Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS)

Surveys of Incidence: Conflict Tactics Surveys

Several surveys using the CTS have been completed. They include (a) a nationally representative U.S. sample of 2,143 interviewed in 1974 by Response Analysis Corporation; (b) a survey of spousal violence against women in the state of Kentucky, which interviewed 1,793 women; (c) a second national survey completed by Straus and Gelles in 1985; and (d) a sample of 1,045 for the Province of Alberta, Canada. These were each obtained by a survey that interviews a representative sample drawn from a general population about experiences of being victimized by violence during family conflicts and the type of actions used to resolve [Page 146]these conflicts. These rates refer to the use of violence at any time in the marriage and may include both unilateral and reciprocal violence. Straus reported approximately equal perpetration rates by gender. This common measure enables some direct comparison between these surveys.

Kennedy and Dutton used a combination of face-toface meeting and random-digit dialing techniques to survey 1,045 residents in Alberta, Canada, leading to a comparison of American and Canadian rates of wife assault. The “minor” violence rates for the two countries are virtually identical, but the American “severe violence” rates were higher than the Canadian rates. By way of comparison with these North American data, Kim and Cho reported that the Korean intimate partner violence rate was 37.5% for wife assault (any violence) in the preceding year versus 11.6% reported by Straus et al. In 1985, Fumagai and Straus found a lifetime incidence of wife assault in Japan of 58.7% versus 22% in the United States.

Fals-Stewart, Birchler, and Kelley asked 104 men in a spousal violence treatment program and their partners to keep a weekly diary identifying days of physical aggression and a daily CTS checklist for violence. Male-to-female agreement on “violence days” was better after treatment than before, perhaps because couples were aware of tracking. Interestingly, the women were violent on more days than the men, regardless of whose report was read.

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