London : Next time your husband just casually drops by to make sure where you are, or checks to call your whereabouts, well, then beware, for it may just be the harbinger of some violence he may unleash on you.

It said that vigilance over a partner's whereabouts was the highest-ranking tactic predicting violence against women, followed by other acts such as men saying they would die if their partner ever left them.

Monopolization of time and the threat to punish for infidelity also were signals of violence, the study published in the latest issue of Personal Relationships said.

“Mate retention behaviours are designed to solve several adaptive problems, such as deterring a partner's infidelity and preventing defection from the mating relationship,” the journal quoted the study's author Todd K. Shackelford as saying.

In the first two studies, researchers asked independent samples of men and women to report on men's retention behaviours and men's violence against their partners, and in the third study, they asked they asked husbands and their wives to report on men's retention behaviours and violence against wives.

Findings revealed that though the highest-ranking correlations between single acts and violence were not consistent across the three studies, but acts such as “dropped by unexpectedly to see what my partner was doing” and “called to make sure my partner was where she said she would be” were the overall third and fifth highest predictors of violence.

Researchers said these acts, falling under the category of ‘Vigilance' was the highest-ranking tactic leading to violence, and the only tactic across all three studies that uniquely predicted violence.

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