The incidence of wife assault in Alberta.

Abstract

Although two national surveys and one regional survey of wife assault incidence in urban and rural populations have been done in the United States, no comparable studies have been done in Canada. Canadian media estimates of wife assault have been based on guesses rather than on empirically based studies. The present study obtained a representative sample for the province of Alberta, with both rural and urban components. Respondents self-reported the use of conflict tactics by and against them during the year prior to the survey. Wife assault rates were higher in urban settings (12.8%) than in rural settings (8.3%). Overall violence rates (of all self-reported aggressive acts) were virtually identical to those found in a 1985 U.S. survey (Straus and Gelles, 1986). Of the U.S. sample, 11.3% reported use of violence against wives, compared to 11.2% of the Canadian sample. However, use of severe violence was less in Canada (assuming Alberta to be representative of Canadian rates), with only 77% of the U.S. incidence rate reported. Methodological issues and directions of current data analysis are discussed.