The competency of responses given by maritally violent versus nonviolent men to problematic marital situations

The present study was designed to examine the social skills of maritally violent men by comparing the responses offered by violent and nonviolent men to potential marital conflicts. Problematic marital situation vignettes were presented to three subject groups: 22 maritally violent husbands, 17 nonviolent and maritally distressed husbands, and 17 nonviolent and nondistressed husbands. Subjects were asked what they would do or say in each of the situations; their responses were coded for level of competency. Violent men offered responses which were less competent than those offered by nonviolent comparison subjects in certain types of marital situations (i.e., situations involving rejection from the wife, jealousy, and challenges from the wife); the responses offered by violent and nonviolent men did not differ significantly in other types of situations (i.e., situations involving the wife's wanting something from the husband or the wife's teasing the husband). Subjects were also asked what would be the best thing to do in response to a subset of the problematic marital situations; responses were coded for level of competency. In response to this question, violent men offered less competent responses than those offered by either comparison group, suggesting that violent men have difficulty generating competent responses. The theoretical implications of these data are discussed.