Violence and trauma: the past 20 and next 10 years

The issues of violence and trauma over the past 20 years have generated a significant amount of research. However, the development of each field has remained, for the most part, exclusive from the other. Therefore, the goal of this article is to address this shortcoming within the literature by responding to three important questions: (a) What is the most important thing we have learned about violence and trauma in the past 20 years? (b) What is the most important thing we need to learn in the next 10 years? and (c) What is the most promising methodological innovation in the past 20 years for the study or treatment of trauma or interpersonal violence? This article concludes that by increasing the discourse between the two fields, both research fields may be better able to develop conceptually, methodologically, and empirically.     

Beyond PTSD: an evolving relationship between trauma theory and family violence research

During the past 20 years, we have learned how similarly harmful are experiences of terror, violence, and abuse, whether they occur on the combat field or at home. The field of family violence has gained much from the field of traumatic stress, and collaborations between these two previously separate fields have yielded important new answers, as well as new research questions. The field of traumatic stress is poised to integrate, more fully than in the past, a variety of aspects of trauma such as social betrayal, as well as outcomes of trauma such as depression, criminality, and physiological harm that go beyond posttraumatic stress. The field of family violence has much to offer in this process. We look forward to improved research designs that will further our knowledge of how trauma affects aspects of people's lives, including productivity, relationships, cognition, and emotions, in negative and positive ways.     

The most important things learned about violence and trauma in the past 20 years

In the past 2 decades, important insights have been gained regarding violence and trauma. Complications occur in how violence and trauma, their causes, and their effects on victims should be defined. Violence and abuse to women--physical, sexual, and emotional--are not rare events and are most often perpetrated by partners or acquaintances rather than strangers and occur in nonmarital as well as marital relationships, including same-sex relationships. A promising methodological innovation in the study of violence and trauma is the use of longitudinal designs. Innovations in treatments for victims such as evidence-based interventions have been slow to emerge; they include eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and the Seeking Safety group intervention for drug-abusing women with trauma histories. Future research should address increased understanding of variation in individual responses to violence and trauma, matching of treatment to different types of male offenders, better understanding of how culture affects violence perpetration and victimization, and evaluation of domestic violence interventions.     

20 years of research into violence and trauma: past and future developments

This reflection on major developments in the past, present, and future of the wider field of violence and trauma is a personal (and probably biased) sampling of what the authors hold to be important. The authors reviewed advances for victims and perpetrators of violence separately. For victims, the authors note that empirical research has established the potential traumatic impact of violence as well as various predictors of what makes persons vulnerable to adverse psychological consequences. The authors also note that the definitions of violence and trauma have evolved to include such behavioral patterns as stalking. Finally, encouraging evidence regarding the efficacy of exposure-based treatments for victims of violence is reviewed, as well as discouraging evidence regarding the efficacy of single-session debriefing following trauma. For the perpetrators, the importance of individual assessment in planning interventions is underscored, and advances in explicit and implicit assessment techniques are discussed.     

Traumatic stress symptoms in women exposed to community and partner violence

Prior research documents increased trauma symptoms associated with exposure to violence, primarily by examining types of violence separately. This study extends prior research by examining traumatic stress symptoms associated with two types of violence exposure, community violence and partner violence. A sample of 90 low-income African American women from an urban area completed measures assessing exposure to community violence, partner violence, and trauma symptoms. Exposure to community violence and partner violence were associated with increased reporting of trauma symptoms. Participants who experienced high levels of exposure to both types of violence reported more trauma symptoms than women who were exposed to only one type of violence or neither type of violence. The results suggest that the accumulation of exposures to violence is linked with greater distress. Thus, interventions with women exposed to violence should assess violence exposure in multiple domains and attend to the implications of multiple exposures to violence.     

Trauma and violence research: taking stock in the 21st century

Thirty years after the first national estimates of intimate partner violence were published, the field has reached such a level of maturity that complex questions can be posed and sophisticated research studies can be designed to answer them. Out of this body of research, one of the most important things that researchers have learned is that violence and trauma are experienced in different ways by different individuals and as a result, require different types of prevention and intervention approaches. With this greater understanding of the problems of violence and trauma, together with a commitment to inclusive and practical research, the field is poised to move forward toward the ultimate goal of violence prevention.     

