A silent minority: Battered American Indian women

Sixteen American Indian women requesting counseling for domestic violence at an urban Indian health center were interviewed using standardized measures. The majority of the women were not married, had low family incomes, and both the women and their partners abused substances. All of the women experienced increased depression and stress as a result of the battering. A mental health needs assessment survey of 198 American Indian women is presented for comparison. Women who reported a history of domestic violence on the survey were more likely to be separated or divorced and reported more problems with alcohol than the women with no history of domestic violence. The results of the domestic violence program interviews are compared to the mental health needs assessment survey and studies of battered women in shelters.     

Childhood Abusive and Supportive Experiences, Inter-Parental Violence, and Parental Alcohol Use: Prediction of Young Adult Depressive Symptoms and Aggression

Issues in both the children of alcoholics and child abuse literatures were addressed in an attempt to disentangle the effects on young adults of growing up in alcoholic homes versus abusive homes. Using multiple regression, retrospective reports of parental abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual) and parental support (love/support, independence, and fairness), witnessing violence between parents, and parental alcohol use were used as predictor variables for outcomes noted by both literatures. When the effects of all other predictors were statistically controlled, parental alcohol use was not significantly related to depressive symptoms or aggression. Different abusive and supportive behaviors, depending on sex of parent and sex of participant, were significant predictors of both depression and aggression. Results underscore the importance of including and controlling for inter-parental violence and for different types of child abuse (especially emotional abuse) and parental supportive behaviors in investigations of outcomes related to abusive and alcoholic families. Implications for treatment of individuals from these families are discussed.     

The RECON typology of stalking: reliability and validity based upon a large sample of North American stalkers

A new typology of stalking, RECON (relationship and context-based), is proposed, based upon the prior relationship between the pursuer and the victim, and the context in which the stalking occurs. The static typology yields four groups: Intimate, Acquaintance, Public Figure, and Private Stranger. The typology was tested on a large (N = 1005) nonrandom sample of North American stalkers gathered from prosecutorial agencies, a large police department, an entertainment corporation security department, and the authors' files. Interrater reliability for group assignment was 0.95 (ICC). Discriminant validity (p < 0.01) was demonstrated on a variety of demographic, clinical, pursuit, threat, and violence characteristics among and between groups. Findings confirm and extend the work of other researchers, most notably the very high risk of threats and violence among prior sexually intimate stalkers, the very low risk of threats and violence among public figure (celebrity) stalkers, and the negative relationship between stalking violence and psychosis.     

家庭“冷暴力”的危害及防治对策

家庭"冷暴力"正日益成为破坏现代婚姻家庭的重要"病毒",也是诱发受害者犯罪,造成社会不稳定的原因之一,要预防争制止家庭"冷暴力",必须提高社会认识和男女双方的责任意识,提高妇女地位,完善立法,提供社会支持,为构建和谐社会而不懈努力!     

Violence in Police Families: Work-Family Spillover

This article uses a path model to examine the relationship between violence exposure and domestic violence among police officers with the expectation that the relationships would be both direct and mediated. The mediation factors included burnout, authoritarian spillover, alcohol use, and department withdrawal. The model was tested through an analysis of data collected from 413 officers. Four mediation chains were identified; the most powerful of these was burnout and authoritarian spillover. Suggestions for future research include understanding violence in the context of unique workplace cultures, classifying violence types, and clarifying how this population defines violence and control.     

Hostage-Taking in the Context of Domestic Violence: Some Case Examples

Initial reports of domestic violence are generally made to law enforcement officers who must respond and intervene. A subset of these episodes involves cases in which the victim, and, in many instances her child(ren), have been taken hostage by her husband or partner. Moreover, there are indications that the number of such incidents is growing. The purpose of this project was twofold: (1) to provide one of the first reports on the prevalence and characteristics of these events, and (2) to more closely analyze domestic crisis (hostage) situations using actual case examples. All information was obtained from the Hostage Barricade Database System (HOBAS) of the FBIs Crisis Negotiation Unit. HOBAS is a postincident information collection tool which stores historical data from law enforcement agencies across the nation on hostage/barricade incidents. An examination of this database yielded different types of domestic hostage-taking acts and outcomes (e.g., tactical vs. negotiated resolutions, survival vs. death/injury of perpetrator and/or victim[s]). Implications of the findings, for future crisis negotiation efforts directed toward nonviolent resolution of these high-risk critical incidents, are discussed.     

