Young Adult Reports of the Victim-Offender Overlap in Intimate and Nonintimate Relationships: A Nationally Representative Sample

• NCJ Number: 254067
• Journal: Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 46 Issue: 3 Dated: 2019 Pages: 415-436
• Author(s): Bruce G. Taylor; Elizabeth A. Mumford; Weiwei Liu; Mark Berg; Maria Bohn
• Date Published: 2019
• Length: 22 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2015-VF-GX-0110
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Award: A Nationally Representative Study of Conflicts, Dyadic Interactions, and the Victim-Offender Overlap

Annotation

Since little is known about the role of conflict management in explaining the victim-offender overlap, the current study assessed the victim-offender overlap for adults (18-32) in intimate and nonintimate relationships, covering their relationship with their partner and with friends and acquaintances/strangers.

Abstract

Controlling for conceptually important variables, the study explored whether different conflict management styles are associated with a respondent being in the victim-only, offender-only, both, or neither group (separately for verbal aggression, physical abuse for intimate and nonintimate relationships, and sexual abuse for intimate relationships). Data are from a nationally representative panel of U.S. households (N = 2,284 respondents of whom 871 women and 690 men report being in an intimate partnership). The study observed a high degree of overlap between victimization and offending across abuse measures. It found a range of modestly consistent risk factors, including conflict management styles and self-control, for the victim-offender overlap for partner and non-partner abuse experiences. (publisher abstract modified)