1985 National Family Violence Survey
Investigators: Murray A. Straus & Richard J. Gelles

The 1985 National Family Survey was conducted by Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire and explores conflict/resolution and violence in the family. It is a national cross-sectional survey which can be compared to a similar study conducted by the investigators in 1975 (available separately). The Survey was designed to show that physical violence between family members is more frequent than believed. One objective of the 1985 survey was to generate comparisons of the incidence of intra-family physical violence by race and ethnicity. Another objective was to generate state-by-state estimates of family violence. There are a total of 6,002 cases and 567 variables included in the study. Topics in the study include: demographics (household characteristics/composition, race, income, religion, education, etc.); marital/divorce history; marital behavior (conflict/violence and resolution); employment (history, status); and satisfaction/attitudes about various aspects of life.