ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a more accurate national estimate of the incidence of violence among Hispanic families. The Conflict Tactics Scales was used to measure the incidence of parent-to-child and marital violence. Several demographic measures were included in the analysis, because of their association with both ethnicity and family violence. The incidence rates of parent-to-child and marital violence were calculated by ethnicity and the other demographic variables using cross-tabulation and chi-square tests of significance. The demographic differences are discussed here because they point to the possibility that the higher rate of family violence among Hispanics may be spuriously confounded with these demographic characteristics. In the United States, about one-quarter of all murders are of other members of the same family. The most widely used data on crime in the United States are the "crimes known to the police" given in an annual FBI publication, Crime in the United States.
