The Decision To Leave an Abusive Relationship: The Testing of an Alternative Methodological Approach

Transcription

1 Journal of Family Violence, VoL 5, No. 3, 1990 The Decision To Leave an Abusive Relationship: The Testing of an Alternative Methodological Approach Rebecca J. Erickson 1 and Cynthia K. Drenovsky 2 Most studies that consider the factors influencing the decision to leave an abusive relationship rely on retrospective, self-report data. In addition to the biased samples that are frequently obtained in such investigations, the methodological shortcomings of survey research limit its explanatory power, particularly when applied to such sensitive topics as family violence. This report introduces an alternative method for studying the decision to leave an abusive relationship. Forty-five men and 68 women were studied using an experimental computer game of an abuse-like relationship. The tendency to leave this relationship was measured under four differing conditions of severity and frequency of abuse. A logit analysis revealed that the frequency of abuse was more consequential to women's decisions to leave, while severity of abuse was more salient for men. In addition, the hypothesized model, including frequency of abuse, severity of abuse, and locus of control, fits well for women but not for men. The implications of these findings, as well as the validity and future application of experimental games, are discussed. KEY WORDS: abusive relationships; decision to leave; experimental computer game; experimental method; domestic violence. INTRODUCTION The past two decades have spawned increasing amounts of literature on abusive relationships. A great deal of this research attempts to answer such questions as when, where, and why abuse occurs. Further these investigations 1Department of Sociology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington Department of Sociology, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa /90] / Plenum Publishing Corporation

2 238 Erickson and Drenovsky often provide suggestions regarding how social research, social policy, and social workers might address various dimensions of the problem. Considering the amount of time, effort, and thought that have been directed toward this topic, it is surprising that nearly all the work in this area has relied solely upon selfreport and survey methodology. Those who have specifically studied the victim's decision to leave such relationships are no exception (Gelles, 1976; Kalmuss and Straus, 1982; Martin, 1979; Walker, 1979). This investigation proposes an alternative methodology for the study of abuse. Specifically, we introduce an experimental game which examines the decision to leave an abusive relationship. We do not contend that a controlled laboratory experiment should replace the use of questionnaires for studying the decision to leave an abusive relationship. We merely suggest that such an approach can enhance our theory-building efforts by allowing us to precisely identify and manipulate those variables that self-report data have found to be relevant. As Gelles (1978) indicates, the study of sensitive family topics introduces special problems of sampling, data collection, and validity, among others. In particular, biased sampling procedures (e.g., using data from social welfare agencies, shelters for battered women, and police and court records) associated with family violence research has led to the neglect of men's experiences of being abused (cf. Giles-Sims, 1983; Steinmetz, 1977; Straus and Gelles, 1986) and tells us little about the conditions surrounding men's departure from abusive relationships. To be sure, the physical and psychological effects of abuse are much more severe for most women than they are for men (Stets and Straus, 1990). We thus agree with Straus and Gelles' (1986) cautions concerning the use and interpretation of studies examining wife-to-husband violence. However, given the increase in wife-to-husband violence from 1975 to 1985 (Straus and Gelles, 1986), we find it nonetheless important to examine the usefulness of our theories and contentions when applied to men's decision to leave abusive relationships. The issue of gender generalizability and other problems associated with using surveys in family violence research led us to reconsider the lack of experimental analysis used to investigate these issues. Most opponents of experimental designs argue that such manipulations are unable to replicate the complexity and nuance of family relations. While this charge is legitimate, accusations of excessive simplicity and artificiality do not render the laboratory experiment useless. On the contrary, the purpose of an experiment is not to duplicate the real world, but to simplify it so that precise relationships between variables can be discovered (Verba, 1961). Experimental analyses allow us to specify such variables and their relationships. Moreover, they enable us to examine whether our theories, and the hypotheses drawn from them, are applicable only to women or are pertinent for explaining men's decision-making processes as well.

