The Elevated Risk for Non-Lethal Post-Separation Violence in Canada A Comparison of Separated, Divorced, and Married Women Douglas A. Brownridge University of Manitoba, Canada Ko Ling Chan University of Hong Kong Diane Hiebert-Murphy University of Manitoba, Canada Janice Ristock University of Manitoba, Canada Agnes Tiwari University of Hong Kong Wing-Cheong Leung University of Hong Kong Susy C. Santos University of Manitoba, Canada The purpose of the study was to shed light on the potentially differing dynamics of violence against separated and divorced women by their ex-husbands and vio- lence against married women by their current husbands. Using a nationally rep- resentative sample of 7,369 heterosexual women from Cycle 13 of Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey, available risk markers were examined in the context of a nested ecological framework. Separated women reported nine times the prevalence of violence and divorced women reported about four times the prevalence of violence compared with married women. The strongest predictors of violence against married women, namely, patriarchal domination, sexual jeal- ousy, and possessiveness, were not significant predictors of violence against sep- arated and divorced women. This suggested that post-separation violence is a complex phenomenon the dynamics of which can be affected by much more than domination and ownership. Keywords: separation; divorce; violence; abuse; ecological Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume 23 Number 1 January 2008 117-135 © 2008 Sage Publications 10.1177/0886260507307914 http://jiv.sagepub.com hosted at http://online.sagepub.com 117 at University of Hong Kong Libraries on December 15, 2014 jiv.sagepub.com Downloaded from