College Women’s Experiences of Dating Violence in Casual and Exclusive Relationships

Using a sample of female college students involved in a current dating relationship, we investigate the nature of violence in these intimate relationships to better understand the concept of violence mutuality. To do so we explore womens’ experiences with violence as both perpetrators and victims and examine the prevalence, chronicity, and severity of violence experienced by young women. We also examine whether there are differences in experiences of violence for women in casual versus exclusive dating relationships. Our findings suggest that when violence is present in a dating relationship it is likely to occur within a mutually violent relationship where women are both victims and perpetrators of violence. More importantly, within these mutually violent relationships, women reported being more likely to perpetrate violence at higher rates than they experience as victims. We find no notable differences in experiences with violence among those in casual versus exclusive relationships. The methodological limitations and policy implications of our findings are discussed.     

The Transcendence of Violence Across Relationships: New Methods for Understanding Men’s and Women’s Experiences of Intimate Partner Violence Across the Life Course

The notion of transitions is an increasingly central concept in contemporary criminology and such issues are particularly significant in the study of intimate partner violence (IPV). Here, attention focuses on relationship dynamics and movement into and out of relationships for understanding long-term patterns of victimization over the life course. Still, a focus on transitions raises questions about how IPV is patterned over time and across relationships and how this contributes to stability and change in victimization risk over the life span. Our study examines this issue using data from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Findings from latent transition analyses reveal strong evidence for change in victimization experiences across the life course. Among women, those who experienced serious, multifaceted violence are most likely to transition out of relationships followed by transition into subsequent relationships characterized by conflict and aggression and a similar pattern is observed among men. At the same time, men who experience physical aggression in previous relationships are most likely to transition into non-violent relationships, while women with similar experiences are much less differentiated in the types of relationships they enter into. When we account for background characteristics (e.g., respondent’s race, education, and age) and childhood experiences of parental violence, the latter is particularly significant in accounting for exposure to serious IPV in later adulthood. Such findings extend our understanding of how life course transitions connect to violence and offending and highlight processes of continuity and change beyond the traditional focus on criminal offending.     

“They Arrested Me—And I Was the Victim”: Women’s Experiences With Getting Arrested in the Context of Domestic Violence

Since the implementation of mandatory and pro-arrest policies, there has been a sharp increase in the number of women arrested for violence against intimate partners; many of these women are also victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Through questionnaires and interviews, this study uncovers the experience of getting arrested from the perspective of women who were both victims of IPV and arrested in IPV-related incidents. Women reported that their arrest was unexpected, led to multiple losses and collateral consequences, and served as a turning point in their relationships. Findings support emergency intervention services that include alternatives to arrest for women experiencing IPV.     

Predictors of Women’s Same-Sex Partner Violence Perpetration

The present study examined family of origin, individual characteristics, and intimate relationship variables as predictors of women’s reports (N?=?209; M?=?29.5 years) of physical aggression toward their current or most recent same-sex partner in the past year. Participants completed measures that assessed a series of family of origin, individual, and intimate relationship variables. Results of a least-squares regression revealed that identifying as heterosexual (as opposed to lesbian), higher levels of relationship fusion, more experiences of psychological aggression victimization, and having more prior physically aggressive relationships were associated with more frequent perpetration of partner violence. Results of exploratory models testing whether internalized homophobia or dominance/accommodation were indirectly related to physical aggression perpetration revealed that fusion (i.e., enmeshment with one’s partner) mediated the relationship between internalized homophobia and perpetration of partner violence. Similarly, fusion mediated the association between dominance/accommodation and the perpetration of partner violence. Findings underscore the importance that individual and relationship characteristics have in predicting partner violence perpetration in women’s same-sex relationships.     

Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Women’s Mental Health

This study aimed to explore the mental health needs of women residing in domestic violence shelters; more specifically, we aimed to identify commonalities and differences among their mental health needs. For this purpose, qualitative and quantitative data was collected from 35 women from a Midwestern domestic violence shelter. Hierarchical clustering was applied to quantitative data, and the analysis indicated a three-cluster solution. Data from the qualitative analysis also supported the differentiation of women into three distinct groups, which were interpreted as: (A) ready to change, (B) focused on negative symptoms, and (C) focused on feelings of guilt and self-blame.     

Burden of Womanhood: Tamil Women’s Perceptions of Coping with Intimate Partner Violence

Helping women victimized by intimate partner violence (IPV) is a challenge, particularly when the women belong to diverse ethnic groups. The objective of our study was to collect information on perceptions of coping with IPV from the perspective of a specific immigrant group of women. Sixty-three women from the Tamil community in Toronto representing different generations and experiences of IPV were interviewed in focus group settings about their views of coping with IPV. Study findings suggested that their views were deeply embedded in their sociocultural context and influenced by the gender-role expectations from the community. The women showed a marked preference for “passive” modes of coping rather than “active.” Study findings have implications for the development of alternative approaches to helping ethnically diverse women deal with IPV.     

Theoretical Considerations on Men’s Experiences of Intimate Partner Violence: An Interview-Based Study

This study aims at exploring and interpreting men’s experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the light of selected current theoretical contributions to the field, with an emphasis on Michael P. Johnson’s violence typology. The material consisted of twenty interviews with men who self-identified as having been subjected to IPV. Men generally did not consider physical violence to be threatening when it was perpetrated by women. They were also not subjected to the multiple control tactics that define the intimate terrorism category of Johnson’s violence typology, lending support to the argument that women’s and men’s experiences of IPV differ in opposite-sex relationships. Furthermore, our findings encourage the integration of structural inequalities related to gender and sexuality in analyses of men’s experiences of IPV.     

