We employ two surveys to identify similarities and differences in the risk of abuse among poor urban Mexican-origin women in the United States and Mexico. While the two surveys reveal basic structural similarity in the predictors of partner violence, the rate of violence among Mexican women is far lower than among either foreign-born or native-born Mexican origin women in the United States. While these differences may reflect reality, we argue that survey data must be interpreted cautiously and with an understanding of the cultural, economic, and political context in which the information is collected as well as methodological differences between the surveys.
AbreuJ. M.GoodyearR. K.CamposA.NewcombM. D. (2000). Ethnic belonging and traditional masculinity ideology among African Americans, European Americans, and Latinos. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 1, 75-86.
2.
Alberti ManzanaresP. (2004). Qué es la violencia doméstica para las mujeres indígenas en el medio rural? [What is domestic violence for indigenous women in rural areas?] In Fernández de JuanT. (Ed.), Violencia contra la mujer en México (pp. 19-49). México DF: Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos.
3.
AngelR. J. (2006). Narrative and the fundamental limitations of quantification in cross-cultural research. Medical Care, 44(Suppl. 3), S31-33.
4.
ArciniegaG. M.AndersonT. C.Tovar-BlankZ. G.TraceyT. J. G. (1998). Toward a fuller conception of machismo: Development of a traditional machismo and caballerismo scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55, 19-33.
5.
Borjón López-CoterillaI. (2000). Mujer víctima, mujer victimaria. El caso de la violencia doméstica [Female victim, female victimizer. The case of domestic violence]. México DF: Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos.
6.
CaetanoR.SchaferJ.ClarkC. L.CunradiC. B.RaspberryK. (2000). Intimate partner violence, acculturation, and alcohol consumption among Hispanic couples in the United States. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 15, 30-45.
7.
CasiqueI. (2004). Índices de empoderamiento femenino y su relación con la violencia de género [Indices of empowerment and its relation to gender violence]. In CastroR.RíquerF.MedinaM. E. (Eds.), Violencia de género en las parejas Mexicanas. Resultados de la ENDIREH 2003 (1st ed., pp. 75-107). Mexico DF: Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres.
8.
CastroR.CasiqueI. (2006). Violencia de pareja contra mujeres en México: En busca de datos consistentes [Partner violence against women in Mexico: In Search of consistent data]. In Lozano AscencioR.Del RíoA.Azaola GarridoE.CastroR.Pamplona RangelF.Atrian SalazarM.Híjar-MedinaM. (Eds.), Informe nacional sobre violencia y salud (pp. 123-163). México, DF: Secretaría de Salud & UNIFEM.
9.
CastroR.Peek-AsaC.GarcíaL.RuizA.KrausJ. F. (2003). Risks for abuse against pregnant Hispanic women: Morelos, Mexico and Los Angeles County, California. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 25, 325-332.
10.
CastroR.Peek-AsaC.RuizA. (2003). Violence against women in Mexico: A study of abuse before and during pregnancy. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 1110-1116.
11.
CastroR.RíquerF.MedinaM. E. (Eds.). (2004). Violencia de género en las parejas Mexicanas. Resultados de la ENDIREH 2003 [Gender violence in Mexican couples. ENDIREH 2003 Results]. Mexico, DF: INMUJERES.
12.
CuellarI. (1995). Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II: A revision of the original ARSMA Scale. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 17, 275-304.
13.
CunradiC. B.CaetanoR.SchaferJ. (2002). Socioeconomic predictors of intimate partner violence among White, Black, and Hispanic couples in the United States. Journal of Family Violence, 17, 377-389.
14.
de OliveiraO.GarcíaB. (1992). Jefas de hogar y violencia doméstica [Heads of household and domestic violence]. Revista Interamericana de Sociología, 6, 179-200.
15.
Di NoiaJ. (2002). Indicators of gender equality for American states and regions: An update. Social Indicators Research, 59, 35-77.
16.
Díaz-OlavarrietaC.EllertsonC.PazF.Ponce de LeónS.Alarcón-SegoviaD. (2002). Prevalence of battering among 1,780 outpatients at an internal medicine institution in Mexico. Social Science & Medicine, 55, 1589-1602.
