The Daily. Tuesday, July 25, 2000
An estimated 1.2 million men and women faced some form of violence in their marriage or common-law relationship during the five years up to and including 1999, according to a survey on victimization and spousal violence.
Data from the 1999 General Social Survey show that an estimated 8% of women and 7% of men who were married or living in a common-law relationship during the previous five-year period experienced some type of violence committed by their partner on at least one occasion. This amounts to about 690,000 women and 549,000 men.
While men reported a significant amount of violence, the survey showed that the nature and consequences of spousal violence were more severe for women.
Women in violent unions were more likely than men to report what could be considered more severe forms of violence. For example, women were more than twice as likely as men to report having been beaten and five times more likely to say they had been choked. In contrast, men were more likely than women to report having been slapped, having had something thrown at them, and having been kicked, bitten or hit.
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In addition, women in violent unions were almost five times more likely than men to fear for their lives. They were three times more likely than men to report having been physically injured by the assault, and they were five times as likely to have required medical attention.
Younger women and men, and couples in common-law unions, were at the greatest risk of being assaulted by a spouse or partner. In addition, women and men whose partners were emotionally abusive or who drank heavily were more likely to experience spousal violence than women and men whose partners were not emotionally abusive or who drank moderately or not at all.
Women were more likely than men to report what could be considered more severe forms of violence.
Twenty-five percent of women who experienced violence reported having been beaten on at least one occasion during the five years prior to the survey, more than twice the proportion of men (10%).
Similarly, 20% of women experiencing spousal violence reported having been sexually assaulted, almost seven times the rate of 3% for men. About 13% of women who experienced spousal violence reported having had a gun or knife used against them, or having faced the threat of it, compared with about 7% of men.
Among men, 57% who experienced violence reported having been slapped, compared with 40% of women. About 51% of men experiencing spousal violence said they had been kicked, bitten or hit, compared with 33% of women.
About 40% of women in violent unions reported experiencing some form of physical injury, compared with 13% of men. Similarly, 15% of women said they required medical attention as a result of the violence, compared with 3% of men. Thirty-eight percent of women in violent unions said the abuse or threat of abuse was so severe that they feared for their lives, compared with 7% of men in violent unions.
Severity of spousal violence by sex of victim
| Victims | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Female | Male | ||||
| ('000) | % | ('000) | % | ('000) | % | |
| Total violence by any spouse | 1,239 | 100 | 690 | 100 | 549 | 100 |
| Severity of the violence | ||||||
| Physical injury | 351 | 28 | 279 | 40 | 72 | 13 |
| No physical injury | 858 | 69 | 396 | 57 | 462 | 84 |
| Not stated/Don't know | 30 | 2(1) | 15 | 2(1) | 15 | 3 |
| Received medical attention | 119 | 10 | 104 | 15 | 15 | 3(1) |
| Did not receive medical attention | 231 | 19 | 174 | 25 | 57 | 10 |
| No physical injury | 858 | 69 | 396 | 57 | 462 | 84 |
| Not stated/Don't know | 31 | 3(1) | 16 | 2(1) | 15 | 3(1) |
| Feared for their life | 300 | 24 | 259 | 38 | 41 | 7(1) |
| Did not fear for their life | 904 | 73 | 414 | 60 | 490 | 89 |
| Not stated/Don't know | 35 | 3(1) | 16 | 2(1) | 19 | 3(1) |
| 1 | Coefficient of variation is high (16.6% to 33.3%). |
| Note: | Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding. |
Individuals reported more severe forms of violence at the hands of a former partner than at the hands of a current partner. This could be because individuals might be more likely to leave violent marriages. Or, it may be that individuals in a current violent relationship might not have been as willing to discuss violence as people whose relationship had ended.
Individuals who had had contact with a previous partner in the five years preceding the survey reported more frequent episodes of violence and more serious types of violence. About 26% reported having been beaten, 19% sexually assaulted, 19% choked, and 17% threatened with a gun or knife, or having had a gun or knife used against them.
Men who reported violence by a previous partner were more likely than women to report having been slapped, kicked, bitten or hit, or having had something thrown at them. Women who reported violence by a previous partner were more likely than men to report having been beaten, choked, and sexually assaulted.
Provincial rates of spousal violence against women ranged from 4% in Newfoundland to 12% in Prince Edward Island. Among men, rates of spousal violence ranged from 5% in Newfoundland and Ontario to 9% in Alberta and British Columbia. Other than in Ontario, the differences in provincial rates of spousal violence between women and men were not statistically significant.
In the majority of cases, spousal violence did not consist of an isolated incident. The frequency of violence directed at women by their partners was significantly greater than the frequency of violence directed at men by their partners.
Overall, 61% of people who reported spousal violence had been victimized on more than one occasion during the five-year period prior to the survey.
In addition to exposure to more severe forms of violence, women in violent unions were more likely than men to report repeated victimizations. Sixty-five percent of women who reported being assaulted by a partner said they were victimized on more than one occasion. Twenty-six percent said they were victimized more than 10 times in the five years before the survey.
