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Open Access Knowledge and Scholarship

Date of Award

5-2015

Culminating Project Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Marriage and Family Therapy: M.S.

Department

Community Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy

College

School of Health and Human Services

First Advisor

Manijeh Daneshpour

Second Advisor

Jennifer Connor

Third Advisor

Elizabeth Scheel-Keita

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Abstract

The present study compared the differences in severity of violence and number of injuries of couples between couples with reciprocal violence and non-reciprocal violence in Arequipa, Peru. Two hundred and eighty adults of both genders, who were married and/or cohabiting with a partner at the time of the study participated. The sample was obtained from three districts in Arequipa city and participants were approached and interviewed at their homes. They completed a socio-demographic questionnaire and the Conflicts Tactics Scale Revised, which included questions about physical abuse incidents perpetrated by both partners. Sixty one percent of the participants reported reciprocal violence, and 11.4% of the participants reported non-reciprocal violence in their relationship. The results showed significant differences between reciprocally and non-reciprocally violent couples in minor (t = -11.77, p<.001) and severe (t = - 9.03, p<.001) physical abuse incidents, and also in minor (t = -7.02, p<.001) and severe (t = - 4.83, p<.001) reported injuries. Participants in reciprocally violent couples reported more incidents of minor and severe physical abuse and more minor and severe injuries.

Comments/Acknowledgements

The completion of the present study would not have been possible without the support of many individuals. I would like to thank my thesis committee members, Drs. Manijeh Daneshpour, Jennifer Connor, and Elizabeth Scheel-Keita whose guidance was necessary to reach the objectives of the present study. I would also like to thank Aurum, S. A. C. in Arequipa, Peru and their survey taking team, in particular Paul Silva for their services, without which this thesis would have impossible to complete. A special thanks goes also to Ximena Romero, who accepted being my coordinator for the study in Peru. I would like to show my appreciation to the St. Cloud State Student Research Grant Committee for awarding me a grant to fund the study, and which made it possible for me to obtain the data for this research study in Peru.

Finally, I would like to thank my family, who despite of being in Peru during the process always showed me their support and encouragement, which made this and many of my other personal goals possible.

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