Women's Use of Aggression Toward Their Former Spouses During Marital Separation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess predictors of women's use of verbal and physical aggression during marital separation among a sample of 147 divorced mothers. The predictor variables examined were women's self-esteem, mastery, attachment style, gender-role identity, and husband's verbal and physical aggression during separation. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that women's psychological characteristics and men's use of aggression toward their wives during separation were predictive of women's use of verbal aggression toward their husbands during marital separation. In addition, women's psychological characteristics and use of verbal aggression toward their husbands during separation and men's use of aggression toward their wives during separation predicted women's use of physical aggression toward their husbands during separation.