ABSTRACT
The most important question at the outset is whether the observed decline in marital violence across the life course can be accounted for primarily by cohort effects. An alternative hypothesis for the relationship between age and marital violence is that age affects violence primarily or exclusively through other social factors. The criminology literature suggests two other related reasons for the decrease in violence across age groups that might help to explain the relationship between age and marital violence: the greater cost of deviance; and the greater "stake in conformity". The cohort argument would be supported if the negative relationship between age and marital violence was weaker in 1985 than 1975, as older cohorts that reported very low levels of marital violence were replaced by younger cohorts reporting greater violence. Pressure to conform to norms of nonviolence continues to increase across the life course, contributing to the observed decline in marital violence.
