NIMH-funded research project seeks contributors to DV study

Submitted by Matt on Wed, 2008-06-18 22:34

Via email:

"I am doing a research study on male victims of partner violence. We are looking for male victims of heterosexual partner violence who sustained some kind of aggression within the previous year to fill out a confidential, anonymous, online survey about their experiences with partner violence, their health, and their experiences with seeking help for their partner violence victimization. Here is a copy of our IRB-approved advertisement for this study:

"Researchers at Clark University and Bridgewater State College are conducting a study on men who experience aggression from their girlfriends, wives, or female partners. If you are a man between the ages of 18-59 and have experienced aggression from your partner within the past 12 months, you may be eligible to participate in this study. We invite you to follow this link to the study webpage where you can complete an Internet survey about your experiences. Link: http://www.clarku.edu/faculty/dhines

Our aim is to have about 500 male victims complete this survey so that we can provide sound, empirical information about male victims and their experiences, in the hopes of making domestic violence services more widely available to them.

Denise Hines
Research Assistant Professor
Clark University
Department of Psychology
dhines@clarku.edu
http://www.clarku.edu/faculty/dhines

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Comments

This survey has some design flaws that are obvious when you check out the web site.

First, it is limited to reports of physical violence only. As we know, women tend to employ emotional and psychological aggression with greater frequency than direct physical violence.

So, to mention just one common example, if a wife threatens her husband with divorce and taking the house and the kids, the survey will not acknowledge that as "domestic violence."

(Consult the Duluth Wheel of power-and-control for other such tactics like shunning, isolation, the silent treatment,destroying reputations, ignoring needs, excessive spending, demanding to know where the partner is 24 x 7, etc.- all of these non-physical acts qualify as DV if it is a MAN doing them.)

Secondly, the survey disqualifies respondents if they have not sought help for the DV they have experienced. We all know that numerous studies have shown that men rarely report being abused or seek intervention. Mainly because they don't want to be arrested and dragged into the feminist DV Industry.

Lastly, the academics doing the survey state that "there have been few studies" about male victims of DV. Isn't it true that Murray Strauss has compiled and published an inventory of over 200 such studies showing gender parity in the initiation of intimate partner violence?

I might suggest that these two female scholars go back to the drawing board and do a thorough review of the literature.

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Submitted by Roy on Thu, 2008-06-19 15:19

I suggest that you read the articles that were posted on the study webpage. Then you would know that the scholars have done extensive literature reviews in this area, and both of them have worked with Murray Straus. In fact, Straus (with just one "s" at the end) is a consultant on this project and has provided extensive input on the design of the study.

We limit eligibility to men who have experienced physical violence because physical violence is against the law, and we can only hope to change domestic violence laws and policies in this country if we can document assaults against men. If a man is eligible for the survey, however, he will be asked a whole list of questions about psychological, controlling, and emotionally abusive behaviors.

We limit eligibility to men who have sought assistance or support, but this (if you read the question fully) is broadly defined. For example, if you are reading this webpage, you have sought information about domestic violence, so you would be eligible. We are looking for men who are trying to understand, ameliorate, or escape their domestic violence situation.

Finally, we have an age limit. This is not unheard of in any kind of research situation. This has to do with elder abuse and child abuse reporting laws. If we find that anyone under the age of 18 is abused, we would have to report them to the authorities. If we find that anyone over the age of 59 is abused, we would have to report them to the authorities. This means that we would not be able to keep the surveys anonymous, and we want to make sure the men who complete our surveys know that we cannot, in any way, know who they are.

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Submitted by dahines on Mon, 2008-10-06 20:51