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Powerlessness and the Need to Control

The Male Abuser's Dilemma

V.A. Medical Center

REBECCA E. PETRIK OLSON

College of St. Benedict

LEAH S. SUBOTNIK

Nevada City, CA

Male abusers who attended a 6-month outpatient Domestic Abuse treatment program and their female partners completed measures of powerlessness and tolerance for being controlled, both before and after the men completed treatment. Before treatment: (a) both men and women felt powerless; (b) men had a very low tolerance for being controlled, and the women tolerated moderate amounts of control; (c) men and women accurately perceived their partners' tolerance for being controlled; and (d) the women perceived the men to be more powerful than the men perceived themselves. Contrary to the study's hypothesis, treatment failed to decrease abusers' powerlessness or to increase their tolerance for being controlled. The most noteworthy indication of change as a result of treatment was a somewhat greater similarity between men's and women's perceptions of male powerlessness after treatment. The authors speculated that the group therapy treatment program emphasizing shame reduction helped men to acknowledge their powerlessness more openly and consequently move toward decreasing control of their partners.

Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 9, No. 2, 278-285 (1994)
DOI: 10.1177/088626094009002010


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