Why do men insult their intimate partners?

Author(s)

W.F. McKibbin
A.T. Goetz
T.K. Shackelford
L.D. Schipper
Valerie G. Starratt, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2007

Publication Title

Personality and Individual Differences

Volume

43

First Page

231

ISSN

0191-8869

Last Page

241

Abstract/Excerpt

Men sometimes insult their intimate partners and these insults predict intimate partner violence. No research has investigated the function of men’s partner-directed insults. We hypothesize that men’s partner-directed insults are designed to retain their long-term mate and, therefore, that men’s use of partner-directed insults will covary with other mate retention behaviors. Using the mate retention inventory and the partner-directed insults scale, we conducted two studies to test this hypothesis. Study 1 included 245 men who reported their mate retention behaviors and partner-directed insults. Correlations and multiple regression analyses documented the predicted relationships between men’s partner-directed insults and mate retention behaviors. Study 2 included 372 women who reported their partner’s mate retention behaviors and insults that their partner-directed at them. The results replicated the results of Study 1. Discussion highlights future directions for investigating the relationships between men’s partner-directed insults and mate retention behaviors.

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.11.027

NSUWorks Citation

McKibbin, W., Goetz, A., Shackelford, T., Schipper, L., Starratt, V. G. (2007). Why do men insult their intimate partners?. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 231-241.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/1183