Relationships Between Adult Women’s Mental Health Problems and their Childhood Experiences of Parental Violence and Psychological Aggression

We used the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales (M. A. Straus, S. L. Hamby, D. Finkelhor, D. W. Moore, & D. Runyan, 1998) to assess retrospectively women’s childhood experiences of both mother and father physical abuse and psychological aggression, and assessed mother and father alcohol problems based on criteria derived from the Family History Research Diagnostic Criteria (N. C. Andreasen, J. Endicott, R. L. Spitzer, & G. Winokur, 1977). Data were collected from 447 women (age 18 or higher) from seven domestic violence programs and five substance use disorder treatment programs in a midwestern state. Using OLS regression with backward elimination (p < .10 as criterion for removal from the equation) we found that higher levels of mother physical abuse, father psychological aggression, and presence of mother alcohol problems predicted higher scores on the Beck Anxiety Inventory and Trauma Symptom Checklist. Higher levels of mother physical abuse and father psychological aggression predicted higher scores on the Beck Depression Inventory. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

“I Realized that I couldn’t Act Normal”: a Qualitative Study of Sexual Assault Survivors’ Experiences of Workplace Disclosure

Journal of Family Violence - Sexual assault results in psychological, physical, and financial consequences for survivors. The distress caused by sexual assault can lead to work-related consequences...     

American Indian and European American Women’s Perceptions of Domestic Violence

American Indian and European American women’s definitions and perceived causes for domestic violence were examined. Attitudes towards violence and battering as it relates to the self were measured with two scales. As predicted, results indicated American Indian women and European American women held different conceptualizations of what constitutes domestic violence and different notions concerning the cause of domestic violence. Also, American Indian women were more attuned to external causes for violence, while European American women referred to internal explanations for such violence. Differences in social and psychological histories of violence and attitudinal orientations toward violence were indicated. Legal and health system changes are recommended in order to combat violence in Indian country.

The Dynamics of Staying and Leaving: Implications for Battered Women’s Emotional Well-Being and Experiences of Violence at the End of a Year

Much of the discourse on intimate partner violence assumes that women must end their relationship with their abusive partner to increase their safety and emotional well-being. Few studies, however, exist to support this assumption. Equally problematic, those studies that do exist have failed to distinguish women who leave and stay out from those who leave only to later return. Comparing emotional well-being and experiences of violence for 206 low-income, primarily Black battered women following different relationship trajectories, this longitudinal study found that women both separated from and together with their partner for the entire year of the study fared best at the end of that year compared to women “in” and “out” of the relationship over time. Beyond challenging common assumptions, these findings highlight the importance of considering the larger context within which an individual instance of leaving occurs.

Bringing Women’s Carceral Experiences into the “New Punitiveness” Fray

The last decade produced a revival in comparative penal research, most of which focuses on explaining aggregate-level changes in imprisonment rates. In this paper, we highlight the absence of women in this research and we shift the focus from aggregate imprisonment rates to women’s prison experiences, arguing that these experiences are the best indicators of the post-modern penal era. Using both survey and interview data, we examine women’s perceptions of control over their carceral lives in California, England, and the Netherlands. We find similar prison experiences explain perceptions of control across all three regimes, but regime differences ultimately produce very different outcomes for these women.     

Gender and Risk Assessment Accuracy: Underestimating Women’s Violence Potential

Understanding factors that contribute to mental health professionals (MHPs) accuracy in assessing patients risk of violence can inform efforts to improve accuracy and to integrate risk assessment technology with practice. Based on a sample of 147 clinicians who assessed 680 patients in a psychiatric emergency room, this study investigates the influence of patient gender, MHP gender, and their potential interaction on MHPS risk assessment accuracy. The results indicate that MHPs of both genders are particularly limited in their ability to assess female patients risk of future violence. This finding was not limited to a particular professional group and was not attributable to gender-related differences in violence. Implications for future research on the judgment processes that may underlie MHPs limited accuracy with women and for training programs in violence risk assessment are discussed.     

Domestic Violence against Women in Cambodia: Husband’s Control,Frequency of Spousal Discussion,and Domestic Violence Reported by Cambodian Women

This study sought to examine the effects of husband’s control and frequency of spousal discussion on domestic violence against Cambodian married women, using the 2005 Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey data. The sample included 1,707 married women, aged 16–49 (M = 35.14). Structural Equation Modeling showed that husband’s control positively predicted both emotional and physical violence. Frequency of spousal discussion positively predicted emotional violence, an association consistent with the idea that a husband holding patriarchal beliefs would interpret women’s more frequent discussion as a violation of Cambodian norms for quiet, submissive wives. Frequency of spousal discussion and husband’s control were positively correlated. The role of gender issues in husband’s control and frequency of spousal discussion are discussed with respect to violence in the lives of Cambodian women.     

When “Shelter-in-Place” Isn’t Shelter That’s Safe: a Rapid Analysis of Domestic Violence Case Differences during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Stay-at-Home Orders

Journal of Family Violence - This study explored the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on domestic violence (DV) with the following research questions: 1) Did DV occurring during the pandemic...     

“It Happens All the Time”: Women’s Experiences and Normalization of Sexual Harassment in Public Space

This study explored the prevalence of sexual harassment, consequences of harassment, and reasons for not reporting these experiences through a survey among Swedish female university students (N?=?1941). One fourth reported one or more incidents of sexual harassment during the 12 months period prior to the survey. Victims were more often younger and with Swedish-born parents compared with nonvictims. Victimization most frequently occurred at clubs or restaurants and the most frequently reported consequences were anger and worry about being victimized again. Few reported the incidents to the police making this, in part, an invisible problem.