Women's Accounts of Domestic Violence

Abstract

Critiques of behavioral inventories, qualitative studies of battered women's experiences, and communications research all suggest that women's accounts of violence contain information and a more complex structure than is captured by checklist measures that focus on types of abuse. We conducted a quantitative thematic analysis of 162 women's accounts of domestic violence to assess structure and content. Most women presented domestic violence as a “story” with an introduction, body and a conclusion: 59% presented a “complete story” and 33% a “near story.” Background information and problem statements were the most prevalent content statements in the “introduction,” and relationship issues and explanations were most common in the “conclusion.” Bivariate analyses revealed that accounts did not vary by socio-demographic factors and severity of the incident. Men were less likely to present complete stories, had far briefer narratives, and never discussed relationship issues. Knowledge of the structure and content of women's accounts provides greater understanding of women's responses to violence.     

Violence Against Women in Jordan

This study aimed to describe the social and cultural etiology of violence against women in Jordan. A sample of houses was randomly selected from all 12 Governorates in Jordan, resulting in a final sample of 1,854 randomly selected women. ANOVA analysis showed significant differences in violence against women as a result of women’s education, F?=?4.045, α?=?0.003, women who work, F?=?3.821, α?=?0.001, espouser to violence F?=?17.896, α?=?0.000, experiencing violence during childhood F?=?12.124, α?=?0.000, and wife’s propensity to leave the marital relationship F?=?12.124, α?=?0.000. However, no differences were found in violence against women because of the husband’s education, husband’s work, or having friends who belief in physical punishment of kids. Findings showed women experienced 45?% or witnessed 55?% violence during their childhood. Almost all 98?% of the sample was subjected to at least one type of violence. Twenty-eight percent of the sample believed a husband has the right to control a woman’s behavior and 93?% believed a wife is obliged to obey a husband. After each abusive incidence, women felt insecure, ashamed, frightened, captive and stigmatized.     

Frequency of Parental Violence Against Children in Chinese Families: Impact of Age and Gender

The present study examines the impact of child and parent gender on parental violence across age span of children and their parents in Hong Kong Chinese families. A randomly selected community sample of 1,019 households was surveyed. Results indicate that, in general, boys experience more frequent parental violence than girls and mothers engage in more violent behaviors against their children than fathers. Parental violence shows a curvilinear pattern with age of children, peaking at age 8 for boys and age 3 for girls. There is a pattern of declining frequency of parental violence as parental age increases across child gender. Fathers exhibit an inverted U pattern of violent behavior against their children, with a peak around age 31–40, while mothers have a steadily declining trend until age 46. Separate parental violence indices are constructed for boys and girls.     

Establishing a Relationship Between Behavior and Cognition: Violence Against Women and Children within the Family

The goal of our study is to determine whether a person’s cognitions regarding violence against women and violence against children within the family are associated with recourse to violent behavior toward them; and (2) the extent to which an adult who has a narrow conception of violence against women also has a narrow conception of, tolerant attitudes toward, and biased attributions with regard to violence toward children. Thirty men and 32 women took part in the study. Generally speaking, respondents more easily recognized physical aggression than psychological aggression, rated it more severely, and used it more often against their children than their spouses. Further, cognitions regarding violence against women and of parental violence against children appear to be strongly associated. Our results also suggest that the conception of violence toward women is associated with violence toward children.     

Naming the Unmentionable: How Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence Articulate Their Experiences

Witnessing intimate partner violence (IPV) is a frightening experience that affects children’s development and well-being. This study examines experiences of IPV from the perspective of children. Interviews with 14 children between 8 and 12 years of age were analyzed using a thematic method. Three main themes were identified: how children talked about abuse of their mother, described their own actions, and related to or handled memories of violence. Most children confirmed that their mother had been the victim of abuse, but had difficulties describing these experiences. Narratives were often incoherent and difficult to fully understand. In contrast, most of the children seemed to find it easier to describe their own actions during violence and conflicts. Not thinking about IPV was a strategy that aimed at reducing unwanted memories; it is also a strategy that may obstruct creating a narrative.     

The Effects of Domestic Violence on Women's Employment

This article presents some results of a random household survey that examined the effects of domestic violence on the labor force participation of 824 women living in a low‐income neighborhood. It also uses data from twenty‐four long interviews.
Eighteen percent of the respondents reported having experienced physical aggression in the past twelve months, and 11.9% reported more severe physical violence. Women who reported abuse were more likely to have experienced unemployment and held more jobs and to report more health problems. They also had lower personal incomes, and were significantly more likely to receive public assistance. At the same time, women who reported abuse were employed in roughly the same numbers as those who did not. Thus, it appears that domestic violence may depress women's socioeconomic and occupational status attainment over time, but does not affect employment status per se.  The article concludes with comments about the implications of the findings for the redesign of public assistance and job training programs.     

