| This study combined quantitative and qualitative methods to help clarify some of the issues surrounding the controversy concerning the nature of violence committed by women and men against their intimate partners. In Part I, the quantitative analysis used data from two national surveys: the 1986 Canadian National Survey and the 1985 American National Survey of Family Violence, both based on measures of physical violence from the Conflict Tactics Scales. Controlling for methodological inconsistencies, a secondary data analysis established comparable intimate violence rates by country and gender. In Part II, information was collected from thirty-three women and men who experienced intimate violence. Central to this qualitative analysis were the perceptions of, and meanings attached to, motives and consequences of intimate violence by the social actors involved.; While this study was guided by the feminist thesis that all social behaviour is shaped by gender and power, the nested-ecological model of intimate violence provided an overarching scheme within various theories appropriate to the different levels of analysis could be employed. At the macro level, the culture of violence theory failed to be supported: intimate violence rates were found to be higher among Canadians relative to Americans, despite higher societal-level violence rates in the United States. Wife-to-husband intimate violence rates exceeded husband-to-wife rates, however, this generalization failed to hold across the life course. At the meso- and exo-system levels, the relational factors proved to be more useful predictors of intimate violence than were resources. The interpretive approach at the micro level revealed that over-dependency by the perpetrator was perceived to be related to a higher likelihood of victimization. Important qualitative gender differences in motives and consequences of violent behaviour were identified.; While both the positivist and the interpretive approaches yielded insights into the central controversy, each approach contributed in different ways. Although the different underlying epistemological assumptions suggest that a full integration of these two approaches is not likely in the near future, if at all, the present study shows that combining the two paradigms can lead to a fuller understanding of intimate violence. |
