Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore female aggression towards heterosexual partners. This study addressed the relationship between anger and relationship violence among women, the relationship between gender role attribution and relationship violence among women, and the relationship between gender role attribution and anger. Overall, it was found that women act more violently within their relationships when they tend to be angry by nature (Trait), when faced with situational anger (State), and when they hold a perception of themselves as stereotypically less feminine. Results also revealed that women who have higher levels of trait anger tend to hold a perception of themselves as stereotypically less feminine. In addition, results revealed that higher levels of both Trait and State Anger were positively correlated with more acts of psychological and physical violence. Additional post-hoc analyses indicated that ethnicity had a significant impact on physical violence within a relationship. Specifically, results showed that African-American respondents reported more acts of physical violence than Caucasian, Hispanic, and Asian respondents. Further analyses revealed that women who reported low femininity scores also reported using more acts of physical and psychological violence, within an intimate relationship, than women that reported high femininity scores. Finally, results revealed that the longer a woman was involved in an intimate relationship, the more likely she was to engage in relationship violence. The majority of research on intimate partner violence focuses on the traditional definition of domestic violence, men as the perpetrators and women as the victims. Many domestic violence programs exist; however, they are not geared towards the special needs of women and the unique characteristics of female aggression. Treatment services need to be developed to address issues including dual roles (homemaker and wage earner), special needs of single parents, gender inequalities, gender discrimination, etc. Programs would need to include violence education, anger management, healthy relationship education, tolerance/coping skills, time management skills, access to community resources, and so forth. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).