Perceptions of Victims and Perpetrators in Same-sex and Cross-sex Intimate Partner Violence Kenneth Brock Lamm, Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Verlaque, Deborah South Richardson, & Georgina Hammock Department of Psychology Georgia Regents University Augusta We examined the impact of sex of perpetrator and sex of victim on perceptions of characteristics of combatants in psychological and physical intimate partner violence. Perpetrators of physical aggression were evaluated more negatively than perpetrators of psychological aggression; male perpetrators and male victims were evaluated more negatively than female perpetrators and victims. ABSTRACT Romantic partners may harm one another using either physical aggression or psychological aggression (Sorenson & Taylor, 2005) Physical aggression (e.g., slapping, punching, hitting) Psychological aggression (e.g., bullying, controlling behavior) The majority of aggression research has focused on physical aggression rather than psychological aggression because it is believed to cause greater harm and injury (0’Leary, 2001) However, 72% of female victims reported that psychological aggression is more harmful than physical aggression (Follingstad, Rutledge, Berg, Hause, & Polek, 1990) Male perpetrators are perceived more negatively than female perpetrators (Capezza & Arriaga, 2008) Aggression perpetrated by males is perceived as more harmful and more aggressive than aggression perpetrated by females (Harris & Knight-Bohnhoff, 1996) Scenarios depicting a female aggressing against a male are perceived as less harmful and less deserving of intervention than those depicting a male aggressing against a female (Hammock et al., 2013) INTRODUCTION Previous studies have focused on intimate partner violence in heterosexual relationships (e.g., Richardson & Hammock, 2007). Thus, gender of perpetrator and gender of victim are necessarily confounded such that effects that appear to be due to gender of perpetrator may actually reflect effects due to perceptions of gender of victim. The current study examines the effects of type of aggression (psychological and physical), sex of perpetrator (male and female), and sex of victim (male and female) on perceptions of characteristics of victims and perpetrators in order to eliminate the confound between gender of perpetrator and gender of victim. Hypotheses: Male perpetrators will be perceived more negatively than female perpetrators Female victims will be perceived less negatively than male victims PRESENT STUDY Participants 170 females and 69 males (Age: M = 23.9 SD = 6.49) African American (30.7%), Caucasian (49.8%), Mixed or Bi-racial (10.8%), Hispanic (4.8%), Asian-American (3.2%), and Other (.8%) Heterosexual (95.2%), Homosexual (2.8%), and Bisexual (1.6%) Study Design 2 (Sex of Participant) x 2 (Sex of Victim) x 2 (Sex of Perpetrator) x 2 (Type of Aggression: Psychological and Physical) with a repeated measure for Type of Aggression Behaviors by Type of Aggression Dependent Variables After reading scenarios, participants evaluated the characteristics of the victim and perpetrator Characteristic evaluations of the victim and perpetrator (e.g., friendly/unfriendly, stable/unstable, trustworthy/untrustworthy, good/bad) averaged to create evaluation index Higher numbers indicate more negative evaluations Cronbach’s alpha values from .83 to .88 METHOD RESULTS Perpetrator Evaluation Perpetrators of physical aggression were perceived more negatively (M = 5.66, SD = 0.23) than perpetrators of psychological aggression (M = 5.24, SD = 0.77), η2 = .22 Male perpetrators were perceived more negatively (M = 5.57, SD = 0.98) than female perpetrators (M = 5.33, SD = 1.00), η2 = .03 Female participants evaluated the perpetrator more negatively than (M = 5.62, SD = 1.01) male perpetrators did (M = 5.28, SD = 0.95), η2 = .06 Female participants evaluated the perpetrator more negatively (M = 5.61, SD = 0.81) than male participants (M = 5.29, SD = 1.12), η2 = .05 Victim Evaluation Victims of psychological aggression (M = 3.87, SD = 0.67 ) were perceived more negatively than victims of physical aggression (M = 3.72, SD = 0.88), η2 = .03 Male victims (M = 3.93, SD = 1.07) were perceived more negatively than female victims (M = 3.66, SD = 0.76), η2 = .04 The interactions revealed that: Male participants evaluated male perpetrators of physical aggression more negatively than they evaluated female perpetrators of physical aggression Male participants evaluated victims of female perpetrators more negatively than female participants did. In the case of physical aggression against a male, participants evaluated male perpetrators more negatively than they evaluated female perpetrators The present study replicated effects revealed in studies of perceptions of intimate partner violence in heterosexual couples in a study in which sex of aggressor and sex of victim were manipulated independently. Male perpetrators are perceived negatively, regardless of the victim’s sex; female victims are perceived less negatively regardless of the perpetrator’s sex. These findings may be useful to those who provide services to victims and perpetrators of intimate partner violence (e.g., social workers, psychologists). DISCUSSION Please request a handout for a list of references REFERENCES 1 Perpetrator Evaluation Type of Aggression by Sex of participant by Sex of perpetrator Physical - Throwing objects - Knocking victim down - Slapping the victim - Grabbing the victim’s face - Pushing the victim’s head into the ground Psychological - Screaming - Calling names - Yelling - Threatening - Financial restriction - Refusing to communicate Perpetrator Evaluation Type of aggression by Sex of victim by Sex of Perpetrator Victim Evaluation Sex of participant by Sex of perpetrator