Mental and physical health symptoms of family court intimate partner violence petitioners

This paper explores the impact of intimate partner violence on victim health and proposes interdisciplinary coordination between legal and mental health services as a means to assist victims. Data was collected from 95 female petitioners at an upstate New York Domestic Violence Intensive Intervention Court (DVIIC). Study participants completed surveys on physical health, mental health, and social functioning. Survey results demonstrated decreased mental health and social functioning as well as a strong willingness to utilize court-based mental health services if offered. Findings from this study support court-based settings as appropriate sites for addressing mental health needs through collaborative efforts between legal and mental health professionals.     

Validation of neuropsychological consequences in victims of intimate partner violence in a Spanish population using specific effort tests

Neuropsychological consequences in female survivors of intimate partner violence are being used in courts as evidence of acquired injury and for criminal exculpation. To support the validity of neuropsychological test performance and the veracity of victim testimony, effort tests can be used by expert witnesses. Nevertheless, no study has evaluated whether the two principle types of effort tests, Symptom validity tests or Performance validity tests, are most adequate for this population. The study’s objective was to compare the false positive rates of a Performance validity test (Test of Memory Malingering: TOMM) and a Symptom validity test (Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology: SIMS). The sample included 68 female intimate partner violence victims and 40 control females. SIMS showed a significantly higher rate of false positives in victims on four of five subtests, reaching a 59.3% in the total score. There were 0% false positives in both groups on the TOMM. Findings indicate that the SIMS may incorrectly score female IPV victims, undermining the victim’s testimony in judicial cases.     

Relationships of depression to child and adult abuse and bodily pain among women who have experienced intimate partner violence

This study investigates whether depression in women who experienced intimate partner violence is associated with having also experienced childhood sexual and physical abuse, psychological abuse by an intimate partner, recent involvement with the abusive partner, and bodily pain. Fifty-seven women who had left a violent relationship with an intimate partner completed measures assessing their demographic characteristics, experiences of abuse in childhood and in their relationship with their intimate partner, and depressive symptoms. Multiple regression analysis showed that women's depression was significantly greater among those who had experienced childhood physical and sexual abuse, more severe psychological abuse, and greater bodily pain (p<.001), adjusted R(2)=.32. These results suggest characteristics that can help to identify abused women who are most at risk for depression, and they suggest specific issues that may need to be addressed in this population.     

Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence Among Married Women in the Military: Type, Level, Directionality and Consequences

While separate evidence exists that married military women have high rates of both intimate partner violence victimization and aggression, little is known about the context of this violence, including the extent to which the violence committed toward and by military women is physical, psychological or sexual, whether the violence is unilateral or bi-directional, and the extent of injury sustained or inflicted. In order to gain a more multi-dimensional understanding of the violence in the lives of military women, this study involved 248 enlisted females who completed a self-report survey about themselves and their spouses’ behavior. Results indicate that the majority of violence reported was bi-directional and symmetrical in terms of type and level of severity. However, enlisted females were more than three times as likely to be victims of unilateral severe violence as their male civilian spouses. Demographic factors associated with these patterns of violence were also identified.

No One Type of Intimate Partner Abuse: Exploring Physical and Non-Physical Abuse Among Intimate Partners

Although research into intimate partner abuse has expanded throughout the past several decades and increased our understanding of this multi-faceted phenomenon, the vast majority of empirical work is still focused almost exclusively on physical violence—against women in particular. Although a crucial issue in our society, physical violence against women is only one facet in an array of possible abusive behaviors toward an intimate partner. Researchers have long acknowledged the existence of multiple forms of non-physical abuse. These types of abuse have received little research attention, however, and are commonly lumped together simply as “non-physical” or “emotional” abuse. There is no reason to believe, however, that all forms of non-physical abuse are the same, whether in intensity, frequency, or co-existence with physical violence. The current study attempts to disentangle the multiple types of nonviolent abuse to examine prevalence, differences by sex, and its relationships to physical abuse. Using Tjaden and Thoennes’ (1998) survey data, this study examines the prevalence of different types of non-physical abuse, both in the general population and among those experiencing physical violence Findings indicate that non-physical partner abuse is more common than physical and that non-physical abuse does not show striking sex differences, as is commonly believed. There is strong evidence that some types of non-physical abuse serve as clear risk factors for physical abuse and may increase risk of more frequent violence among those already being abused. These relationships do not, however, differ by sex. Implications for future research are discussed.