17.
Díaz-OlavarrietaC.SoteloJ. (1996). Domestic violence in Mexico. Journal of the American Medical Association, 275, 1937-1941.
18.
DobashR. E.DobashR. P. (1979). Violence against wives: A case against the patriarchy. New York: Free Press.
19.
FirestoneJ. M.HarrisR. J.VegaW. A. (2003). The impact of gender role ideology, male expectancies, and acculturation on wife abuse. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 26, 549-564.
20.
FirestoneJ. M.LambertL. C.VegaW. A. (1999). Intimate violence among women of Mexican origin: Correlates of abuse. Journal of Gender, Culture and Health, 4, 119-134.
21.
FríasS. M. (2008). Diferencias regionales en violencia doméstica en México: El rol de la estructura patriarcal [Regional differences in domestic violence in Mexico: The role of the patriarchal structure]. In CastroR.CasiqueI. (Eds.), Estudios sobre cultura, género y violencia contra las mujeres (pp. 81-136). Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico: CRIM-UNAM.
22.
FríasS. M. (2009). Gender, the state and patriarchy: Partner violence in Mexico. Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM.
23.
FríasS. M.AngelR. J. (2005). The risk of partner violence among low-income Hispanic subgroups. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 552-564.
24.
García-MorenoC.JansenH. A. F. M.EllsbergM.HeiseL.WattsC. (2005). WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
25.
GarcíaL.HurwitzE. L.KrausJ. F. (2005). Acculturation and reported intimate violence among Latinas in Los Angeles. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20, 569-590.
26.
GellesR. J. (2000). Estimating the incidence and prevalence of violence against women. Violence Against Women, 6, 784-804.
27.
GellesR. J.CornellC. P. (1983). Introduction: An international perspective on family violence. In GellesR. J.CornellC. P. (Eds.), International perspectives on family violence (pp. 1-22). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
28.
GlantzN. M.HalperinD. C.HuntL. M. (1998). Studying domestic violence in Chiapas, Mexico. Qualitative Health Research, 8, 377-392.
29.
GuttmannM. C. (1996). The meanings of macho: Being a man in Mexico City. Berkeley: University of California Press.
30.
Hagemann-White. (2001). European research on the prevalence of violence against women. Violence Against Women, 7, 732-759.
31.
HamptomR. L. (1999). Family violence: Prevention and treatment. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
32.
HarrisR. J.FirestoneJ. M.VegaW. A. (2005). The interaction of country of origin, acculturation, and gender role ideology on wife abuse. Social Science Quarterly, 86, 463-483.
33.
HeiseL. L.García-MorenoC. (2002). Violence by intimate partners. In KrugE.DahlbergL. L.MercyJ. A.ZwiA. B.Lozano AscencioR. (Eds.), World report on violence and health (pp. 89-121). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
34.
Hernández-CastilloA. (2004). El derecho positivo y la costumbre jurídica: Las mujeres indígenas de Chiapas y sus luchas por el acceso a la justicia [Positive law and legal practice: Indigenous women of Chiapas and their struggle for access to justice]. In Torres-FalcónM. (Ed.), Violencia contra las mujeres en contexto urbanos y rurales (pp. 335-377). México, DF: El Colegio de México.
35.
HeymanR. E.Smith SlepA. M. (2002). Do child abuse and interparental violence lead to adulthood family violence?Journal of the Marriage and Family, 64, 684-870.
36.
HirschJ. S. (2003). A courtship after marriage (1st ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press.
37.
Hondagneu-SoteloP. (1992). Overcoming patriarchal constraints: The reconstruction of gender relations among Mexican immigrant women and men. Gender & Society, 6, 393-415.
38.
Hondagneu-SoteloP. (1994). Gendered transitions: Mexican experiences of immigration. Berkeley: University of California Press.
39.
Inegi. (2001). XII censo General de población y vivienda, 2000. Tabulados básicos [XII General Census of Population and Housing, 2000. Basic tabulations]. Aguascalientes, México: Author.