3 The Decision to Leave 239 The hypotheses tested below are based on exchange (Blau, 1964; Gelles and Straus, 1979; Homans, 1961; Thibaut and Kelley, 1959) and decision theory principles (Gray and Tallman, 1984); the theoretical justification of our experimental game approach is based on game theory (Goldschmidt, 1969; Rapoport, 1969). Both game theory and decision theory examine actors when they are confronted with the necessity of making a decision. As is true for our game, situations that are chosen for a game-theoretic analysis must have simple structures so that decision-making processes can be identified. BACKGROUND From a decision-making perspective, higher levels of frequency and severity of abuse represent higher levels of cost associated with staying in that relationship. Since people try to minimize costs, they will be more likely to leave under these conditions (Gelles, 1976; O'Brien, 1971). Because the laboratory environment enables us to manipulate the severity and frequency of abuse-like punishment, we are able to determine the relative salience of each variable on the decision to leave. Such understanding will give us a more precise explanation of the mechanisms people use to make decisions under these circumstances. Although no investigators have directly examined whether severity or frequency is more salient for the decision to leave, we expect that frequency will tend to be more prevalent. Common sense seems to dictate that being hit everyday will be viewed as more costly than being hit twice a year (despite differences in severity). Rationalization processes for staying will have to be implemented much more frequently in the former case and may thus become less powerful as time progresses. In addition to our investigation of the association between the severity and frequency of abuse and the decision to leave, we also make a preliminary attempt to explain one's propensity to leave a relationship by examining one's locus of control. According to Rotter (1966), internal control refers to a person's expectation that reinforcement is contingent upon his/her behavior or attributes. On the other hand, those person's having an external locus of control contend that their actions will be ineffective because reinforcement is due to luck, chance, fate, or is under the control of powerful others. 3 Hence, we expect that those with a more external orientation will tend to stay in an abusive relationship because they believe that choosing to leave will not greatly affect their 3It needs to be emphasized here that the "objective ~ reality of the situation is not at issue here: a person may or may not have "objective" control over his/her choices. The important factor is that the individual believes that he/she has no control.

4 240 Erickson and Drenovsky outcome. Similarly, we expect that the more internal one's locus of control, the greater one's tendency will be to leave the abusive situation. In summary, this study examines the effect of the severity and frequency of abuse (as operationalized in the next section) on the tendency to leave a relationship. In addition to expecting that the higher the frequency and severity the greater the tendency to leave, we anticipate that frequency of abuse will be more salient to this decision. Finally, we expect that those having an internal locus of control will decide to leave the abusive situation more frequently. METHOD Subjects One hundred and thirteen students in introductory sociology and social psychology courses participated in the experimental game. This sample consisted of 45 males and 68 females ranging in age from 18 to 31 years (mean age of 20.6). As would be expected, most participants were single. Only one person was currently married and only one was divorced. Procedure Each participant was seated at a computer terminal. Before beginning the game, each person completed a "general attitude survey" consisting of the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale (1973). When the participant finished the survey, an investigator executed the game program to begin the computer trials. Instructions indicated that the participant would be playing the game with another student who was also using a campus terminal. The object of the game was for each participant and his]her partner to match the computer's choice of a number (either "1" or "2"). If both players matched the computer's choice, both would receive 50 points; if only one of them matched the computer, both would receive 25 points; and if neither of them matched the computer, no points would be received. The incentive to attain the maximum number of points was a $25 prize for the highest point total. To create an abuse-like situation, each participant was also informed that his]her partner had access to a "special button" which, when used, would result in the participant's loss of points and the partner's gain of those points. Actually, a human partner did not exist; the "partners" were created by the computer program, and it was the program that chose "1" or "2" at random. The use of the "special button" varied in terms of how often it was used (frequency) and how many points were taken from the participant (severity). The "special

5 The Decision to Leave 241 Table I. Frequency and Severity Levels in the Four Experimental Conditions Condition Frequency of Abuse a Severity of Abuse b apercentage of trials in which the "partner" used the ~special button." t'l',lumber of points the partner took away from the participant when the "special button" was used. button" was used 10% of the time in the low frequency condition and 30% of the time in the high frequency condition. The low severity condition took 10 points away from the participant (and gave them to the partner), and the high severity condition took away 30 points. Table I displays the four possible conditions of "abuse." Participants were randomly assigned to a condition. Instructions also informed participants that periodically they would be given an opportunity to leave their present partner for a new one. This operationalized the decision to leave and was presented to the participant after every ten trials of matching choices. The penalty for choosing a new partner was 30 points. This penalty was used to represent the cost inherent in leaving any relationship. 4 The frequency with which the participants chose to leave their present relationship and play the game with a new partner was recorded by the computer. Although persons may have chosen a new partner, their experimental condition (1, 2, 3, or 4) and thus the severity and frequency levels, did not change throughout the 80 trials. Table II displays a summary of the game's rules that appeared on the screen in the low severity, low frequency condition. RESULTS The frequency of choosing a new partner ranged from 0 to 6 with a mean of The sample was split in half at the median to form two groups: those who left their partners and those who did not. Locus of control ranged from 4Because this is the in'st attempt to experimentally evaluate the decision to leave an abusive relationship, the game was kept as simple as possible and thus the cost of leaving was not varied. A more complete version of the game, and one which would be true to the satisfaction balance model of decision-making (Gray and Tallman, 1984) would vary this cost as well as severity and frequency.