Testing a Theoretical Model of the Relationship Between Impulsivity,Mediating Variables,and Husband Violence

The present study involved a multimethod assessment of impulsivity among 86 men. Using two questionnaires and four performance-based measures of impulsivity, the factor structure of the impulsivity data was examined. Four constructs that theoretically mediate the relationship between impulsivity and husband violence (i.e., substance abuse, anger/hostility, marital dissatisfaction, and psychological abuse) were assessed to examine a mediational model predictive of husband violence. Substance abuse and marital dissatisfaction mediated the relationship between impulsivity and psychological abuse. Psychological abuse mediated the relationship between substance abuse and marital dissatisfaction and husband violence. Although anger/hostility was not a mediator, there were bivariate associations between anger/hostility and impulsivity, psychological abuse, and husband violence. The results of the regression analyses were virtually identical when controlling for the effect of intelligence on the model variables. The implications of the findings for the assessment of impulsivity and for future husband violence research are discussed.     

Perception of and Satisfaction with Relationship Power,Sex, and Attachment Styles: A Couples Level Analysis

Eighty heterosexual dating couples provided information about their gender, individual histories of abuse in their current relationship, attachment styles, perception of and satisfaction with relationship power. Partner report of physical abuse was the dependent variable. APIM actor results suggest that an individual's gender interacts with perceived level of relationship power and satisfaction with relationship power for physical abuse. Both dimensions of attachment interacted with perceived relationship power for physical abuse. Partner effects were also found. One's partner's sex interacted with perceived power and satisfaction with relationship power. Finally, the partner's avoidant attachment interacted with satisfaction with relationship power. These findings generally replicate and extend the work of H. M. Ronfeldt, R. Kimerling, and I. Arias (1998, J. Marriage Fam. 60: 70–78) by showing how attachment styles, perception of relationship power, and satisfaction with relationship power are related in predicting aggression against a romantic partner.     

Violence and Aggression in the Lives of Homeless Children

The present research examined the role of violence and aggression in the lives of children in homeless families, focusing on possible connections among family violence, children's aggression, and children's problems with social isolation and rejection. Measures were obtained from structured interviews with 93 sets of mothers and children. Consistent with past research, average estimates of specific violent incidents experienced by mothers (as adults) were quite high. Measures of this family violence were reliably correlated with children's behavior problems as well as with measures of aggression in peer relationships (victimization, ease of resolving fights with friends).Finally, results of regression analyses were most consistent with a model in which family violenceand economic distress contributed to problematic aggressive behaviors among children; that aggression, in turn, appeared to lead to social isolation and avoidance. The overall results emphasized the need to address violence and aggression in any intervention programs for homeless children and families.     

A meta-analytic review of court-mandated batterer intervention programs: Can courts affect abusers’ behavior?

Court-mandated batterer intervention programs are being implemented throughout the United States to address the problem of domestic violence. Prior reviews of research on the effectiveness of these programs have arrived at conflicting conclusions. This study is a systematic review of the extant research on this topic. Experimental and quasi-experimental studies that used matching or statistical controls were included. The results were mixed. The mean effect for official reports of domestic violence from experimental studies showed modest benefit, whereas the mean effect for victim reported outcomes was zero. Quasi-experimental studies using a no-treatment comparison had inconsistent findings indicating an overall small harmful effect. In contract, quasi-experimental studies using a treatment dropout design showed a large, positive mean effect on domestic violence outcomes. We discuss the weakness of the latter design and raise concerns regarding official reports. The findings, we believe, raise doubts about the effectiveness of court-mandated batterer intervention programs.