence (Le., the domestic 

violence is simply a continuation of earlier violence) and linked indirectly to domestic violence, 

through relationship dissatisfaction. This model is based, in part, on the notion that the domestic 

violence documented in most community samples is a product of relationship dissatisfaction. 

This model is also based on the results of longitudinal research indicating that adolescent 

deviance predicts adult relationship dissatisfaction. Our findings were consistent this model. 

Specifically, in a multivariate model, the persistence of violence during adolescence/young 

adulthood was linked directly to domestic violence, and the association between these two a 

variables was partially mediated by relationship dissatisfaction. 

A second model hypothesized that deviant peer affiliation and peer approval of deviance 

would partially mediate the link between violent behavior in adolescence/young adulthood and 

domestic violence. This model is based on theory and research indicating that adolescents who 

engage in deviant behavior tend to affiliate with deviant peers who, in turn, are thought to 

reinforce and perpetuate the performance of deviant behavior. Consistent with prior research 

findings, our results suggest that youth violence increases the likelihood of affiliation with 

deviant peers as well as peers who approve of deviance. However, our findings suggest that 

deviant peer affiliation and peer approval of deviance do not mediate the link between earlier 

violence and domestic violence. 

Policy Implications 

 and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

 been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 
Men’s Domestic Violence (Executive Summary) 6 

Knowledge of the overlap between domestic violence and other types of deviant behavior 

can have important implications for policy and practice. If domestic violence is etiologically and 

phenomenologically distinct from other types of deviant or violent behavior, specialized 

programs may be necessary to prevent domestic violence. On the other hand, if domestic 

violence is part of a more general pattern of deviance or violence, then programs that 

successfully prevent deviance in general should similarly prevent domestic violence. Our 

findings suggest that, in comparison to men who are not domestically violent, domestically 

violent men are more likely to be deviant, and more specifically to be violent. This suggests that 

programs designed to prevent or reduce adolescent antisocial behavior, and perhaps especially 

adolescent violent behavior, may be useful in disrupting the processes by which domestic 

violence emerges. 

Although it is clear from our research that the persistence of violence during 

adolescence/young adulthood is associated with later domestic violence, violence alone - 

0 

especially violence during middle and late adolescence - is likely to be insufficient to identify 

future perpetrators of domestic violence. Most of the participants in the present research engaged 

in violent behavior at one time or another, and many who engaged in violence did 

perpetrate domestic violence. Similarly, many who did not engage in persistent violence went on 

to engage in domestic violence. It is possible that additional efforts directed at conceptualizing 

and measuring violence during adolescence and young adulthood may increase the specificity 

and utility of early violence as a predictor of domestic violence, but the high base rates of violent 

behavior that typify adolescent samples are likely to yield a high rate of false negatives when 

violence is used as a sole predictor of domestic violence. 

go on to 

In sum, the results of this research contribute to our knowledge about the association 

 and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

 been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not 
Men’s Domestic Violence (Executive Summary) 7 

between domestic violence and other types of deviant behavior and have potentially important * 

implications for theory, policy and practice. It is clear from our results that a large number of 

domestically violent men engage in other forms of deviant behavior, and that past deviance, 

especially the persistence of past violence, contributes in the prediction of domestic violence. 

The ability to predict domestic violence, even - perhaps especially - at the levels at which it is 

most commonly manifest, offers opportunities for early identification and prevention. We 

believe that continued research in the application of general theories of deviance and aggression 

to domestic violence will likely contribute to our understanding of the development of such 

behavior, and to our ability to prevent it. 

PROPERTY OF 

National Criminal Justice Referance Senrice (NCJRS) 

Box 6000 

Rockville, MD 20849-6000 .-+--’ 

 and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

 been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) 

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not