Conflicts between a married couple bring about impacts upon the family. As divorce rate surges, numerous researches have pointed to the confrontations between husband and wife as the highly relevant contributing factor. Domestic violence has gone from bad to worse over the past few years as well. This study is aimed to identify different levels of physical violence resulting from arguments between married female teachers and their husbands. It further explores the influence of the wife¡¦s altruistic or egoistic attitude on marital conflicts. Some married female elementary school teachers in Kaohsiung City have been chosen as the subjects of the study. Research has been done to find the link between the wife¡¦s altruistic/egoistic character and occurrences of domestic violence amidst conflicts. This study also examines how the subjects¡¦ personality traits and other personal backgrounds interplay with egoism or altruism, which determines the likelihood of domestic violence. A conclusion may be drawn that the more egoistic a married female elementary school teacher is, the more likely domestic violence is to erupt amidst conflicts with her husband. On the contrary, the more altruistic she is, the less likely violence is to happen. The severity of domestic violence varies with the teacher¡¦s years of service, the number of children, and the degree she holds. It is noteworthy that the higher degree the husband holds, the more likely the married couple may end up in physical clashes. The number of romantic relationships the subject had prior to the marriage suggests difference in the likelihood of the couple¡¦s arguments ending in violence. Namely, the more relationships she had, the more possible it is for the marriage to witness violent episodes. If the teacher generally gets along well with her husband, they are much less likely to be involved in physical fights when having an argument. Her expectations of the marriage also determine the possibility of violent incidents. In other words, the less she expects of her marriage, the greater the possibility of abusive occurrences, and vice versa. Analyses of the female teachers¡¦ backgrounds help identify contributing factors of domestic violence. Her years of service at school may result in difference in likelihood of violence, but no significant correlation has been detected. However, the number of children, the couple¡¦s highest degree, the number of romantic relationships prior to the marriage, spousal closeness, and her expectations of the marriage are all significant variables in the probability of domestic violence. Married female teachers¡¦ attitudes have been categorized as either altruistic or egoistic in the research to facilitate the analysis of their relevance to domestic violence amidst conflicts between a couple. By means of Chi-square analysis, the subjects can be classified into four types, ranging from extremely suited for matrimonial and familial life to self-centered. Each type has significant contributing factors that determine the significant differences in degrees of domestic violence.

Thesis advisor: Karen Kayser / Abstract As there is an increasing awareness of the occurrence of domestic violence among South Asian immigrants, a need for cultural-sensitive interventions and community education are necessary to break the silence of victims. In order for us to begin the process of breaking the silence, there is need for a paradigm shift that can more accurately capture the experience of South Asian immigrant victims. This paradigm shift requires us to move away from blaming culture for the violence but to look at socialization, acculturation processes and mutuality in relationships as factors that may lead to increased acceptance of abusive tactics in marital conflicts. Using a sample of predominately first generation South Asian immigrants (N= 50), in the United States, the present study investigates the perception of acceptance of a husband's use of abusive conflict tactics to manage marital conflicts. Approximately half of the sample completed online surveys measuring South Asian immigrants' perception of acceptance of marital conflicts and the rest completed a paper survey. Through various statistical analyses such as regression, one-sample t-tests and chi-square, South Asian immigrants demonstrated higher levels of acceptance when it was perceived that the wife violated a social norm and when they perceived the wife as less educated. In addition, South Asian male immigrants who perceived that their own wives were not meeting their needs were more likely to rate the abusive tactics of the husband in the Abusive Conflict Tactics Perception Scale (ACPTS) as acceptable. The findings have implications for domestic violence advocates who are seeking to educate the community on domestic violence by challenging the misperceptions that abuse in marital relations is a direct result of cultural norms rather than socialization that can transcend culture. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

This dissertation examines the discussion that took place during the 19th century surrounding men’s violence against their wives, as well as the contemporary norms and ideas that shaped people’s understanding of, and ability to deal with the problem. The overall objective is to examine how cultural conceptions of gender, class, violence and power (relationships) were created and expressed during the period 1810–1880. I approach this objective through an examination of how men’s violence against their wives was reported and treated as marital conflict, both within local religious arenas (such as church councils and cathedral chapters) and in the Riksdag of the Estates. With a longer diachronic analysis of the discussions in the Riksdag of the Estates con-cerning propositions for changes in the law regarding marital conflict and divorce during the period 1828–1860, the dissertation shows that men’s violence against their wives as well as other forms of male misuse of power were neither made invisible, privatised nor marginalised in the public discussion in Sweden, which previous research has maintained. In contrast to previous research, the dissertation also shows that political attention to wife-beating and the reform work that took place in 19th century Sweden cannot be entirely characterised as a secularised project. The attention politicians directed towards the problem took place in a re-ligious context where the clergy, in practice, through their experience of dealing with wife-beating and other unsatisfactory conditions in marital relations, took the initiative and were instigators in the political process that after the middle of the century brought changes in the law on marital conflict and divorce. The dissertation’s investigations of how marital conflict and violence were dealt with by church councils and cathedral chapters also show how those involved talked about marital conflict based on competing ideas of gender, class, violence and marriage. The dissertation supports previous research that has demonstrated how men’s violence against their wives tended to be made invisible when it was interpreted and dealt with as marital conflict within the religious arenas. However, the results of the dissertation open up for other interpreta-tional perspectives regarding how violence was made invisible in the past, demonstrating that the prevailing understanding of violence that existed through concepts such as conflict and maltreatment may rather have resulted in an exposition of violence, which also included other forms of marital violence and oppression that were not physical. With a starting point in a marital ideology that perceived marriage as being in principle life-long, the intention of the church’s warnings during conflicts was to mediate, even in cases that included men’s vio-lence against their wives. The principal significance was not to make it easier for wives to remove themselves from their husbands’ violence, but to preserve the sanctity of marriage. Despite this, the study of praxis during the period shows that the church councils in particu-lar could assume more flexible and pragmatic attitudes towards the law. In their attempts to find solutions to their congregation’s unsatisfactory state of marital problems, they could even pursue actions that conflicted with legal provisions.