SOCIOECONOMIC AND COERCIVE POWER WITHIN THE FAMILY

This study investigates whether couples' income and occupational statu s covary with wife and child abuse. The author interviewed 365 battere d and nonbattered women about different facets of family violence and finances and obtained reports from one of their children about abuse i n the home. The author compares the relative influence of overall fami ly resources to resource disparity between women and their partners. A symmetry in income favoring women rather than total family income, pre dicted the men's frequency and severity of abuse toward their wives. O verall combined occupational status of the couple also predicted wife abuse, but disparity in occupations did not. These findings suggest th at income disparity rather than overall poverty contributes to wife ab use. Class standing as indexed by membership in lower-status occupatio ns also is a risk factor for wife buttering. Fathers or stepfathers wh o harm women are also more likely to abuse the children, with few effe cts of income and occupation after partialing out wife abuse. The auth or suggests that a proportion of these men use the children in a polic y of coercion against the mothers. Further gender-bared interpretation s of economic roles and family dynamics are needed to illuminate the c omplex reasons for men's abuse of women and children.