NFL upsets related to spike in domestic violence calls: study

[apples and oranges]

A new U.S. study has found a 10% rise in domestic violence calls to police in areas where the local NFL team lost a game they were favoured to win.

Researchers analyzed 900 regular-season pro-football games and found that calls reporting men's assaults on their partners went up during a three-hour window that runs roughly from the final hour of a game in which the local team was not performing well as expected to the two hours following the upset loss.

When teams won unexpectedly or lost games that were expected to be close, there was no decrease in reports of violence.

"Our results suggest that the overall rise in violence between the intimate partners we studied is driven entirely by losses in games that matter most to fans," said David Card, one of the study's co-authors.

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/football/2011/03/22/17712576.html

What should be done about this?

[fishwax]

1. what should be done about this? domestic abusers should be prosecuted.

And football should be banned. (This last statement is sarcasm.)

[apples and oranges]

4. Maybe anti-abuse ads should air during the football games?

We have ads that say not to drink and drive, maybe there should be ads that remind men that it is not OK to become violent after their favorite teams lose?

[seabeyond]

5. there is a thought. think twice before you hit. a lost game with disappointment and person going

for a walk. a little zen time. that could work

[lies and propaganda]

2. i call absolute and utter horseshit on this.

No way could this be accurately determined and its shitty to say that a husband beats his wife just because of a lost game, not their mental issues.

Just more of the constant sports, and football specifically hate, her on DU.

[seabeyond]

3. interesting. not surprising. i am way competitive. i dont even care about footie footie football

games, and let myself get caught up in it playing fantasy football. that is even worse. cause we get players that are projected to play a certain way, and they FAIL. fail i tell you. does something to the blood. better for me to not care

[snooper2]

6. some losers out there really need to get a life

or get out of the one they are abusing...

[fishwax]

7. for some context: the increase is about the same as an increase on a hot day, and less than holidays

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/03/22/2162980/study-domestic-violence-spikes.html

They said the increase in violence is only about one-third the spike observed on major holidays, which are typically a peak period for domestic assault cases. But they said the higher number of family violence incidents in the hour or two after a disappointing NFL result is about the same as those on a hot day, which also is a peak period for such reports.

Apparently, abusive people don't need much motivation to act out ...

[seabeyond]

9. well, geez, if they just did it because, what would that make them.

just saying

[fishwax]

15. exactly -- and since the numbers don't drop when a team does better than expected

it seems that "just because" is reason enough for most abusers x(

[Kievan Rus]

8. I seriously doubt this report

The same was rather infamously said about the Super Bowl during the early 1990s, which was thoroughly and roundly debunked. The methodology used in said study was far from scientific...and I'd figure the same is going on here.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. I suspect the people conducting this study

are well aware of the deficiencies of the Super Bowl study, as both the study and its problems are rather famous. I don't think someone would proceed with a new study without correcting those deficiencies. Now, this study might have new problems, but who knows. We'd have to look at the data and the methodology. I'm not willing to discount it out of hand based on the previous study's flaws.

[Lynx]

10. Throw the bum out

The first time he tries anything, must be the last.

[seabeyond]

12. my theory... nt

[Myrina]

13. I knew that 15 years ago when I worked at a shelter in GB, WI.

... the trends on Sunday nights/Monday mornings vs. other days of the week, other times of the year were undeniable.

Even made it into my thesis. Not that anyone read it, obviously. :eyes:

[fittosurvive]

14. They threw this crap against the wall a while back Re: Super Bowl.

It didn't stick then and it won't stick now.

[damntexdem]

16. It's obvious what should be done: underdogs need to stop upsetting favored teams.

;-)

Or the nation COULD try a harder course of trying to figure out how to reduce domestic violence in general.