Attributional styles of women in marital relationship: A violence perspective

Pages: 1554-1557
Tejbeer Kaur (Department of Psychology, Khalsa College, Patiala)
Inderpartap Singh (Department of Psychology, IGNOU, New Delhi)

Over the past years, there has been a burgeoning interest in gaining better understanding of violent behavior of women. Theories on marital violence stresses the importance of processes both internal and external to the individual in understanding women’s acts of aggression. Research suggests that situational characteristics influence attributions for violent events. Models specific to domestic violence interpret women’s use of violence within the context of their own victimization histories, their experiences of childhood trauma, and the depressive and posttraumatic symptoms that ensue. Women’s status in a gendered society has been also found to play a prominent role in their violent behaviour, with low socioeconomic status, unemployment, poverty, and a lack of educational and vocational opportunities, all heightens women’s risk for behaving violently. The role of women regarding marital violence is economically motivated, undertaken for survival purposes, and as a way of releasing accumulated tension. The present investigation attempted to examine the attributional styles of women. Total Sample comprised 80 women (40 each violent and non-violent), randomly drawn from Patiala city in the age range of 25- 55 years, working professionally. Psychological measure was used to assess attributional styles. Significant t-values indicated differences on various dimensions of attributional styles.