Wife-bashers usually mentally ill

By Jan Corbett

Feminists see domestic violence as the logical result of a society that says men must not only be dominant, but must be seen to be dominant.

Social biologists argue that it derives from natural impulses that overtake men when they find, or suspect, that their wives have been unfaithful.

Still others see it as an expression of the stresses of living together.

But as Dunedin researchers led by Dr Phil Silva point out, none of the grand theories about domestic violence explains why most people do not assault their partners.

The goal of the Dunedin research is to identify factors that make someone into a partner-basher.

It found that 88 per cent of men with a history of violence in the home suffer from a mental illness. Indeed, they are 13 times more likely to be mentally ill than men who are not violent.

They also grew up in poor homes with disturbed family relationships, and did badly at school.

Similarly, violent women were found to come from broken homes or homes with intense parental conflict, and to have suffered harsh discipline.

Interestingly, poverty or poor school achievement were not factors for these women.

Predominant for both sexes was a record of violent offences before the age of 15. The Dunedin study found a strong link between violence inside and outside the home.

For instance, 51 per cent of the men convicted for violent offences had also been violent to their partners.

What the authors call one of the most worrisome findings is that very young mothers are twice as likely as other women to be abused by a partner. Worrisome, because the abuse pattern will be transmitted to the children witnessing it.

What might be true of 21-year-olds, though, bears little relation to what happened to "Kate" after 20 years of happy marriage.

The trouble started when she returned to her former career.

Her husband, popular and successful in his own profession, "felt threatened because I was getting more independent. It was threatening his sense of control."

He started throwing her books around the room, complaining about the ideas they were putting into her head.

When he began drinking more heavily, the attacks became physical.

He punched Kate in places where the bruises would never be seen, once throwing her across the room, splitting her head open.

"We were two professional people," she says "hiding this from the world."