1. Sex Differences in Aggression Between Heterosexual Partners: A Meta-Analytic Review John Archer Nicole Boyd Radford University

2. Purpose To analyze sex differences in physical aggression and physical consequences within heterosexual relationships - which gender is more likely to be physically aggressive? - which gender is more likely to inflict injury?

3. Issues to Consider How is physical aggression measured? - Conflict Tactics Scale How are physical consequences measured? - victims receiving injury - seeking medical treatment

4. Literature Review 1976-1997 Methods –Electronic Sources- keywords…“marital or dating”, “aggression or violence”, “human sex differences” »Psyc-LIT »DISS »Psyc-Info »BIDS »ISI Science Citation Index »Social Science Citation Index –Hand search for journals

5. Literature Review –Search for unpublished data »Requests from Bulletin of the International Society for Research on Aggression »Requests at international conferences »Requests to authors using CTS data not reporting Studies –Approximately 1549 found –82 were usable

6. Studies to Include must show comparisons of men and women on measures of physical aggression or its consequences in terms of injuries Effect size must be possible to calculate

7. Potential Moderators Independent Variables Source of data Measurement Country Age Sample Marital status Outcome measure Statistic used to calculate “g” Reference period Sex of first author Level of measurement

8. Potential Moderators Dependent Variables Source of data Self-report Partner report Injury inflicted Medical treatment sought

9. Results For Dependent Moderators All studies dCIpkQw Comp- osite -.05-.07/ -.04 <.000182183.1* Self- report -.12-.14/ -.10 <.000181278.4* Partner-.016-.03/.0.0575311.3* Injury.15.12/.18<.000117107.1* Medical treat..08.04/.12<.00011464.8*

10. Results For Dependent Moderators Outliers removed dCIpkQw Comp- osite -.05-.07/ -.04 <.00017599.0 p=.05 Self- report -.14-.17/ -.12 <.00016788.9 p=.06 Partner-.09-.11/ -.07 <.00016178.2 p=.11 Injury.08.04/.11<.00011319.3 p=.08 Medical treatment.05.01/.09<.011016.7 p=.05

11. Results For Independent Variable Moderators Overall…the gender difference is greater when… The study was unpublished 14-22 year olds more female aggression 23-49 year olds more males inflicting injury and treatment sought Female students and homeless women more aggressive than females in the community Single women more aggressive than women cohabitating or married

12. Conclusions Overall, women were significantly more likely than men to have used physical aggression toward their partners Men were more likely to injure their partner Supports the view that measures based on acts and consequences produce different results ******but effect sizes were very small and generalization should be cautioned