Assessing the Risk of Future Psychological Abuse: Predicting the Accuracy of Battered Women’s Predictions

Building on a handful of studies demonstrating battered women’s accuracy in assessing their risk of being physically reabused, this study examined how accurately victims assess their risk of future psychological abuse. Participants’ ratings of the likelihood that their partner would engage in controlling/dominance behaviors or efforts to humiliate/degrade them in the coming year and their reports 18 months later of whether this had actually occurred were used to create a four category version of accuracy (true positive, false positive, true negative, false negative). Victims were more likely to be right than wrong in their assessments of risk; PTSD symptoms, the recency of physical violence, and the degree of stalking and psychological abuse in the relationship predicted membership in the four accuracy categories. These findings overlap considerably with those examining victim accuracy in predicting physical abuse and inform ongoing debates about the value of incorporating victims’ insights into risk assessment efforts.

Gender Inequality and Patterns of Abuse Post Leaving

Drawing on Connell’s (Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics. California: Stanford University Press, 1987; Masculinities. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995) model of gender relations, this paper examines patterns of intimate partner violence among women who have recently left an abusive partner. In so doing, we attempt to better understand the social structural factors that shape the relations of power and control in intimate violent heterosexual unions. The data come from the first wave of a longitudinal prospective survey of 309 women who had left an abusive partner in the previous 3 years. Our data suggest that structured relations of inequality, namely relations of production, power and cathexis, shape women’s risk of abuse and harassment after leaving, and do so in ways that shape relations of coercive control. These results have implications for understanding the social context within which male violence against women occurs, and how this context constrains and/or enables women’s strategies for leaving and safety. This research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) New Emerging Team Grant #106054 and Institute of Gender and Health Operating Grant #15156 (Marilyn Ford-Gilboe, Principal Investigator). The authors thank the participants in the Women’s Health Effects Study. We also thank Julie McMullin, Kim Shuey, and the Health Effects research team for their helpful feedback.     

Etiological Similarities Between Psychological and Physical Aggression in Intimate Relationships: A Behavioral Genetic Exploration

Previous research has consistently shown that there is a strong association between psychological and physical aggression in intimate relationships. Theories as to why this association exists include that they have a single underlying etiology with differing thresholds, or they have separate etiologies and there is a two-step process by which psychological aggression moves to physical. The current study suggests that these two theories are not necessarily competing theories. The genetic and environmental covariance between psychological and physical intimate partner aggression were examined in 134 monozygotic (MZ) and 41 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs. Results showed that psychological and physical aggression have largely the same genetic etiology, and any differences between the two are a function of differing nonshared environmental influences.     

Intimate Partner Violence Among Hispanic Females

Abstract

Intimate partner violence poses a major public health and social problem with serious criminal justice, health and social-related consequences. However, little is known about the etiology of intimate partner violence among young people, especially minority youth. Using the Hispanic Stress Inventory, we examine intimate partner violence among Hispanics, particularly Mexican American adolescent females. Understanding and identifying issues related to intimate partner violence is crucial for developing and implementing effective policies and programs encompassing both public health and criminal justice approaches specific to this rapidly growing population of young people.     

The testosterone/cortisol ratio moderates the proneness to anger expression in antisocial and borderline intimate partner violence perpetrators

Several studies have provided evidence that antisocial, borderline and narcissistic personality traits of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators significantly increase proneness to violence. In addition, an imbalance between testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) levels has been observed in this population, making individuals prone to violence. We aimed to establish whether IPV perpetrators differ in personality traits, T/C ratio and anger expression from controls, and also to examine the moderating role of the T/C ratio in the relationship between personality traits and anger expression. The sample consisted of 16 IPV perpetrators and 20 controls. T/C ratio was obtained as the quotient between salivary T and C levels. Anger expression and personality traits were measured with STAXI-2 and MCMI-III, respectively. Our results indicate that IPV perpetrators have higher antisocial, borderline and narcissistic personality traits and anger expression than controls. Nonetheless, they did not differ in basal T/C ratio. Finally, only in IPV perpetrators there was a positive relationship between these variables, the T/C ratio playing a moderating role in the relationship of antisocial and borderline traits with anger expression. In IPV perpetrators the T/C ratio may explain why certain personality traits are associated with high risk of becoming violent.     