Relational Violence in Women's Prison: How Women Describe Interpersonal Violence and Gender

Using data from interviews with former female inmates, I focus on how women describe aggression and violence in prison. Interviewees outline the connection between prison violence, gender, and interpersonal relationships. Similar to in previous studies on adolescent girls, women describe ostracism and rumors as a form of aggression. Furthermore, they detail how some inmates fight over correctional officers as the only men in their lives. I define this form of aggression as relational violence, which is commonly described as adolescent behavior. This article broadens the current work on gender and inmate conflict by focusing on violence used by adult female offenders. Moreover, it extends understanding of inmate culture by allowing interviewees to verbally construct the social reality of prison violence from their perspective to evaluate how they connect violence to gender roles.     

The Severity of Violence Against Men Scales

In response to the need to differentiate the effects of female and male violence, scales were developed applicable to female violence against men. Two versions of the Severity of Violence Against Men Scale (SVAMS) were devised as a counterpart to the Severity of Violence Against Women Scales (SVAWS). On 10-point rating scales, college males (N = 570) rated how serious, aggressive, abusive, violent, and threatening it would be if a woman did each of 46 acts to a man. The mean of each act across the ratings was calculated and then submitted to factor analysis. Eight factors emerged representing threats of mild, moderate, and serous violence, actual mild, minor, moderate, and serious violence and sexual violence. Community men (N = 115) rated the same acts on seriousness, aggressiveness, and abusiveness. All factors were unidimensional. Second order factor analysis confirmed that two dimensions (physical threats and actual violence) were represented. In contrast to the SVAWS, sexual violence loaded with threats of physical violence. The groups' ratings of physical and emotional harm provided the weightings for future research with student (SVAMS-S) and adult (SVAMS) samples.     

Parenting in Battered Women: The Effects of Domestic Violence on Women and Their Children

This study integrates an ecological perspective and trauma theory in proposing a model of the effects of domestic violence on women's parenting and children's adjustment. One hundred and twenty women and their children between the ages of 7 and 12 participated. Results supported an ecological model of the impact of domestic violence on women and children. The model predicted 40% of the variance in children's adjustment, 8% of parenting style, 43% of maternal psychological functioning, and 23% of marital satisfaction, using environmental factors such as social support, negative life events, and maternal history of child abuse. Overall, results support the ecological framework and trauma theory in understanding the effects of domestic violence on women and children. Rather than focusing on internal pathology, behavior is seen to exist on a continuum influenced heavily by the context in which the person is developing.     

Intimate Partner Violence Against Married Women in Uganda

This study utilized data from the 2006 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey to examine correlates of the lifetime experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) against married women in Uganda. Guided by an integrated theoretical framework that synthesizes resource and gender theories, five hypotheses are developed and tested concerning three major forms of IPV: (a) physical violence, (b) emotional or psychological violence, and (c) sexual violence. Results from multivariate statistical analyses indicate that although both the resource and gender factors are significant predictors of the lifetime experience of IPV among married Ugandan women, the gender factors appear to be more systematic and robust than the resource factors in predicting IPV in Uganda. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.     

Mothers Offending Against Their Role

ABSTRACT

Inmate mothers are not only seen to offend against society, but also against their role as mothers. They bear often public and private scorn for the dislocation their incarceration brings to their children and families. This paper reports on the Australian component of an international comparative policy study, Incarcerated mothers and children: Impact of prison environments(IM-CIPE). This study investigated the impact of the prison environment or institutional ecology on incarcerated mothers and their young children, aged birth to eight years (that is, mothers whose children live with them in custody and mothers who are separated from their children), in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and England. This paper draws on data from policy analyses; interviews with policy-makers, with inmate mothers, and with custodial and noncustodial staff; and observations within six women's prisons and their respective correctional authorities in the three Australian states. This paper argues for policies which support the inmate as mother and which support her children and their caregivers on the outside.     

Reports of Intimate Partner Violence Made Against Police Officers

The purpose of this case control study was to compare police officers (n = 106) from a large urban police force, charged with committing intimate partner violence (IPV) with officers who were not charged (n = 105), in order to identify risk factors for IPV. We also compared the frequency, type, and final disposition of IPV reports filed against police officers before and after the enactment of the 1994 Violence against Women Act (VAWA). Officers accused of IPV were more likely to be members of a minority, on the force more than 7 years and assigned to a high crime district. No major differences on intake baseline MMPI scores were noted between cases and controls. A significant increase in reports of IPV was noted after the enactment of VAWA; the rate changed from 0.2/100 to 1.2/100 person years, although there were too few pre-1994 reports to compare further. Most of the final dispositions of the cases resulted in cases closed due to unsupported testimony from victims. An erratum to this article is available at .     

