Wives’ Relative Income Production and Household Male Dominance: Examining Violence Among Asian American Enduring Couples*

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2008.00496.x
• Author: David Takeuchi,Grace H. Chung,M. Belinda Tucker
• Date: 01 April 2008
• Published date: 01 April 2008

Wives’ Relative Income Production and Household

Male Dominance: Examining Violence Among Asian

American Enduring Couples*

Grace H. Chung M. Belinda Tucker David Takeuchi**

Abstract: This study integrates relative resource theory and cultural perspectives on husband-to-wife authority to

examine male-to-female physical violence reported by Asian American wives in the National Latino and Asian

American Survey. Findings indicated that the association between marital violence and male household dominance

is complicated by women’s income relative to husbands’. We speculate that when husbands face threats on multiple

levels to culturally determined masculine spheres of dominance, they are more likely to aggress against the perceived

source of their status decline—thereby reaffirming one mode of dominance (physical). Practical implications of the

findings are discussed.

Key Words: Asian Americans, decision making, division of household labor, income, marital violence.

Evidence on the extent of intimate partner violence

in Asian American populations has been contra-

dictory. On the one hand, the federally sponsored

National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS)

(Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000), with representative

samples of 8,000 women and 8,000 men, found

lifetime prevalence rates for intimate partner vio-

lence among Asian American women to be far

below those found for other groups—15% com-

pared to 24.8% for Whites, 29.1% for African

Americans, and 37.5% for Native Americans. In

contrast, community-specific studies suggest that

the occurrence of domestic violence varies consid-

erably for certain subpopulations of Asian Ameri-

can couples and the annual prevalence rates are

higher than the national rate of 1.3% found by

the NVAWS. Reported violence against wives in

the past year ranged from 6.8% in a Los Angeles-

based sample of Chinese Americans (Yick, 2000)

to 37% and 60% among Vietnamese refugee and

Korean American women, respectively (Kim &

Sung, 2000; Song-Kim, 1992; Tran, 1997, as cited

in Kim, Lau, & Chang, 2007). Other indicators

support these trends: A Ford Foundation report

cited greatly disproportionate domestic violence-

related death rates among Asian American wives in

Santa Clara County, California, and for the state of

Massachusetts (Foo, 2002). Other studies document

the recognition among various Asian American popu-

lations that domestic violence is a significant prob-

lem in their communities (Ho, 1990).

The equivocal nature of the research reflects in

part the lack of national prevalence data on male-to-

female physical violence (MFPV) of any sort on

Asian Americans; tremendous diversity on the basis

of culture, ethnicity, and national origin; and the

group’s geographic dispersion. Previous studies have

been limited in generalizability by small sample sizes

*The preparation of this article was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship grant from the Family Research Consortium IV, which is funded by grant 5T32

MH019734 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The National Latino and Asian American Study is supported by the NIMH (U01 MH62209 and

U01 MH62207), with additional support from the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research at the National Institute of Health and the Substance Abuse and

Mental Health Services Administration.

**Grace H. Chung is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Culture and Health, University of California, 760 Westwood Plaza, Box 62, Los Angeles, CA 90024

(ghchung@ucla.edu). M. Belinda Tucker is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, Center for Culture and Health, Semel Institute of

Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, 760 Westwood Plaza, Box 62, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1759 (mbtucker@ucla.edu). David Takeuchi is

a professor in the Department of Social Work, University of Washington at Seattle, 4101 15th Avenue NE 354900, Seattle, WA 98105-6299 (dt5@u.washing.edu).

Family Relations, 57 (April 2008), 227–238. Blackwell Publishing.

Copyright 2008 No claim to original U.S. Government works.