External Barriers to Help Seeking for Older Women Who Experience Intimate Partner Violence

There has been relatively little research published to guide the field in identifying and addressing barriers to seeking help for older women who experience domestic violence (DV). The current article focuses on findings related to external behaviors to help-seeking in the Domestic Violence Against Older Women (DVAOW) study. Data were collected in 21 focus groups with 134 women, 45 to 85 years of age. External barriers, described by DVAOW respondents as contributing to the reluctance of some older women to seek help for domestic abuse, include response of family, response of clergy, response of the justice system, and responsiveness of community resources. These findings are discussed with implications for community outreach and future research.

Relationship of Substance Use/Abuse with Psychological and Physical Intimate Partner Violence: Variations Across Living Situations

This study addresses whether the relationship between illicit drug use/abuse measures and intimate partner violence (IPV) varies across socioeconomic status, racial status, and environmental indictors of a drug supportive culture. Data from 19,131 respondents who were living with intimate partners and had not been treated for a substance abuse problem in the last year and participated in the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse were analyzed. Marijuana use/abuse was a stronger predictor of IPV and psychological abuse for minorities, but was not a significant predictor of Caucasians’ IPV. Marijuana use/abuse also was a stronger predictor of IPV for those having a low socioeconomic status, but indicators of a drug supportive culture did not moderate the relationship. Minorities’ marijuana use/abuse increased their yelling and insulting behavior toward each other, and this psychological abuse mediated the effect of marijuana use/abuse on IPV. By contrast, stimulant use, sedative use, and alcohol abuse or dependence had independent direct effects on IPV after controlling for psychological abuse. Implications for research and policy are discussed.     

Helping women understand their risk in situations of intimate partner violence

Only approximately one-half of the 456 women who were killed or almost killed by a husband, boyfriend, or ex-husband or ex-boyfriend in a recent national study of homicide of women accurately perceived their risk of being killed by their abusive partner. Women are unlikely to overestimate their risk; however, many will underestimate the severity of the situation. From the same study, it was found that relatively few of the victims of actual or attempted intimate partner femicide were seen by domestic violence advocates during the year before they were killed; they were far more likely to be seen in the health care system. Implications are drawn as to innovative ways that women who are abused can be identified and with skilled assessment of the danger in their relationship helped make more informed plans for their safety.     

Quality of Maternal Parenting among Intimate-Partner Violence Victims Involved with the Child Welfare System

Children are overrepresented in households with intimate-partner violence (IPV), and many suffer the double burden of being the subject of maltreatment and bearing the consequences of abuse to their mothers. Despite this situation, little information exists concerning parenting by women who have been abused by an intimate partner. We examine the relationship between women’s experiences with IPV and the quality of maternal parenting using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being. The sample consisted of 1,943 female caregivers of children younger than 10 years investigated for child maltreatment. Women who had experienced IPV in the past but were no longer victims of IPV had significantly better parenting scores than women who were currently experiencing IPV, when other risk factors were controlled. This study adds to the evidence that IPV does not necessarily impair maternal parenting. Women abused by an intimate partner deserve a thorough assessment of what services they need: parenting services should be offered as warranted on a case-by-case evaluation of the particular woman’s parenting skills.     

Preventing repeat incidents of family violence: analysis of data from three field experiments

Preventing repeat victimization is an area of criminology that has shown particular promise in recent years. Based on the premise that persons once victimized are at higher risk than others for future victimization, British officials developed successful programs that focus crime prevention efforts on victims. Of all crimes, family violence may have the highest repeat rate, especially in the first weeks after an incident is reported to the police. Accordingly, New York City officials developed an intervention program to reduce repeat incidents of family abuse. Three field experiments conducted during the 1990s evaluated whether or not this program, targeted at public housing residents who reported family violence to the police, reduced the rate of subsequent victimization. The findings produced within each study were not consistent across the studies; rather, these three experiments, separately analyzed, produce varying results. Since the composition of the samples varied across studies, however, one possible explanation is that this program has different effects within different populations. This paper reports outcomes from a series of analyses of pooled data from these three studies to address the inconsistencies. The results indicate that the intervention brought about greater reporting of subsequent abuse both to authorities and to research interviewers. The results are invariant across the three studies, indicating that greater reporting of abuse is not idiosyncratic to one particular population, and are consistent across the nature and source of outcome measures. These findings suggest the need for careful monitoring by the advocates and agencies that operate these types of programs and among those designing and testing future programs.     