6 242 Erickson and Drenovsky Table II. Participant's Summary of Game Rules in the Low Severity Condition Here are five things to remember while playing the game: (1) You win 50 points if you both match the computer. (2) You win 25 points if only one of you match the computer. (3) You win 0 points if neither of you match the computer. (4) Your partner has a special button which will cause you to lose 10 points while your partner will gain 10 points. (5) You will oeeasionauy have the opportunity to change partners at a cost of 30 points. Table m. Logit Analysis of the Odds of Leaving by Sex, Frequency of Abuse, Severity of Abuse, and Locus of Control Men Women Frequency of Abuse Severity of Abuse Locus of Control LRx df p N to 28, with a mean score of 23 (a higher score represented a more internal locus of control). Split at the median, externals were categorized as those who scored between 13 and 23, whereas internals were those scoring between 24 and 28. A logit analysis was employed to determine the effects of severity of "abuse," frequency of "abuse," and locus of control on the tendency for men and women to leave their partners. The results of this analysis appear in Table III. The hypothesized model including severity of "abuse," frequency of "abuse," and locus of control fit very well for women (LRx 2 ~- 0.29), but very poorly for men (LRx 2 = 5.62). The dramatic difference between the fit of the model for each gender suggests that the decision-making processes for men in such relationships may be quite different than that for women. Interestingly, the effects of each variable were in opposite directions for men and women. For women, suffering frequent abuse increases the odds of

7 The Decision to Leave 243 leaving, as opposed to not leaving, by a factor of Female participants were two times more likely to leave in the high frequency of abuse conditions than those in the low frequency conditions, holding all else constant. Our expectation that frequency would be more salient to the decision to leave was supported only for women. For men, severity of abuse was more consequential. The odds of leaving for male participants in the high severity conditions, as opposed to low, increased by a factor of Thus, for women, frequency of abuse had a greater impact on the decision to leave than did severity, whereas for men, severity was more influential than frequency. Finally, the impact of an internal locus of control positively influenced the decision to leave for women but negatively affected that decision for men. In other words, internal women tended to leave the relationship whereas internal men tended to stay. DISCUSSION In attempting to understand the disparate pattern of results for men and women, we need to consider that nearly all previous research on the decision to leave has focused on women. As with other investigators, our expectations were based on these studies. However, unlike previous efforts our experimental design enabled us to observe men's decision-making processes under the same conditions as women's. Our results indicate that men and women perceive and react to these experimental conditions in nearly opposite directions. The divergent, gendered reactions to frequency and severity of abuse may be due to men's socialized expectation of having to suffer a higher amount of cost to achieve their goals. Similarly, the differential impact of locus of control may also be explained by the distinct socialization experiences of males and females. Locus of control is a socialized and culturally bound concept (Buriel, 1981; Crandall and Crandall, 1981; Davis and Phares, 1969; Rotter, 1966). Thus, the same control orientation may lead men and women to define and react differently to the abuse situation. It may well be that males and females, due to their dissimilar socialization experiences, define abusive situations differently. Given that men in American society have historically been taught to "win at all costs," internal men may have defined the choice of changing partners as quitting or giving up and thus chose to influence their outcome by staying to "fight it out." In contrast, internal women recognized a "no-win" situation and took control of their fate by choosing to leave their present relationship in hopes of finding a better partner. The results reported for women lend support to Gelles' (1976) and O'Brien's (1971) findings and add to our understanding of the relative importance of severity and frequency. Further, these results lend preliminary support to the validity of this experimental methodology for replicating survey results

