Abstract

This study aims to identify couple typologies regarding gender ideologies and marital power, and investigate how couple typologies relate to sociodemographic characteristics as well as rates of physical intimate partner violence (IPV). Several theoretical approaches connect marital power and gender ideologies to IPV but emphasize different couple typologies. For example, family violence perspectives suggest gender ideology mismatch is a stressor that increases the likelihood of either spouse reporting low power or engaging in physical IPV. Feminist theories add that men may use IPV to maintain patriarchal power dynamics when women deviate from traditional gender norms, emphasizing the risk of IPV when traditional men partner with egalitarian women. Using data from a nationally representative sample of newly married different-sex couples in the United States, the authors identified latent profiles of partners' gender ideologies and perceived marital power among 1,017 couples. The authors then used multinomial regression to examine how latent profile membership varied by sociodemographic characteristics, and how latent profile membership related to couples' rates of physical IPV. Results showed five latent profiles: High Power, Traditional (8%), Low Power, Moderate (8%), High Power, Moderately Egalitarian (37%), Low Power, Egalitarian (14%), and High Power, Strongly Egalitarian (33%). Several sociodemographic characteristics were significantly associated with class membership. High Power, Traditional, Low Power, Moderate, and Low Power, Egalitarian couples all experienced significantly higher risk of IPV compared to the other two groups. These findings suggest high marital power and egalitarian gender ideologies together may constitute a protective factor against IPV in married couples.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Family Life

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2025-06-05

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd13703

Keywords

gender ideology, gender role attitudes, marital power, latent profile analysis, intimate partner violence

Language

english

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