The Direction of Violence Against Women Research and Evaluation

Although researchers have made numerous advances in the understanding of the nature, extent, and dynamics of violence against women (VAW), there is an ever-increasing need for data used in academic research and within policy decision-making to be collected via rigorous methodological designs to accurately measure the incidence and impact of VAW. What is now needed are research collaborations within an interdisciplinary research cluster that will expand understanding of the complex nature of VAW. The current article details an agenda or “call to action” to address deficiencies and advance VAW research, in addition to informing VAW intervention and prevention efforts.     

Domestic Violence Against Women: Systematic Review of Prevalence Studies

To systematically review the worldwide evidence on the prevalence of domestic violence against women, to evaluate the quality of studies, and to account for variation in prevalence between studies, using consistent definitions and explicit, rigorous methods. Systematic review of prevalence studies on domestic violence against women. Literature searches of 6 databases were undertaken for the period 1995 to 2006. Medline, Embase, Cinahl, ASSIA, ISI, and International Bibliography of the Social Sciences were searched, supplemented by hand searching of the reference lists from studies retrieved and specialized interdisciplinary journals on violence. A total of 134 studies in English on the prevalence of domestic violence against women, including women aged 18 to 65 years, but excluding women with specific disabilities or diseases, containing primary, empirical research data, were included in the systematic review. Studies were scored on eight pre-determined criteria and stratified according to the total quality score. The majority of the sudies were conducted in North America (41%), followed by Europe (20%). 56% of studies were population-based, and 17% were carried out either in primary or community health care settings. There was considerable heterogeneity both between and within geographical locations, health care settings, and study quality The prevalence of lifetime domestic violence varies from 1.9% in Washington, US, to 70% in Hispanic Latinas in Southeast US. Only 12% scored a maximum of 8 on our quality criteria, with 27% studies scored 7, and 17% scored 6. The mean lifetime prevalence of all types of violence was found to be highest in studies conducted in psychiatric and obstetric/gynecology clinics. Results of this review emphasize that violence against women has reached epidemic proportions in many societies. Accurate measurement of the prevalence of domestic violence remains problematic and further culturally sensitive research is required to develop more effective preventive policies and programs.     

Towards a Transformative Conceptualisation of Violence Against Women ‐ A Critical Frame Analysis of Council of Europe Discourse on Violence Against Women

Much academic attention has been devoted to violence against women (VAW) in Europe and research has focused on the mounting policy reform initiatives and capacity building strategies in the EU. Council of Europe initiatives in this area have, surprisingly, by contrast, remained under‐researched. This paper seeks to fill the gap in the literature by engaging in an examination and critique of the ways in which the Council of Europe has incorporated and framed VAW within various legal and policy initiatives. It will employ a methodology of critical frame analysis as theorised by the literature on social movements, and anti‐essentialist critiques within feminist literature to ask: how VAW is problematised; what solutions are offered; where they are located; to what extent they are gendered; and who has a voice in these policy and legal texts.     

Poly- and Distinct- Victimization in Histories of Violence Against Women

We report results from pre-testing an Europe-wide Survey on Violence against Women. A questionnaire on women’s experiences of stalking, harassment, psychological, physical, and sexual violence by non-, ex-, and current partners was tested on 10 known victims of violence in intimate relations and 20 randomly selected women. Multiple Correspondence Analysis uncovered two profiles of victimization: women poly-victimized in multiple life ambits and women distinctly victimized in only some of them. Known-victims of intimate partner’s violence (IPV) were more likely to be poly-victimized than randomly selected women. Heterogeneity in women’s socio-economic conditions could only partly account for IPV’s over-representation among poly-victimized women. This gave more credence to an interpretation that highlights the role played by previous traumatic experiences of victimization on re-victimization.     

Identifying Predictors for Children Witnessing Intimate Partner Violence

Research has shown that intimate partner violence (IPV) prevalence and severity is higher and IPV duration is longer among couples that have children. Women frequently report that their children are the reason why they stay, leave, or return to an IPV relationship. Our study used results from a two-wave telephone survey to determine what IPV-associated factors were significant predictors of respondents’ children witnessing IPV, as well as estimating prevalence of children’s exposure to violence. We found that an increase in respondents’ age was significantly associated with increased odds of a child being exposed to violence. We also found that children witnessing violence were almost twice as likely to have mothers who reported leaving abusers. We hypothesize that increasing age corresponds to improved confidence in help-seeking behaviors. Our findings represent an important first step for future research on understanding how children influence IPV victims’ decision-making in seeking out service providers for help.