In contrast, 54% of men who experienced marital violence in the previous five-year period were the targets of more than one such incident, and 13% said it happened more than 10 times.
Younger women and men were at greater risk of experiencing spousal violence than were older people. About 5% of young women under the age of 25 reported at least one incident of violence in a current union during the 12 months prior to the survey, compared with 1% of women 45 and over. Similarly, men 25 to 34 were four times as likely to report an incident of violence than their older counterparts.
The risk of being a victim of spousal violence was also much higher for women and men living in common-law unions. About 4% of those living in a common-law union reported spousal violence during the 12 months before the survey, compared with 1% of those who were married.
Heavy drinking and emotional abuse were two other risk factors associated with higher rates of spousal violence. Twelve-month rates of violence were six times higher for people whose partners drank heavily (five or more drinks on five or more occasions in the past month) compared with those whose partners drank moderately or not at all.
Similarly, five-year rates of violence in current marriages were 10 times higher for women and men who reported emotional abuse compared with those who did not. The difference was more pronounced in relationships that had ended. Five-year rates of violence were 15 times higher for women and 13 times higher for men who reported emotional abuse by a previous partner.
Emotional abuse included name-calling and putdowns, limiting contact with family and friends, harming or threatening to harm others, damaging or destroying property, and preventing access to the family income.
Data from the survey shows that a great number of children witness violence between their parents. In the five years preceding the survey, 37% of spousal violence victims reported that children had either heard or seen at least one episode of violence. This amounted to at least half a million youngsters.
In many cases, children have resided in households where severe acts of violence have taken place. In those households where a child reportedly witnessed the violence, 41% of victims had feared for their lives at some point in the past five years, and 45% of victims had been physically injured.
Children were almost twice as likely to witness violence against mothers as against fathers. In addition, children were most likely to see or hear serious assaults on their mother. In 53% of cases where a child heard or saw a violent incident against their mother, the woman had, at some point, been subject to a threat or an attack so severe that she feared for her life. Also in 53% of cases, the mother had been physically injured.
Comparisons between the 1999 GSS and the 1993 Survey on Violence Against Women point to a decline in the rate of spousal violence against women over time.
About 12% of women reported being assaulted by a spouse in the five-year period prior to the 1993 survey, compared with 8% who reported violence during a similar time period in 1999, a drop which is statistically significant. There was also a slight, but statistically significant, decline in the severity of assaults between these two time periods.
The report, Family violence in Canada: A statistical profile, also contains data on violence against other family members, specifically older people and children.
According to the GSS, seniors aged 65 and over who were residing in private dwellings reported little physical violence. In fact, only 1% of seniors who had had contact with a spouse, adult child or caregiver in the five years prior to the survey indicated they had been physically assaulted by one of these individuals. However, 7% reported experiencing some form of emotional or financial abuse, the vast majority of which was committed by a spouse.
In 1999, according to police-reported statistics, youngsters aged 18 and under were the victims in 24% of assaults reported to a sample of 164 police departments in 1999. They represented a disproportionately high majority (60%) of all sexual assault victims and 20% of physical assault victims. However, in actual numbers there were almost three times as many physical assaults against children and youth as sexual assaults, owing to the higher prevalence of physical assaults overall.
Spousal homicide accounted for 15% of all homicides in Canada during the past two decades, according to data from the Homicide Survey conducted by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. Three times as many wives were killed by their husband as husbands by wives.
Between 1979 and 1998, 1,901 individuals were killed by a spouse - 1,468 women and 433 men. Despite annual fluctuations, the rate of spousal homicide has gradually declined during this 20-year period. This was particularly true for female victims.
The rates of spousal homicide for male and female victims varied across the country. The lowest rates were reported in Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, while the highest rates were in the territories, followed by the western provinces.
Over the 20-year period, a ratio of 3.4 wives (including those who were married, common-law, divorced or separated) were killed for each husband killed. This ratio was highest in New Brunswick, where 7.6 wives were killed for each husband killed, followed by Quebec, where the ratio was 5.5 wives to one husband. The lowest ratios were in the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia.
Alcohol was a contributing factor in spousal homicides. Between 1979 and 1998, there were reports of alcohol or drug abuse, or both, in 39% of spousal homicide cases.
Women under the age of 25 are considered at greatest risk of spousal homicide. Young wives are killed at the rate of 22 per million couples, while husbands under the age of 25 are killed at the rate of 10 per million couples. Husbands used firearms in four out of every 10 spousal homicides, while women in 60% of cases used knives.
The report Family violence in Canada: A statistical profile 2000 (85-224-XIE, free) is now available. The electronic version can be downloaded from Statistics Canada's Web site (www.statcan.ca). From the Products and services page, choose Downloadable publications (free).
For more information or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Information and Client Services, (1-800-387-2231; 613-951-9023), Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.