14 DAY TRIAL // A team of experts from the Ohio State University (OSU) found in a survey of jail phone calls that men locked up on charges of felony domestic abuse were very likely to find themselves in that situation on account of suspicions of infidelity.
Interestingly, the calls revealed that domestic violence episodes also occurred when women accused men of cheating. The take-away message from all this is that accusations or suspicions of infidelity, coming from both partners, increase the likelihood of violence ensuing during the argument.
Sexual jealousy therefore emerges as a little-researched factor influencing the incidence of domestic abuse and beating. This aspect is seldom taken into account when authorities develop measures to curb this type of behavior, PsychCentral reports.
“What we had before was what the abuser and victim said to police, to courts, to advocates, to health care providers. But we never before had the couple together discussing just among themselves what happened during the violent episode,” the OSU team says.