Psychology of Women Quarterly, 23 (1999), 195-198. Printed in the United States of America.

COMMENTARY

MULTIDIMENSIONAL ASSESSMENT
OF WOMAN BATTERING
Commentary on Smith, Smith, and Earp

Mary Ann Dutton

George Washington University

Based on my experience as a domestic violence researcher, clinician, and forensic

consultant, current methods of measurement are inadequate to capture a full
understanding ofthe phenomena of battered women's experience. The reconceptu-
alization of woman battering offered by Smith, Smith, and Earp (this volume)
begins to fill a gap in research-and-assessment approaches to the problem of
domestic violence. This commentary to Smith et al. addresses three major issues:
(a) the importance of reconceptualizing battering as defined only by a series of
discrete events, (b) the importance of a multidimensional assessment that includes
measurement of discrete events along with an evaluation of battered women's
experience, and (c) the continuity or developmental progression of battered victims'
experience over time.

BATTERING IS MORE THAN A SERIES OF DISCRETE EVENTS

Smith et al. have correctly identified an important problem in the measurement

of woman battering: It is more than a series of discrete events. It is a pattern of
ongoing, continuous or continual, sometimes escalating, coercive control (Ganley,
1991) that may include acute episodes of physical or sexual assault, as well as more
diffuse psychologically abusive behaviors. Defining battering as discrete behavior
alone decontextualizes it. Thus, as Smith et al, note, the problem of neglecting
gender in the analysis of domestic violence follows from defining battering as a
discrete event. If battering is merely the occurrence of a defined set of behaviors,
then gender becomes irrelevant. Some data suggest that the problem is similar for
men and women (cf. Straus, 1990), however, other data indicate that women are
much more likely than men to become victims of violence by intimates (Zawitz,

Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Mary Ann Dutton, 5507 Spruce Tree Avenue,
Bethesda, MD 20814. E-mail: Mad@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu

Published by Cambridge University Press 0361-6843/99 $9,50 195

196 DUTTON

1994). In either case, "injuries must be measured separately from the acts that
produce those injuries" (Straus, 1990, p. 79) as these data reflect very different
patterns across gender than do data on violent acts. Women are injured at a
rate 7.5 times greater than are men (Straus, 1990). Among the 1994 emergency
department violence-related injuries from a spouse/ex-spouse, rates for women
(88,400) were 5.7 times greater than rates for men (15,400), whereas injuries to
women from a boy/girlfriend (116,000) were 4.9 times greater than for men (23,600)
(Rand, 1997).
Smith et al.'s criticism that assessing battering as discrete events necessarily
places emphasis on a narrow time frame is not necessarily true. For example, a
focus on the chronology of discrete events over time—even over 30 years of an
abusive marriage—can still involve a focus on discrete events. The discrete-events
approach does create a related problem of how to define the endpoints of battering,
however. The onset of physical beating by one partner in the relationship may
occur as an escalation of months or years of intimidation, emotional abuse, or other
types of psychological abuse. Alternatively, the first physical blow with an object
by one partner may follow a period of extreme controlling behaviors by the other
partner. In both cases, the onset of battering or domestic violence actually began
long before the first discrete act of physical violence. Likewise, imphcit or explicit
verbal and nonverbal threats continuing long after the last discrete episode of
physical assault often keeps the threat of danger and, thus, the battered person's
fear a reality. Even though an actual physical assault may not have recently occurred,
the less discretely defined acts of control and intimidation maintain the threat value
of physical assaults. Thus, the definition of battering as discrete acts of violence
by the batterer precludes examination ofthe battered victim's experience as devel-
oped over time and as defined by threats, intimidation, and control, as well as
discrete physical and sexual assaults.

