Solus Christus within Empire: Christology in the Face of Violence against Women

When seen as the theocentric political confession it is, the confession “only Christ” is possible and meaningful for victim/survivors of violence against women. To confess only Christ undoes what is “required” in an empire of violence against women and is the recognition that Jesus Christ embraces our bodies, all of them. Moreover, this confession changes the body's response—individual and communal—to violence in an empire of violence against women.     

Partner Violence, Social Support, and Distress Among Inner-City African American Women

This study examined the role of social support in the partner violence–psychological distress relation in a sample of African American women seeking medical care at a large, urban hospital (n = 138). Results from bivariate correlational analyses revealed that partner violence was related to lower perceived social support and greater psychological distress, and lower social support was related to more distress. Furthermore, findings based on path analysis indicated that low levels of social support helped account for battered women's increased distress. Findings point to the need for service providers to screen for partner violence in nontraditional sites, such as hospital emergency rooms, and to address the role of social support resources in preventive interventions with African American battered women.     

Coping with Intimate Partner Violence: Battered Women's Use and Perceived Helpfulness of Emotion-Focused Coping Strategies

This study investigated intimate partner violence (IPV) victims' emotion-focused coping efforts, as well as their retrospective ratings of the perceived helpfulness of these efforts, in the context of a longitudinal study of battered women's experiences over time. Four hundred and six primarily African American, low-income battered women who had experienced IPV within the previous 12 months were interviewed. Patterns of coping use and perceived helpfulness were explored. The correlation between prevalence of use of emotion-focused coping strategies and perceived helpfulness of these strategies was examined, and results showed that the strategies used by more battered women were less helpful in dealing with feelings about abuse. Implications for clinical interventions with battered women are discussed.     

Women with Children in Violent Relationships

Summary

Custody issues for battered women means continuing involvement with a violent, abusive, intimidating partner. This article explores the continuing power and control dynamics of the domestic violence relationship after the woman with children leaves, and presents some preliminary findings. The custody of the children, visitation and financial arrangements often become the basis of terrorism as the man attempts to continue to control the woman's behavior with threats against the children. Fear of losing her children may force a woman to stay in a violent relationship, or return in spite of danger to her children and herself. On the other hand, the history of violence may make it difficult for the mother to cooperate with the court orders regarding joint custody or visitation even when safety appears not to be an issue. It is important for professionals working with children of violent families to understand the continuing effects of domestic violence after separation in order to provide assistance to children “caught in the middle” in custody disputes.     

The Prevalence and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence Intrusion in the Workplace

This study examines the prevalence and consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the workplace. Surveys were completed by 1,390 employees in 32 different companies representing different organization types. Over half of the women and almost a quarter of the males reported that they had been an IPV victim at some point in their lives with 16% reporting victimization in the previous 12 months. Younger workers and workers who witnessed IPV frequently as a child were more likely to be current IPV victims. Further, 41% of lifetime victims reported significant workplace consequences, such as missed days of work, tardiness, and perpetrator intrusion. Younger workers, a history of IPV physical injury, more frequent IPV events over longer periods of time, and a history of stalking were associated with a greater number of IPV work consequences. The cumulative effects of IPV as well as active victimization contribute to negative workplace consequences. With significant numbers of employees experiencing IPV and reporting workplace consequences, the present research underscores the need for employers to develop a more precise means of understanding cost and response.     

Attitudes Toward Violence Against Women: A Cross-Nation Study

An understanding of attitudes toward violence against women is vital for effective prevention strategies. In this study we examined attitudes regarding violence against women in samples of undergraduate women and men students from four countries: India, Japan, Kuwait, and the United States. Attitudes toward sexual assault and spousal physical violence differed between men and women and across the four countries. Variations in gender differences across countries indicated that, for attitudes regarding sexual assault of women in particular, sociocultural factors may be a stronger influence than gender. Findings suggest the importance of examining differences within the larger sociocultural context of political, historical, religious, and economic influences on attitudes toward gender roles and violence against women.     

The Role of Families and Care Givers as Risk and Protective Factors in Preventing Youth Violence

This paper reviews research which discusses the risk and protective functions that families and other caregivers provide in influencing the development of aggressive behavior in youth. Currently, there is an emphasis on providing violence prevention programs in the school environment, typically with little parental or caregiver involvement. By enhancing the role of families and caregivers in youth violence prevention programs, we assert that an unique opportunity exists to both address specific risk factors for violence while enhancing the protective features of the family. Relatedly, the risk literature on youth violence indicates that the most influential risk factors (i.e., the family, community, and peers) have their principle impact on youth aggression outside the school. We suggest a shift in the focus of violence prevention programming that is more inclusive of families as both a risk and protective agent. In support of this position, relevant theory and reviews of exemplary family-involved programs are offered. Challenges to involving youth caregivers are identified and recommendations for overcoming those challenges suggested. Last, recommendations for future research and public policy in the prevention of youth violence are offered.     

