Date of Award
5-2002
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Abstract
This study surveyed a national sample of 159 professicmal counseling psychologists regarding their perceptions of violence, perceptions of responsibility for violence, and treatment recommendations in response to reading one of four scenarios of domestic violence. The scenarios were identical, with the exception of the gender of the perpetrator and victim and the sexual orientation of the partners. The results did not support the hypothesis that overall perceptions of violence would differ depending on the scenario read. However, women and men who read scenarios of violence perpetrated by someone of the same gender against a female victim had a stronger perception of violence itself and of who was responsible for the violence. Differences between treatment recommendations were found based on scenario read and participant gender. The results suggest that gender role expectations and biases about victims and perpetrators based on their gender accounted for more of the variance in male and female participants responses than did the sexual orientation of the couple depicted in the scenario. Further investigation into counselors' gender role assumptions is strongly recommended, around not only the issue of domestic violence, but regarding other therapeutic issues as well.
Recommended Citation
Pahl, Patricia J., "Counselors' perceptions of violence and treatment recommendations in response to gay, lesbian, and heterosexual domestic violence scenarios" (2002). Theses and Dissertations. 7425.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/7425