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3 J. Fam. Violence 1 (1988)

handle is hein.journals/jfamv3 and id is 1 raw text is: Journal of Family Violence, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1988 Woman Abuse in Dating Relationships: The Relevance of Social Support Theory Walter S. DeKeseredyl Many women are victimized by their boyfriends. Furthermore, male social networks may encourage members to abuse their girlfriends. A review of rele- vant literature shows that social support theory may be useful for under- standing this problem. The purpose of this paper is to describe this social psychological theory's potential contribution to the study of woman abuse in dating relationships. KEY WORDS: dating; stress; social support; male social networks; woman abuse. INTRODUCTION Many women are psychologically, sexually, and physically victimized (or a combination of all three) by their boyfriends (Gibson, 1984; Kanin, 1967a; Makepeace, 1981). Furthermore, male social networks may perpetu- ate and legitimate various means of woman abuse (Ageton, 1983; Alder, 1985; Bowker, 1983; Breines and Gordon, 1983). A review of relevant liter- ature reveals that social support theory may be useful for understanding this problem. The purpose of this paper is to describe this social psychological theory's potential contribution to the study of woman abuse in dating rela- tionships. SOCIAL SUPPORT THEORY Social support theory is generally used by researchers to explain the role of social support in health maintenance and disease prevention. However, 'Department of Sociology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Downsview, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3. 0885-7482/88/0300-0001$06.00/0 © 1988 Plenum Publishing Corporation