The Social Context of Physical Aggression Among Adults

Abstract

Adult respondents to a telephone survey who had been involved in an incident of physical aggression in the past 12 months were asked open- and closed-ended questions regarding the social context of the most recent incident. Incidents that occurred in bars were more likely to involve male participants, drinking by the respondent and opponent, more than two participants, and low emotional impact. Incidents in public places also tended to involve males and drinking by the opponent. Aggression in social gatherings occurred primarily among friends or acquaintances and was reported equally often by males and females with most incidents involving both genders or males only. Incidents in the home were more likely to be reported by females than males and tended to occur between intimate couples, involve only two participants, and have high emotional impact. The usefulness of a contextual approach for developing a better under-standing of naturally-occurring aggression is discussed.

Apparent motives for aggression in the social context of the bar.

“…Specifically, 22.5% of aggressive patrons were female (excluding those using only defensive intent) which is almost identical to the proportion (23%) of female offenders found by Krienert and Vandiver (2009) in their analyses of data from the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Incident-Based Reporting System on assaults committed in a bar setting. Consistent with previous research suggesting that men engage in aggression primarily with other men (Graham et al, 2002), especially in bars (Dyck, 1980;Graham & Wells, 2001;Homel & Clark, 1994;Roberts, 2007), male-to-male aggression was the most common gender combination. The second most frequent combination was malefemale, perhaps reflecting the frequency of unwanted sexual overtures in the highly sexualized dance clubs included in the present study .…”

Apparent motives for aggression in the social context of the bar.

“…Specifically, 22.5% of aggressive patrons were female (excluding those using only defensive intent) which is almost identical to the proportion (23%) of female offenders found by Krienert and Vandiver (2009) in their analyses of data from the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Incident-Based Reporting System on assaults committed in a bar setting. Consistent with previous research suggesting that men engage in aggression primarily with other men (Graham et al, 2002), especially in bars (Dyck, 1980;Graham & Wells, 2001;Homel & Clark, 1994;Roberts, 2007), male-to-male aggression was the most common gender combination. The second most frequent combination was malefemale, perhaps reflecting the frequency of unwanted sexual overtures in the highly sexualized dance clubs included in the present study .…”

Domestic Violence: Research and Implications for Batterer Programmes in Europe

“…Studies (e.g., Chermack et al 2001Graham et al 2002;Hird 2000;Katz et al 2002), including several longitudinal ones (Capaldi et al 2004;Ehrensaft et al 2004;Moffitt et al 2001;Serbin et al 2004) published after Archer's (2000) analysis also find the same pattern. Although much of the available data comes from the US, there are some data from European studies.…”

The long‐term effect of lockouts on alcohol‐related emergency department attendances within Ballarat, Australia

“…While lockouts might reduce the number of people moving between venues, there remains no clear evidence that this reduces violence, particularly at closing time. This also fails to address other related concerns, such as the availability of transport [39], and suggests more comprehensive responses, including intelligence‐based policing [15], whole of community mobilisation [40,41] and better trained staff [42,43]. While the findings from the current study demonstrate little effect over the long term from the introduction of a lockout, there is a lack of comprehensive evaluations of these types of interventions, and much more research is required [44].…”

Apparent motives for aggression in the social context of the bar.

“…Specifically, 22.5% of aggressive patrons were female (excluding those using only defensive intent) which is almost identical to the proportion (23%) of female offenders found by Krienert and Vandiver (2009) in their analyses of data from the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Incident-Based Reporting System on assaults committed in a bar setting. Consistent with previous research suggesting that men engage in aggression primarily with other men (Graham et al, 2002), especially in bars (Dyck, 1980;Graham & Wells, 2001;Homel & Clark, 1994;Roberts, 2007), male-to-male aggression was the most common gender combination. The second most frequent combination was malefemale, perhaps reflecting the frequency of unwanted sexual overtures in the highly sexualized dance clubs included in the present study .…”

Domestic Violence: Research and Implications for Batterer Programmes in Europe

“…Studies (e.g., Chermack et al 2001Graham et al 2002;Hird 2000;Katz et al 2002), including several longitudinal ones (Capaldi et al 2004;Ehrensaft et al 2004;Moffitt et al 2001;Serbin et al 2004) published after Archer's (2000) analysis also find the same pattern. Although much of the available data comes from the US, there are some data from European studies.…”

The long‐term effect of lockouts on alcohol‐related emergency department attendances within Ballarat, Australia

“…While lockouts might reduce the number of people moving between venues, there remains no clear evidence that this reduces violence, particularly at closing time. This also fails to address other related concerns, such as the availability of transport [39], and suggests more comprehensive responses, including intelligence‐based policing [15], whole of community mobilisation [40,41] and better trained staff [42,43]. While the findings from the current study demonstrate little effect over the long term from the introduction of a lockout, there is a lack of comprehensive evaluations of these types of interventions, and much more research is required [44].…”

Apparent motives for aggression in the social context of the bar.

“…Specifically, 22.5% of aggressive patrons were female (excluding those using only defensive intent) which is almost identical to the proportion (23%) of female offenders found by Krienert and Vandiver (2009) in their analyses of data from the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Incident-Based Reporting System on assaults committed in a bar setting. Consistent with previous research suggesting that men engage in aggression primarily with other men (Graham et al, 2002), especially in bars (Dyck, 1980;Graham & Wells, 2001;Homel & Clark, 1994;Roberts, 2007), male-to-male aggression was the most common gender combination. The second most frequent combination was malefemale, perhaps reflecting the frequency of unwanted sexual overtures in the highly sexualized dance clubs included in the present study .…”

Domestic Violence: Research and Implications for Batterer Programmes in Europe

“…Studies (e.g., Chermack et al 2001Graham et al 2002;Hird 2000;Katz et al 2002), including several longitudinal ones (Capaldi et al 2004;Ehrensaft et al 2004;Moffitt et al 2001;Serbin et al 2004) published after Archer's (2000) analysis also find the same pattern. Although much of the available data comes from the US, there are some data from European studies.…”

The long‐term effect of lockouts on alcohol‐related emergency department attendances within Ballarat, Australia

“…While lockouts might reduce the number of people moving between venues, there remains no clear evidence that this reduces violence, particularly at closing time. This also fails to address other related concerns, such as the availability of transport [39], and suggests more comprehensive responses, including intelligence‐based policing [15], whole of community mobilisation [40,41] and better trained staff [42,43]. While the findings from the current study demonstrate little effect over the long term from the introduction of a lockout, there is a lack of comprehensive evaluations of these types of interventions, and much more research is required [44].…”