Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:637-640
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
An annual rhythm in the battering of women
RP Michael and D Zumpe
Over 27,000 reports about women abused by their live-in male partners were
provided by 23 shelter organizations in five locations in the United
States. Cosinor analyses revealed statistically significant annual rhythms
in the frequencies of abuse, with maxima in the summer. The rhythms were
closely related to annual changes in ambient temperature in these
locations, and the time of the maxima was similar to those previously
reported for assaults and rapes. The findings support the hypothesis that
violence by men toward women increases in summer independently of any major
seasonal changes in the opportunity for contact between perpetrator and
victim.
