Physical Violence in American Families (1976, 1985)

For the 1976 study, a nationwide sample of 960 males and 1,183 females were interviewed to examine methods of conflict resolution within the family. Information was gathered regarding the following areas: resolution of conflicts between spouses and between parents and children, including detailed information on the development of conflicts resulting in violence, resolution of conflicts in the respondent's childhood family, family power structure, marital closeness and stability, personality, and stress factors.

Data were collected in a 1985 follow-up survey to compare estimates of the incidence of intrafamily physical violence with estimates obtained in an earlier survey,from 1976 . The main component of this survey design was a national cross-sectional survey of adults in the United States who either (1) were currently married or living together, (2) were single parents with children under 18 in the household, or (3) had been married or had lived with a partner of the opposite sex within the past two years. Approximately two-thirds of American households met one of these three requirements at the time of the survey. Another objective of the survey was to generate comparisons of the incidence of intrafamily physical violence by race and ethnicity. Variables in this data collection include number of couples, single parents, and children in the household, respondent's race, ethnicity, sex, age, and marital status, number of persons in the household previously married, years lived in the community, and employment/occupation information.