The Causes of Wife Abuse - Psychological Explanations Of Abuse

Most sociologists and psychologists agree that lower levels of aggression, such as slapping and shoving, can escalate over time into more severe forms of abuse, such as battering and weapon use. However, while most relationships characterized by severe violence begin with milder forms of abuse, many partners limit their aggressive physical behavior to pushing and slapping. K. Daniel O'Leary, in "Through a Psychological Lens: Personality Traits, Personality Disorders, and Levels of Violence" (Current Controversies on Family Violence [Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1994]) argued that the different levels of aggression—verbal, mild physical aggression, and severe physical violence—are three distinct but related behaviors. Although they exist along a continuum, he contends that men who engage in the milder forms of aggression are not motivated by the same impulses as men who commit severe abuse.

As further evidence of the differences in levels of abuse, O'Leary observed that in marriages with low levels of physical violence, the abuse is often mutual, and that women do not describe their use of force as self-defense. In severely violent relationships, however, women often claim that they use violence in self-defense. O'Leary maintained that this difference is important because while marital therapy may be appropriate and effective treatment for low-level violence, it is neither appropriate nor effective for relationships characterized by severe abuse.

O'Leary found that mildly abusive men scored high on personality tests for impulsiveness, a readiness to defend oneself, aggression, suspicion of others, and a tendency to take offense easily. Men in treatment programs for abuse—generally extremely abusive men—usually have been diagnosed with serious psychological disorders, including schizoid/borderline, narcissistic/antisocial, and possessive/dependent/compulsive personality traits. These men were significantly different from men who were in bad marriages but were not abusive. O'Leary contended that these findings are evidence of a strong psychological component to abuse rather than a social system that promotes the domination of women.

Some feminist researchers disagree with the concept of distinguishing between types of abuse and theories that link the causes of abuse to the severity of the violence. They consider all violence against women unacceptable, and they reject the idea that the pathological personality characteristics of the perpetrators (serious mental health diagnoses) explain or excuse all of their violent behaviors. Feminist researchers and academics question psychological interpretations of violence that portray batterers as psychologically different from the rest of society because many believe that any man has the capability to become a batterer simply by virtue of living in a patriarchal society.