ABSTRACT
Hamberger (2005) found that women initiate violence as often as men. However, they also found that women were disproportionately victimized by partner violence compared to men. A meta-analysis of over 80 studies found that women were slightly more likely than men to use partner violence (Archer, 2000). Straus (1999) found that men and women perpetrate intimate partner abuse about equally. However, men inflict far more injury (Archer, 2000). Few female-tomale assaults come to the attention of the courts, so many surveys and research underestimate the occurrence of female-to-male partner aggression. A number of studies have suggested that women’s aggression is primarily self-defensive or reactive in nature (Berk et al., 1983; Saunders, 1986). However, the motivations of women arrested for intimate partner violence in some cases involve the desire to control or cause harm, especially among those women with a prior history of violence (Babcock, Miller, & Siard, 2003; Hamberger et al., 1997).
