Sex roles and women's response to courtship violence

Abstract

Attempts to distinguish women who have experienced courtship violence from those who have not based on their sex role characteristics have been unsuccessful. A possible explanation for this failure is that sex roles may better explain a woman's response to violence than predict her victimization. This study examined the impact of a woman's sex role attributes (masculinity) and attitudes (modernity) on the length of time she remained with a former premarital partner after his first use of violence against her. Masculinity was not related to how long a woman stayed with a violent partner. The more modern a woman's sex role attitudes, the shorter the time she remained in the violent relationship. A further descriptive analysis suggested that this relationship may hold only for women who had experienced just one episode of violence. The implications of these findings are discussed, along with the methodological advances and limitations of this study. Finally, recommendations are made for future research.