Six classes of students attending private parochial high schools were matched according to geographic and grade level variables and were randomly assigned as intact groups to view either a film concerning wife abuse or a neutral control film. The experimental film had no significant impact on attitude ratings given for the two most common student-generated situations of abuse: the intoxicated husband and the unfaithful wife. Correlational assessments between demographic variables and attitude ratings revealed that greater suspicion of abuse was associated with higher justifiability ratings for the intoxicated husband situation. Estimations of higher frequencies of spouse abuse were associated with higher justifiability ratings for the unfaithful wife situation. Results are discussed in light of current wife abuse education programs and prevention strategies.
This research was conducted as part of the author's thesis which was in partial fulfillment of a Master of Arts degree in Psychology at The American University, Washington, D.C., and was presented at the 1984 meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Baltimore, M.D.
I would like to thank Dianne Chambless, Elliott McGinnies, Carolyn Sparks, and Brian Yates for their comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript; and Scott Parker and Gary Brosvic cor their assistance on the statistical analyses; also Chris Stewart for her assistance in the data collection.