| The military defines partner violence as violence or threats between marital partners. Some of the Armed Services have included emotional abuse. Official reports indicate a prevalence of partner violence between 8.0% and 10.5% of married military couples. When incidents in the military are reported in the media, the headlines invariably claim that the same culture which produces heroes is blamed for creating men who beat, abuse, and kill their wives.; While there is anecdotal evidence, there is little empirical evidence addressing the role military culture and training have on perpetration of partner violence. This research was guided by an ecological framework. The aims of the study were to answer the following research questions: (1) What are the relationships between hypermasculinity, salivary testosterone levels, attitudes toward intimate partner violence, group cohesion, and selected demographic variables? (2) What is the effect of 10 weeks of U.S. Army Basic Training on soldiers' attitudes toward intimate partner violence, hypermasculinity characteristics, and testosterone levels compared to peers without 10 weeks of basic training and to peers not in the military? (3) What variables are most predictive of attitudes toward intimate partner violence?; Study participants included young men, ages of 18 and 25 years. One group was attending army basic combat training (boot camp), another group was in the process of enlisting in the army, and a third group were predominantly college students. A quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design was used. The Group Environment Questionnaire (group cohesion), the Auburn Differential Masculinity Inventory (hypermasculinity characteristics), the Inventory of Beliefs about Wife Beating (attitudes toward intimate violence), and the short version of the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (alcohol use) were used to measure study variables. These instruments are widely used and demonstrate strong reliability and validity. Testosterone levels were measured using competitive immunoassay. Correlations, repeated measures ANOVA and regression indicated a relationship between hypermasculinity, alcohol use and attitudes toward intimate partner violence. There was a significant change in attitudes toward intimate partner violence after basic training with the scores decreasing. Basic training appeared to increase hypermasculinity, but contrary to popular belief, those attitudes become less tolerant of partner violence. |
