MODELING ACTS OF AGGRESSION AND DOMINANCE AS WIFE ABUSE AND EXPLORINGTHEIR ADVERSE HEALTH-EFFECTS

This study based on data from the Canadian Violence Against Women Surv ey, determined the effectiveness of modeling acts of aggression and do minance as causal indicators of forms of wife abuse and their effects on women's health, including physical injuries, psychopathology, alter ations to the psyche, anger alcohol and drug use, and subsequent gener al health status. When income, education, and age were controlled, abu sed wives who developed psychopathology or used drugs or medications t o cope had poorer longterm health, regardless of when the abuse occurr ed. Health problems were influenced by the frequency of abuse, whether it occurred during pregnancy, and the nature of the abuse, as well as the severing of physical injuries sustained Abuse during pregnancy re sulted in poor er outcomes. The initial estimated model relied on seve rity weights for the acts of physical aggression reported in the liter ature. Through model revision, new estimates of the relative severity of various acts of physical aggression in relation to their likelihood of causing injury are provided.