Conflict, Reasoning, and Couple's Marital Violence: A Re-examination of the Evidence

Abstract

Murray Straus is the leading researcher in the area of family violence. He conducted a study in 1976 of 2,143 American families. Following the study, Straus and his co-workers wrote the book �Behind Closed Doors� in which they gave the results and important findings from the study. Straus briefly touches on the subject of couples using reasoning to deal with conflict and reduce violence. He concludes that reasoning increases the positive correlation between conflict and violence. I found this to be incorrect. I discovered that Straus had many problems with the way he came upon this particular finding; he interpreted his data improperly and used an invalid and unreliable scale to measure reasoning. The data obtained by Straus reveals that the percentage of couples that were ever violent in any manner increases as the use of reasoning increases. In my analysis, I obtained data on the mean average level of violence. I believe this is accurate. The variables in Straus�s reasoning scale are not reliable in that they could possibly be measuring different events depending on how a person interprets them. I reduced the reasoning scale to one easily understandable variable. This variable measures how often a couple tries to discuss their problems calmly with one another. My analysis reveals that the correlation between violence and conflict does not increase as reasoning increases. Also, reasoning actually reduces a couples average level of violence. Therefore, my conclusion is that reasoning out ones� conflicts is a useful tool in diminishing the tendency of family conflicts to cause violence in marriages.