The resource utilization of women who use violence in intimate relationships

Studies have found high rates of help seeking among domestic violence victims. However, little research has investigated the help-seeking patterns of women who use violence (many of whom are also abused). Understanding the resources utilized by women who are violent toward their partners may aid in designing interventions that will reduce the women's violence, as well as reduce the victimization they may be experiencing. This study examines the resource utilization of 108 women who used violence against a male partner (94% of whom also experienced victimization). Findings revealed that (a) almost all of the women utilized community resources in an attempt to manage the violence in their relationships; (b) victimization was related to resource utilization via self-defense motives, avoidance coping, and posttraumatic stress symptoms; and (c) greater resource utilization was related to lower levels of women's violence against their partners. Findings suggest that community resources may help prevent women's violence.     

Factors associated with patterns of dating violence toward college women

This study hypothesized that female victims of force in dating relationships are erroneously considered a homogeneous group. Various patterns of dating violence, along the lines of frequency and severity, were hypothesized to be related to attitudinal and behavioral factors of the women in the dating relationship. Analyses of 48 female victims at a university campus revealed a number of differences between women with only one incident of force and women who were recipients of ongoing force. Females with ongoing violence were more likely to allow controlling behaviors by a male, had more controlling behaviors occur toward them generally in dating relationships, reported higher levels of commitment and love toward a romantic partner, and experienced a higher frequency of controlling behaviors in the actual relationship where physical force occurred. Females with ongoing violence in which the abuse lasted for a longer period of time were less likely to end the relationship due to the occurrence of abuse. Earlier onset of the first physical incident in a dating relationship was related to more traditional attitudes toward women's roles, more likelihood of using justifications for abuse, romanticizing relationships, and a likelihood of endorsing stronger attitudes of love in these female victims than when onset occurred later for other women. Women who ended the relationship because of physical force experienced more controlling behaviors by the male in the relationship than women who did not end the relationship for that reason. Further research needs to investigate the decision-making processes and interpretations of the females involved regarding the presence of abuse in the dating relationships.     

The Co-occurrence of Child and Intimate Partner Maltreatment in the Family: Characteristics of the Violent Perpetrators

This study considers the characteristics associated with mothers and fathers who maltreat their child and each other in comparison to parents who only maltreat their child. One hundred and sixty-two parents who had allegations of child maltreatment made against them were considered. The sample consisted of 43 fathers (Paternal Family—PF) and 23 mothers (Maternal Family—MF) who perpetrated both partner and child maltreatment, together with 23 fathers (Paternal Child—PC) and 26 mothers (Maternal Child—MC) who perpetrated child maltreatment only. In addition, 2 fathers (Paternal Victim—PV) and 23 mothers (Maternal Victim—MV) were victims of intimate partner maltreatment and perpetrators of child maltreatment and 7 fathers (Paternal Non-abusive Carer—PNC) and 15 mothers (Maternal Non-abusive Carer—MNC) did not maltreat the child but lived with an individual who did. Within their family unit, 40.7% of parents perpetrated both intimate partner and child maltreatment. However, fathers were significantly more likely to maltreat both their partner and child than mothers and mothers were significantly more likely to be victims of intimate partner violence than fathers. PF fathers conducted the highest amount of physical and/or sexual child maltreatment while MC and MV mothers perpetrated the highest amount of child neglect. Few significant differences between mothers were found. PF fathers had significantly more factors associated with development of a criminogenic lifestyle than PC fathers. Marked sex differences were demonstrated with PF fathers demonstrating significantly more antisocial characteristics, less mental health problems and fewer feelings of isolation than MF mothers. MC mothers had significantly more childhood abuse, mental health problems, parenting risk factors and were significantly more likely to be biologically related to the child than PC fathers. This study suggests that violent families should be assessed and treated in a holistic manner, considering the effects of partner violence upon all family members, rather than exclusively intervening with the violent man. Requests for reprints should be sent to Louise Dixon, Center for Forensic and Family Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom.     

Domestic violence: A national study of the nature, size and effects of domestic violence in the Netherlands

This article reports on a large-scale nation-wide study conducted by Intomart among 1,000 randomly selected Dutch adults (male and female) about their experiences with domestic violence. An important goal of the survey was to generate general information on domestic violence. It turns out that nearly half of the Dutch population (45%) has at one time been a victim of some form of non-incidental domestic violence. It was also demonstrated that both men and women become victims of domestic violence, and the high percentages of victimization during childhood are particularly striking. Furthermore, it turned out that domestic violence often involves a combination of physical, mental and sexual forms of violence.