8 244 Erickson and Drenovsky when women are the target population. However, the divergent effects for males and females suggest that future investigations need to account for these differences. The gap between an experimental computer game using college students and a husband or wife being battered in his or her home is very wide. Despite the lack of convergence between the two settings and samples, support was provided for the theoretical importance of gender, frequency, and severity of abuse in the decision to leave the relationship. Our experimental method allowed us to determine that frequency has greater salience than severity in women's decision to leave and that the opposite relationship exists for men. These findings suggest that our middle range theories concerning abusive situations need revision if they are to be applicable for men's decision-making processes as well as women's. In the future, the experimental computer game can be made more complete and more useful for the study of decision-making in abusive situations by more fully considering the costs of staying in or leaving the relationship. A more complete version of the game presented here would include variation in the costs of leaving as well as staying. This added complexity becomes extremely important in light of the abundance of evidence that many women remain in abusive relationships because the economic costs of leaving are overwhelming (Pagelow, 1981; Walker, 1979). The benefits associated with leaving and staying also need to be included in a complete model. Future use of this methodology for studying the decision to leave can also be easily changed to more closely reflect the "real world." Married couples could be sampled rather than college students. Even more simply, dating students could be used. "Real world" settings could also be more closely approximated by developing "simulations" (see examples provided by Cunningham, 1984). One might also explore the effect of being a "victim ~' on subsequent aggressive behavior by changing the role of the participant to that of an "abuser" halfway through the experimental trials. The highly controlled yet inexpensive conditions of the experimental laboratory enable investigators to make relatively small and measurable changes that can have significant effeels on the experimental outcome. Such manipulations are limited only by ethical guidelines and the researcher's creativity. We cannot manipulate severity and frequency of abuse in "real life;" however we can do so in an experimental setting. Using such techniques as a complement to survey research on sensitive topics is valuable. Experimental games such as the one described here allow us to observe the mechanisms underlying difficult decision making processes and to demonstrate how using different methods enriches our understanding of such complex and sensitive family phenomena as the decision to leave an abusive relationship. We hope that this study will lead others to consider using experimental methods Employed in

9 The Decision to Leave 245 conjunction with self-reports, they can help us achieve a greater understanding of this serious social problem. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the annual meetings of the National Council on Family Relations, Philadelphia, November, The authors extend their thanks to Louis Gray, Viktor Gecas, Jan Stets, and Scott Long for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper. REFERENCES Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and Power in Social Life, Wiley, New York. Buriel, R. (1981). The relation of Anglo- and Mexican-American Children's locus of control beliefs to parents" and teachers' socialization practices, child DeveL 52: Crandall, V. C., and C-~andall, B. W. (1981). Maternal and childhood behaviors as antecedents of internal-external control perceptions in young adulthood. In Lefcourt, H. M. (ed.), Research with the Locus of Control Construct, Vol. 2: Developments and Social Problems, Academic Press, New York, pp Cunningham, J. B. (1984). Assumptions underlying the use of different types of simulations. Simulat. Games 15: Davis, W. L., and Phares, E. J. (1969). Parental antecedents of internal-external control of reinforcement. Psychol. Reports 24: Gelles, R. J. (1976). Abused wives: Why do they stay? J. Marr. Faro. 38: Gelles, R. J. (1978). Methods for studying sensitive family topics. Am. J. Orthopsychiatry 48: Gelles, R. J., and Strans, M. A. (1979). Determinants of violence in the family: Toward a theoretical integration. In Burr, W. R., Hill, R., Nye, F. I., and Reiss, I. L. (eds.), Contemporary Theories About the Family, Vol. 1, New York, Free Press, pp Giles-Sims, J. (1983). Wife Battering: A Systems Theory Approach, New York, Guilford Press. Goldschmidt, W. (1969). Cultural values, and the brideprice in Africa. In Buchler, I. R., and Nutini, G. (eds.), Game Theory in the Behavioral Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, pp Gray, L. N., and Tallman, I. (1984). A satisfaction balance model of decision making and choice behavior. Soc. Psychol. Quart. 47: Homans, G. C. (1961). Social Behavior: lts Elementary Forms, Harcourt, Brace and World, New York. Kalmuss, D. S., and Straus, M. A. (1982). Wife's marital dependence and wife abuse. J. Marr. Faro. 44: Martin, D. (1979). What keeps a woman captive in a violent relationship? In Moore, D. M. (ed.), Battered Women, Beverly Hills, Sage, pp Nowicki, S., and Strickland, B. R. (1973). A locus of control scale for children. J. Consult. Clin. PsychoL 40: O'Brien, J. (1971). Violence in divorce prone families. J. Marr. Fam. 33: Pagelow, M. D. (1981). Factor's women's decision to leave violent relationships. J. Fam. Issues 2: Rapoport, A. (1969). Games as tools of psychological research. In Buchler, I.R., and Nutini, G. (eds.), Game Theory in the Behavioral Sciences, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, pp. 129-t47. Rotter, J. B. (1954). Social Learning and Clinical Psychology, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall.

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