Trends in self-reported spousal violence - ARCHIVED

Recently, through the General Social Survey (GSS) on Victimization, questions related to spousal violence against women and men were repeated. Results of this survey permit the analysis of how spousal violence has changed in nature and extent over the two cycles of the survey from and, for the first time, provide trends on male spousal violence. As will be highlighted in this chapter, the GSS illustrates that overall spousal violence rates have remained stable, but violence in previous relationships has decreased for both women and men and continues to be more common than in current relationships. In addition, the data continue to show that violence is more prevalent in common-law relationships than in marital unions, and although relatively equal proportions of women and men report some type of spousal violence, women continue to suffer more serious and repeated spousal violence than do men and incur more serious consequences as a result of this violence.