40.
INEGI, & INMUJERES. (2004). ENDIREH: Encuesta sobre la dinámica de las relaciones en los hogares Tabulados básicos [ENDIREH: Survey on the dynamics of relationships within households. Basic tabulations]. Aguascalientes, México: Author.
41.
JanssenE.Martínez CasasR. (2006). Una propuesta para estimar la población indígena en México a partir de los datos censales [A proposal to estimate the indigenous population in Mexico based on census data]. Estudios Demográficos y Urbanos, 21, 457-471.
42.
Kaufman KantorG.JasinskiJ. J.AldarondoE. (1994). Sociocultural status and incidence of marital violence in Hispanic families. Violence and Victims, 9, 207-222.
43.
KraheB.BieneckS.MollerI. (2005). Understanding gender and intimate partner violence from an international perspective. Sex Roles, 52, 807-827.
44.
KraneJ. E. (1996). Violence against women in intimate relations: Insights from cross-cultural analyses. Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review, 33, 435-465.
45.
LevinsonD. (1989). Family violence in cross-cultural perspective. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
46.
LownA. E.VegaW. A. (2001). Prevalence and predictors of physical partner abuse among Mexican American women. American Journal of Public Health, 91, 441-445.
47.
MacMillanR.GartnerR. (1999). When she brings home the bacon: Labor force participation and the risk of spousal violence against women. Journal of the Marriage and the Family, 61, 947-958.
48.
MenjívarC.SalcidoO. (2002). Immigrant women and domestic violence: Common experiences in different countries. Gender & Society, 16, 898-920.
49.
MihalicS. W.ElliottD. (1997). If violence is domestic, does it really count?Journal of Family Violence, 12, 293-311.
50.
MirchandaniR. (2005). What’s so special about specialized courts? The state and social change in Salt Lake City’s domestic violence court. Law and Society Review, 39, 379-417.
51.
MorashM.BuiH. N.SantiagoA. M. (2000). Cultural-specific gender ideology and wife abuse in Mexican-descent families. Domestic Violence: Global Responses, 7(1), 67-91.
52.
OrloffL. (2003). Women immigrants and domestic violence. In StrumP.TarantoloD. (Eds.), Women immigrants in the United States (pp. 49-56). Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
53.
OropesaR. (1997). Development of marital power in Mexico. Social Forces, 75, 1291-1317.
54.
Peek-AsaC.GarcíaL.McArthurD.CastroR. (2002). Severity of intimate partner abuse indicators as perceived by women in Mexico and in the United States. Women and Health, 35, 165-180.
55.
Pérez RobledoF. M. (2004). Pegar “de balde”/pegar “con razón”: Aproximación etnográfica a las prácticas violentas hacia las mujeres en comunidades tojobales [Paste “free”/paste “rightly” ethnographic approach to the violent practices against women in tojobales communities]. In Fernandez de JuanT. (Ed.), Violencia contra la mujer en México (pp. 51-68). Mexico DF: Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos.
56.
PerillaJ. L. (1999). Domestic violence as a human rights issue: The case of immigrant Latinos. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 21, 107-133.
57.
PerillaJ. L.BakermanR.NorrisF. H. (1994). Culture and domestic violence: The ecology of abused Latinas. Violence and Victims, 9, 325-339.
58.
Pozo delB. E.CastroR.RíquerF. (2004). Análisis multivariado de los distintos tipos de violencia [Multivariate analysis of the different types of violence]. In CastroR.RíquerF.MedinaM. E. (Eds.), Violencia de género en las parejas Mexicanas. Resultados de la ENDIREH 2003 (1st ed., pp. 172-215). Mexico, DF: INMUJERES.
59.
RiveraL.AllenB.ChávezR.ÁvilaL. (2006). Abuso físico y sexual durante la niñez y revictimización de las mujeres Mexicanas durante la edad adulta [Physical and sexual abuse during childhood and revictimization of Mexican women during adulthood]. Salud Pública de México, 48(Suppl. 2), S268-S278.
60.
RoglerL. H. (1999). Methodological sources of cultural insensitivity in mental health research. American Psychologist, 54, 424-433.