Contributions to the study of violence and trauma: multisystemic therapy, exposure therapy, attachment styles, and therapy process research

The prevention of future violence through engaging violent adolescents in multisystemic therapy and the treatment of trauma with exposure therapy are two of the most important scientific advances in the field of interpersonal violence in the past 20 years. A particularly significant methodological innovation is the development of reliable and valid measures of childhood and adult attachment because attachment deficits and their remediation are central to understanding and treating perpetrators of violence. In the coming decades, we need to refine existing treatment programs to make them effective for cases currently classified as treatment resistant. This will involve psychotherapy process research on the interaction between therapeutic mechanisms of change and unique personal vulnerabilities of treatment-resistant cases.     

Advances and future directions in the study of children's neurobiological responses to trauma and violence exposure

One of the most exciting developments to emerge from the field in the past 20 years is the increasing attention to neurobiological responses to violence and trauma exposure. Although researchers have yet to identify a consensual pattern of neurobiological response to violence and trauma exposure, it does appear that some type of alteration in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis is likely. This article briefly reviews the multiple moderating factors that help account for the divergent patterns in HPA function as well as methodological advances that will continue to improve the assessment of HPA function in youth exposed to violence and trauma.     

Examining the moderating role of family cohesion on the relationship between witnessed community violence and delinquency in a national sample of adolescents

Witnessed community violence has been linked to a number of internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents. Guided by Cicchetti and Lynch's (1993) ecological-transactional model, this study aimed to examine the impact that family-level factors had on negative outcomes associated with witnessed community violence. Using a nationally representative sample, we explored the moderational role of family cohesion in the relationship between witnessing community violence and delinquent behavior while taking demographic variables into account. Results from the investigation suggested that low levels of family cohesion were predictive of delinquency after controlling for race, gender, past delinquency, and direct trauma. In addition, the findings suggested that family cohesion moderated the impact of witnessed community violence on future delinquent behavior. Future directions for research and implications for practice were also discussed.     

Possibilities of the positive following violence and trauma: informing the coming decade of research

The effects of trauma and violence may be better understood by taking a broader perspective that includes resilience and recovery as well as damage and symptomatology. Based on this broader view, this article describes three interrelated, cutting-edge trends in mental health research: (a) the positive psychology movement, (b) the recognition of the role of spirituality and religion in health and well-being, and (c) stress-related growth. The integration of these trends into mainstream studies of trauma and violence will provide a counterbalance to the predominant orientation of victimization and pathology currently evidenced in the literature. All three have important implications for survivors of violence and trauma.     

Advances in violence and trauma: toward comprehensive ecological models

The most important things learned about violence and trauma in the past 20 years are that interpersonal violence is prevalent, with different forms co-occurring, and that victims' reactions are complex. Researchers are called to consider models that include the ecological context within which victims experience violence and trauma to gain a better understanding of the variation seen in psychological outcomes. Multivariate data-analytic techniques such as structural equation modeling and cluster analysis are suggested as promising ways to explore questions framed by comprehensive models. These recommendations are predicted to provide comprehensive and individualized ways to intervene and prevent interpersonal violence.     

Reflections on 20 years of research on violence and trauma

This article is part of a special issue reflecting on what people have learned about violence and trauma over the past 20 years and where we need to go in the next 10 years. The author emphasizes the importance of learning to communicate in order to form effective community partnerships. Evidence-based research is noted as a methodological innovation for policy research. Looking to the future, the author suggests that it will be important for crime prevention researchers to not just rely on Internet-based library searches so that they may avoid problems of innumeracy and ahistoricism.     

Understanding the new context of the male sex work industry

The article reviews past and recent research on male sex work to offer a context to understand violence in the industry. It provides a critical review of research to show, first, the assumptions made about male sex workers and violence and, second, how such discourses have shaped thinking on the topic. The article presents a case study and original findings from two studies conducted by the authors in Australia and Argentina on violence in the male sex industry. Finally, the article reviews examples of legislative reforms to show how the sex industry is being regulated.     

Involvement in extreme violence and violence‐related trauma: A review with relevance to young people in custody

Purpose. This review is concerned with the points of contact between two diverse literatures: first, the association between childhood abuse and the development of violent conduct; second, the effects of involvement in the perpetration of acts of violence. Method. The empirical literature in the two areas of concern is considered along with complementary explanations for the extant evidence. Results. There is a weight of evidence indicating that childhood abuse is associated with later violence alongside a literature that considers this association in terms of the traumatic effects of abuse. The perpetration of violent acts can have debilitating effects on the individual offender: these effects have also been considered in terms of trauma. Conclusion. It is suggested that there are potential advantages to adopting a trauma‐based framework to inform practice with violent young people. This suggestion raises several areas for research to inform the development of evidence‐based practice that are presented in outline form.     

