Methods: By telephone we surveyed 1200 respondents from six communities
in New York State regarding their views about what constitutes DV, its
causes and risk factors, its prevalence, and preferred criminal justice
responses. We hypothesized that (1) violence perpetrated by women
would be less likely to be labeled DV than male violence; (2) that women,
more educated Rs, and younger Rs would define violence more broadly; and
(3) individuals from groups most likely to be victimized would make higher
prevalence estimates.
Results: In general, there was stronger agreement that acts
of physical violence committed by men than women constituted DV.
Regression analysis showed that gender and knowing a victim (but
not age or education) uniquely predicted scores on the Domestic Violence
Index, a measure of five violent acts. Rs reported that DV is a problem
that occurs "sometimes" (the modal answer of 45% of the sample), with one
in five saying it occurred "very often," and one in five saying it occurred
"rarely or never." Prevalence estimates were strongly influenced by direct
(victim or perpetrator) and indirect (know of a DV situation) experiences
with DV in the predicted direction. The most common causes identified
were financial or work stress, substance abuse, anger or loss of control,
relationship problems, exposure to family violence, adultery or jealousy,
and perpetrator mental health problems.
Implications for policy: Results will discussed in terms of
their implications for public education.