61.
SagotM. (2000). Ruta crítica de las mujeres afectadas por la violencia intrafamiliar en América Latina [Critical path of women affected by domestic violence in Latin America]. Washington, DC: UN—PAHO.
62.
SalcidoO.AdelmanM. (2004). “He has me tied with the blessed and damned papers”: Undocumented-immigrant battered women in Phoenix, Arizona. Human Organization, 63, 162-172.
63.
SaltzmanL. E. (2004). Definitional and methodological issues related to transnational research on intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women, 10, 812-830.
64.
SmithM. D. (1990). Patriarchal ideology and wife beating: A test of the feminist hypothesis. Violence and Victims, 5, 257-273.
65.
StrausM. A. (1990). The Conflict Tactics Scales and its critics: An evaluation and new data on validity and reliability. In StrausM. A.GellesR. J. (Eds.), Physical violence in American families (pp. 49-74). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
66.
StrausM. A. (1994). State-to-state differences in social inequality and social bonds in relation to assaults on lives in the United States. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 25, 7-24.
67.
StrausM. A. (2004). Prevalence of violence against dating partners by male and female university students worldwide. Violence Against Women, 10, 790-881.
68.
StrausM. A.HambyS. L.Boney-McCoyS.SugarmanD. B. (1996). The Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2): Development and preliminary psychometric data. Journal of Family Issues, 17, 283-316.
69.
StrausM. A.RamirezI. L. (2007). Gender symmetry in prevalence, severity, and chronicity of physical aggression against dating partners by university students in Mexico and the USA. Aggressive Behavior, 33, 281-290.
70.
TieffenthalerJ.FarmerA.SambiraA. (2005). Services and intimate partner violence in the United States: A county-level analysis. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 565-578.
71.
TorresJ. B. (1998). Masculinity and gender roles among Puerto Rican men: Machismo on the U.S. mainland. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 68, 16-26.
72.
TorresJ. B.SolbergS. H.CarlstromA. (2002). The myth of sameness among Latino men and their machismo. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 72, 163-181.
73.
Torres-FalcónM. (2004). Violencia contra las mujeres y derechos humanos [Violence against women and human rights]. In Torres-FalcónM. (Ed.), Violencia contra las mujeres en contextos urbanos y rurales (pp. 307-334). Mexico, DF: El Colegio de México.
74.
Vallejo RealI. R. (2004). Usos y escenificaciones de la legalidad ante litigios de violencia hacia la mujer maseual en Cuetzalan, Puebla [Uses and performances of lawful litigation against violence against women maseual in Cuetzalan, Puebla]. In Torres-FalcónM. (Ed.), Violencia contra las mujeres en contextos urbanos y rurales (pp. 379-414). Mexico DF: El Colegio de Mexico.
75.
VandelloJ.CohenD. (2003). Male honor and female fidelity: Implicit cultural scripts that perpetuate domestic violence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 997-1010.
76.
VillarrealA. (2007). Women’s employment status, coercive control, and intimate partner violence in Mexico. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69, 418-434.
77.
WalbyS.MyhillA. (2001). New survey methodologies in researching violence against women. British Journal of Criminology, 41, 502-522.
78.
WeaverT. L.KilpatrickD. G.ResnickH. S.BestC. L.SaundersB. E. (1997). An examination of physical assault and childhood victimization histories within a national probability sample of women. In Kaufman KantorG.JasinskiJ. J. (Eds.), Out of the darkness: Contemporary perspectives on family violence (pp. 35-48). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
79.
WiltS.OlsonS. (1996). Prevalence of domestic violence in the United States. Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association, 51(3), 77-82.
80.
WinstonP.AngelR. J.BurtonL. M.Chase-LansdaleP. L.CherlinA. J.MoffittR. A.. (1999). Welfare, children and families: A three-city study. Overview and design. Retrieved from http://www.jhu.edu/~welfare/overviewanddesign.pdf
81.
YlloK. (1984). The status of women, marital equality, and violence against wives. Journal of Family Issues, 5, 307-320.
