Work and home

Jane Jenson, Elisabeth Hagen and Ceallaigh Reddy (eds) Feminization of the Labour Force. Paradoxes and Promises (Polity Press) Cambridge, 1988; Willem van Vliet (ed.) Women, Housing and Community (Gower) Brookfield, Vermont, 1988; Sophie Watson, Accommodating Inequality, Gender and Housing (Allen and Unwin) Sydney, 1988; Christina Hardyment, From Mangle to Microwave. The Mechanization of Household Work (Polity Press) Cambridge, 1988.     

Shame,anger, and conflict: Case study of emotional violence

This paper proposes a new theory and method for understanding emotional violence: conflict results from threats to the social bond. Protracted conflict may be a result of social-emotional separation and unacknowledged shame. A single case is used to analyze the dynamics of marital conflict. Discourse is analyzed during an actual quarrel; sequences of emotion are traced prior to moments of escalation. The results indicate that not only did anger occur during conflict, but also it was preceded by unacknowledged shame. Sequences within and between spouses alternated from emotional separation and shame, to anger, to disrespect, to further separation and shame, and so on. Interaction in this couple was marked by alienation rather than solidarity.     

Pushing the boundaries of lawful assisted dying in The Netherlands? Existential suffering and lay assistance

Two matters that have a significant presence in the contemporary Dutch assisted dying debate, are the nature of the suffering required for an assisted death to be lawful, and the issue of who can lawfully assist. This article explores whether the lawful medical assisted dying model is too restrictive in failing to recognise existential suffering, considering selected case studies involving such suffering and lay assisted death. It addresses the question whether The Netherlands would take a trip down a slippery slope if the lawful model of assisted death were extended to cases where individuals are 'tired of life'.     

The role of adolescent physical abuse in adult intimate partner violence

This study's primary aims were to examine whether a sample of young adults, aged 23 to 31, who had been documented as physically abused by their parent(s) during adolescence would be more likely to aggress, both physically and verbally, against their intimate partners compared with nonabused young adults and whether abuse history was (along with other risk factors) a significant predictor of intimate partner physical and emotional violence perpetration or victimization. In this longitudinal study, 67 abused and 78 nonabused adults (of an original sample of 198 adolescents) completed the Modified Conflict Tactics Scale and the Jealousy and Emotional Control Scales. Nonabused comparison adolescents were matched for age, gender, and community income. As adults, participants with abuse histories had significantly higher rates of intimate partner physical violence and verbal aggression than did comparison participants. Multivariate logistic regressions indicated that adults with histories of physical abuse were more than twice as likely to be physically violent and almost six times more likely to be verbally aggressive to their intimate partners than were comparison participants. Having had an alcohol use disorder, being married to or living with a partner, and perceiving one's partner as controlling were also significantly associated with physical violence. Jealousy and feeling controlled by one's partner were also significant predictors of verbal aggression. These findings underscore the importance of preventing adolescent abuse as a means of decreasing the incidence of intimate partner physical violence in adulthood.     

Childhood animal cruelty methods and their link to adult interpersonal violence

Recent research has begun to establish a relationship between childhood acts of animal cruelty and later violence against humans. However, few studies have focused on the influence of animal cruelty methods on later interpersonal violence. In a replication of a study by Hensley and Tallichet (2009) and based on a sample of 180 inmates at medium- and maximum-security prisons in a Southern state, the present study examines the relationship between several retrospectively identified animal cruelty methods (drowned, hit, shot, kicked, choked, burned, and sex) and interpersonal violence committed against humans. Four out of 5 inmates reported hitting animals. Over one third of the sample chose to shoot or kick animals, while 1 in 5 had sex with them. Less then one fifth of the sample drowned or choked animals, while less than one sixth of the inmates burned animals. Regression analyses revealed that the age at which offenders began committing animal cruelty and having sex with animals were predictive of adult interpersonal violence.