Emotional Abuse in Intimate Relationships: The Role of Gender and Age

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the moderating roles of gender and age on emotional abuse within intimate relationships. This study included 250 participants with an average age of 27 years. Participants completed the Emotional Abuse Questionnaire (EAQ; Jacobson & Gottman, 1998), which 4 subscales are isolation, degradation, sexual abuse, and property damage. Multigroup analysis with 2 groups, female (n= 141) and male (n= 109), was used to test the moderation effect. Younger men reported experiencing higher levels of emotional abuse, which declined with age. Older females reported experiencing less emotional abuse than older males. Overall, emotional abuse was more common in younger participants. Younger women experienced higher rates of isolation, and women’s overall experience of property damage was higher than that of men and increased with age. Results are interpreted through the social exchange and conflict frameworks.