BATTERING IS ALSO A SERIES OF DISCRETE EVENTS

The approach to "reconstructing the conceptualization" of battering, and therefore

its measurement, taken by Smith et al. appears to be dichotomous: It is about
battered victims' experience and it is not about events or behavior. In this section,
I make the argument that battering is indeed about both and, further, that we
need to measure both (and more) in order to fully capture battered women's
experience in our measurement approaches.
For purposes of research, clinical intervention, criminal prosecution, civil litiga-
tion, and policymaldng, we need to consider a range of dimensions related to
battering, not simply shift the focus from the perpetrator's behavior to the victim's
experience. We not only need to develop measures for multiple dimensions ofthe
battering phenomena, but to do so using multiple methods from varying perspectives
(Dutton, 1992; Gondolf, 1998).
Relevant dimensions of victims' experience include perceptions and other cogni-
tions about the violence and abuse; strategies for attempting to resist, avoid, protect
from, and stop the violence; and the psychological effects, health consequences,
economic outcomes, and social consequences of violence (Dutton, 1993). Shifting
Multidimensional Assessment of Woman Battering 197
the focus of measurement of battering solely to victims' experience, however, risks
failing to recognize the actor in the battering scenario as accountable for his/her
actions in whatever context they occur. It is necessary to understand the nature of
the violence and abusive behavior along with the victim's experience of it.
But what are the relevant dimensions of battering that are important to measure?
Dimensions of battering that are routinely measured include the nature or type
of abuse, for example, physical, sexual, psychological, and abuse to property or
pets (Ganley, 1981); the frequency or pervasiveness of violent and abusive conduct;
the level of severity of the act; the severity of injury; and the context in which the
violence or abusive behavior occurred (e.g., in front of others, in the home vs. in
public, when the victim is otherwise vulnerable such as soon following childbirth
or when injured) (Dutton, 1992). The batterer's behavior and the victim's experience
of it are both essential dimensions for understanding the overall phenomenon of
domestic violence: Alone, each provides an incomplete picture. The Women's
Experience with Battering Scale (WEB) provides a new approach for capturing
battered victims' experience, but it should not be used to the exclusion of informa-
tion about the battering behavior. Without information about features ofthe batter-
ing behavior, the battered victims' experience as measured using the WEB cannot
be considered in the context of the various dimensions of the events leading to
their experiences (e.g., duration of violence in the relationship, developmental stage
of relationship in which the battering occurred, potential life threat of the violent
behavior). This perspective is necessary for understanding the factors that determine
individual differences in battered victims' experience.

THE CONTINUITY OR DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRESSION

OF BATTERED VICTIMS' EXPERIENCE

The WEB Scale provides an approach to measurement of battered victims' experi-

ence that taps several important dimensions: perceived threat, managing, altered
identity, entrapment, and disempowerment. These dimensions reflect a battered
victim's self-reported perceptions of her own experience at a given point in time,
and in this way the WEB will make an important contribution. We need to recognize
the static nature of most measurement tools, however, including the WEB. What
the WEB cannot do, as presented, is to provide an understanding ofthe development
of the battered woman's experience over time.
The transtheoretical model of behavioral change apphed to battered women
posits that attempts to overcome the abuse in their lives reflects a process of
change defined by cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components (Brown, 1997).
Battered women's perceptions of their battering experience, as well as their efforts
to resist, avoid, escape, and stop the violence and abuse change over time, as do
batterers' behaviors (and other concurrent nonviolent behaviors of batterers). Based
on this approach (Brown, 1997) battered victims' experience will vary as they
move, for example, from attempts to "help" the batterer stop his violence through
counseling or other means to contemplating an end to an abusive relationship to
actively seeking separation or divorce. Similarly, as the batterer's behavior escalates
from slapping and pushing to choking and use of a weapon, no doubt, the battered
198 DUTTON

woman's experience of ttie violence changes accordingly. As new methods of assess-

ing battered women's experience are developed, we need to keep in mind that
their experience continues to be shaped not only by the batterer's behavior, but
also by the economic and tangible resources available to them, the social and
cultural context in which the violence and abuse occurs, the response of others
within the battered victim's social network, and by the individual characteristics
of battered women (Dutton, 1997).
In sum, the WEB offers an important new direction for assessing battered
women's experience of battering. It should complement, not replace, other assess-
ment methods that focus on batterer behavior—both discrete and diffuse—as well
as the social context in which the battering occurs. Finally, it is imperative to
recognize that battered women's experience is not static and to strive for the
development of measures of that experience that reflect the process of change
over time.

REFERENCES

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