The prevalence of sexual violence in prison: the state of the knowledge base and implications for evidence-based correctional policy making

The issue of prison violence and misconduct has been the subject of considerable academic attention, yet particularized areas of violent victimization within prisons have gone relatively unnoticed. One such area involves sexual violence in prisons. Scholars have argued that sexual violence contributes to a host of institutional and individual-level problems, yet the primary limitation of this body of literature is that it has been largely confined to methodologically questionable studies of prison rape prevalence. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to critically take stock of what is and what is not currently known about the prevalence of prison sexual violence. In doing so, it highlights the direction that future research should take so that evidence-based policies concerning prison sexual violence may be developed.     

“It’s Going to Make the Whole Tower Crooked”: Victimization Trajectories in IPV

Interest in the mechanisms by which childhood maltreatment can lead to adult intimate partner victimization (IPV) is growing, though limited research has examined these mechanisms from the direct perspective of the victims. Using qualitative methods to examine childhood histories in a sample of 23 IPV survivors, we identified two trajectories, childhood emotional trauma and childhood physical trauma, which lead to revictimization in adulthood in the form of IPV. The emotional trauma trajectory was associated with a desire for intimacy and deficits in navigating interpersonal relationships. Problematic interpersonal schemas and a fear of loneliness swayed many of these women to stay with an abusive partner. The physical trauma trajectory was associated with desensitization and normalization of violence. Problematic interpersonal schemas, and the belief that the experience of violence is normal, promoted tolerance of IPV. Implications for research and intervention are discussed.     

Of mice and men: will the intersection of social science and genetics create new approaches for intimate partner violence?

The past two decades have yielded a recognition that intimate partner violence is ubiquitous. Although violence within relationships is bidirectional, there is acknowledgment that violence directed against women is more persistent and dangerous. Strategies for treatment of men have been largely unsuccessful, and studies of women centered approaches to prevention are in their infancy. An emerging concept in the brain-behavior field is the recognition of genetics as a powerful influence on aggressive and violent behaviors. Mouse models of human health and disease have facilitated our understanding of the role of genetics in the manifestation of these traits. There is a need to push the boundaries of research on intimate partner violence by adopting biosocial approaches to understand its causes.     

Trends in understanding and addressing domestic violence

This article is a response to three questions posed by the editor about past and future research on interpersonal violence by focusing in this essay on domestic violence:(a) What is the most important thing we have learned about this social problem in the last 20 years, (b) what is the most important thing we need to learn about it in the next 10 years, and (c) what is the most promising methodological innovation in the last 20 years for the study or treatment of domestic violence? This assessment suggests that the field has witnessed considerable advances in domestic violence research and policy but that many as yet untapped opportunities exist to improve both knowledge and practice.     

Thoughts on interpersonal violence and lessons learned: fact or fiction

Although interpersonal violence is evident in all strata of society, every geographical area in the country, and across each gender, it takes courage to acknowledge our passivity about the phenomena, particularly when people of color are involved. Thus, the mass incarcerations of African American men and women and data citing the overrepresentation of African American children not being adequately served in the child welfare system are highlighted to address the three questions posed to authors: What have we learned about violence and trauma over two decades? What should be learned over the next 10 years about violence and trauma? What methodologies exist that show promise of affecting a better understanding of violence and trauma?     

A Hard-to- Escape Situation Informal Pacts,Kingpin Strategies,and Collective Violence in Mexico

Mexico has for an extended period been experiencing homicide rates above, or close to, epidemic levels. Instead of examining why formal institutional reform geared at strengthening democracy has not helped to foment peace and security, as most of the research on collective violence in Latin America and the Caribbean does, this paper focuses on the gap between formal and informal institutions, and continuities rather than points of rupture. I argue that in Mexico, there is a gap between formal institutions (which define how the country should be) and informal institutions (which constrain actual strategic choices). I apply a path-dependence approach to examine what factors have been reproducing collective violence over time, finding that the prevalence of protection rackets (operated by non-state actors at the subnational level) and the use of kingpin strategies (both by state and non-state actors) explain collective violence in the past but also in the present. In the past decades, informal pacts and kingpin strategies have changed in Mexico, but they have survived and adapted to the new formally democratic institutional setting. For the period 1989-2017, I identify three critical junctures that changed the rules of the game, four mechanisms of inertia, and two factors of lock-in that make it difficult to reduce collective violence.