The Impact of Gender on Perceptions of Emotional Abuse

Abstract

Emotional abuse is not a saturated research topic in the field of psychology, specifically studies focusing on its frequency in intimate relationships. The occurrence of emotional abuse in intimate relationships is high "with rates ranging from 56% to more than 90% in studies focusing on the current or most recent dating relationship" (Simonelli & Ingram, 1998, p. 678). Emotional abuse is an important area of research because of its frequency, consequences for the victim and its potential to predict physical violence in intimate relationships (Murphy & O'Leary, 1989). This study investigates the impact of gender on perceptions of emotional abuse. A sample of undergraduate students from a large southeastern college were asked to read a series of eight counter balanced vignettes; two illustrating covert or mild emotional abuse, two illustrating overt or harsh emotional abuse, two illustrating intermediate emotional abuse between covert and overt abuse, and two neutral vignettes that did not illustrate abuse. One half of the sample read the vignettes where the victim is female and the perpetrator is male, the other half read the exact same vignette where only gender was manipulated; the victim was male and the perpetrator was female. The sample participants were asked to answer twenty-four questions about their opinion pertaining to the relationship of each couple and their situation on a six point Likert scale.

Notes

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Thesis Completion

2005

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Mottarella, Karen

Degree

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Degree Program

Psychology

Subjects

Arts and Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic; Dissertations, Academic -- Arts and Sciences; Psychological abuse

Format

Print

Identifier

DP0021898

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Document Type

Honors in the Major Thesis

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