Journal of Family Violence, VoL 8, No. 2, 1993 A Predictive Model of Male Spousal Violence Sandra M. Stith I and Sarah C. Farley 2 This study presents and tests a predictive model of severe marital violence by men based on social learning theory and previous research. Results of the path analytic procedure suggest that sex-role egalitarianism and approval of marital violence both have direct effects on the use of severe marital violence. At the same time, sex-role egalitarianism and the observation of marital violence as a child have indirect effects by several paths. Egalitarianism has an indirect negative effect on use of severe violence which depends upon approval of marital violence. Observation of marital violence has a negative effect on self-esteem which influences marital stress and level of alcoholism, both of which have an effect on approval of marital violence. Observation of violence as a child also has a direct effect on approval of violence and a negative effect on sex-role egalitarianism. KEY WORDS: male spousal violence; spouse abuse; predictive model. Research identifying factors which contribute to male violence in in- timate relationships has proliferated in the last decade (Hotaling and Sug- arman, 1986). However, few attempts have been made to develop and test predictive models despite a strong theoretical and empirical foundation for such research. Therefore, the purpose of the current research is to develop and test a multivariate causal model employing theoretically and concep- tually relevant predictors of marital violence. In the model presented (see Fig. I), severe physical violence perpetrated by a husband is envisioned as a function of one exogenous variable (observing marital violence during childhood) and five endogenous variables (the participant's level of marital stress, his attitude regarding the acceptability of marital violence, his level 1Department of Family and Child Development, Virginia Tech, Northern Virginia Graduate Center, Falls Church, Virginia 22042. 2Department of Counseling Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84102. 183 0885-7482/93/0600-0183507.00/0 1993 Plenum Publishing Corporation