Family-of-origin characteristics and current family relationships of female adult incest victims

Past and present family relationships of a group of female adult incest victims were examined. The sample consisted of 40 women who were, at the time of assessment, in treatment for childhood experiences of incest. The majority of these women viewed their families-of-origin as generally unhealthy in regard to various dimensions of autonomy and intimacy. Current relationships with their families-of-origin were characterized by less intimacy and more intimidation, triangulation, and fusion than a normed group. Some of these patterns were also evident in the families-of-procreation of these women, including greater triangulation and less spousal intimacy. The subjects also perceived their families-of-procreation as disengaged, controlling, less active in events outside the family, conflict-ridden, and lacking in organization and emotional expressiveness. Finally, based on a circumplex model, a significant number of families-of-procreation were in the extreme range of family functioning.     

Violence and the U.S. prohibitions of drugs and alcohol

This paper examines the relation between prohibitions and violence,using the historical behavior of the homicide rate in the UnitedStates. The results document that increases in enforcement ofdrug and alcohol prohibition have been associated with increasesin the homicide rate, and auxiliary evidence suggests this positivecorrelation reflects a causal effect of prohibition enforcementon homicide. Controlling for other potential determinants ofthe homicide rate does not alter the conclusion that drug andalcohol prohibition have substantially raised the homicide ratein the U.S. over much of the past 100 years.