Non-Violent Survival Strategies in the Face of Intimate Partner Violence and Economic Discrimination

Intimate partner violence (IPV) theory often locates violence equitably between women and men. Women, however, sustain greater degrees of injury than men and often use violence as a measure of protection rather than as an act of aggression. Yet measures of protection must be viewed in multiple contexts. In this case, the context is poverty, which reveals that violence by women in response to IPV is not the only way that women deal with the violence in their lives. This article explicates four strategies that battered women in poverty deploy in their protective trajectory and highlight alternative resistance strategies women use to overcome multiple structural barriers.     

The Prevalence and Co-Occurrence of the Forms of Violence Against Women

ABSTRACT

To examine the relative risk of the multiple forms of violence against women as well as the incidence and co-occurrence rates of self-reported childhood sexual assault (CSA), childhood physical assault (CPA), intimate partner violence (IPV), and witnessing family violence. The sample included 1,069 female undergraduates who completed measures of childhood trauma exposure (CPA, CSA, and exposure to family violence) and IPV victimization. Fifty-four percent of women in the sample experienced one or more forms of violence. Nearly 30% of participants reported IPV, 23% reported witnessing violence as a child, 13% reported experiencing CPA, and 11% reported experiencing CSA. Regarding co-occurrence, 31% experienced only one form of violence, 16% reported two forms, 6% reported three forms, and just over 1% of the sample reported experiencing all four forms of violence. For all forms of violence, the relative risk of experiencing another form of violence was significant at p < .0001, with witnessing violence and CPA being associated with the highest risks. This study highlights the importance of more carefully describing the violence experiences of participants used in violence research and accounting for poly-victimization in explanatory models of these forms of aggression and abuse.     

Male Perpetrators of Violence Against Women: An Attachment Theory Perspective

This paper proposes an attachment theory formulation of violent acts perpetrated by men against women, usually in the context of sexual relationships. It is proposed that relationship violence may be seen as an exaggerated response of a disorganized attachment system. It is related to a disorganized attachment pattern in infancy coupled with a history of abuse and an absent male parental figure. The author proposes a theory based on a psychoanalytic understanding of the development of the self, and highlights similarities between the clinical presentation of male perpetrators and those with borderline personality disorder.     

Interpersonal Violence,Recovery, and Resilience in Incarcerated Women

Abstract

Our first study focuses on interpersonal violence and characteristics of resilience (evaluated by the Multidimensional Trauma Resilience and Recovery [MTRR] interview and rating scales) in a sample of incarcerated women. The second study applies qualitative data analysis to a case study of one participant in group therapy for incarcerated women with a history of childhood sexual abuse. Despite extensive history of both frequent and severe abuse, the women displayed a high degree of resilience across multiple domains, including, in particular, the ability to derive meaning from traumatic events and to place the memories into context, ability to form meaningful relationships with others, and ability to regulate affect. These findings were replicated in study two, which illustrates the process of recovery from a poly-traumatic history.     

Mental Health Professionals' Perceptions of Women's Experiences of Family Violence

This study explored perceptions of 92 mental health professionals regarding violent families. They were asked to answer the questions on the Family Environment Scale as they thought women who lived in homes where they and their children were physically and/or psychologically abused would respond. Their scores were compared to those of 28 mothers in battered women's shelters. They differed significantly in their perceptions of violent family dynamics with regard to levels of cohesion, expressiveness, independence, intellectual-cultural orientation, active-recreational emphasis, and moral-religious emphasis. They believed the women to have lower levels on these constructs than the women actually reported. Implications suggest that mental health professionals could be more aware of the dynamics of violent families in order to efficiently uncover the violence during therapy sessions and provide appropriate services.     

Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence: Effects of Confiding in Religious Leaders

IPV is the most challenging mental health problem facing clergy. Abused women (n = 476), most of whom are Christians living at home (not in shelters), sought assistance from domestic violence centers. Data obtained from questionnaires demonstrated that confiding in clergy predicts higher self-esteem and reduces the impact of lack of social support on self-esteem, self-efficacy, and life satisfaction. Compassionate clergy counseling can have a positive influence on psychological outcomes of women in abusive relationships.     

Psychosocial Variables Associated With Verbal Abuse as a Form of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in a Spanish Sample

This article aims to analyze psychosocial variables associated with verbal abuse in women who suffer intimate partner violence. The following factors, taken from the scientific literature, were examined: social and family isolation; low self-esteem; an excess of empathy for the abuser; submission; psychological dependence on the abuser; and, self-blame as internal attribution for the cause of abuse. Our results show that low self-esteem has a direct relationship with verbal abuse. Additionally, family (including in-laws) and social (from friends, workmates, and neighbors), isolation are significantly and positively related to verbal abuse. The results of our study raise questions about the adoption of gender roles and their consequences when stereotyped tendencies are acquired. Implications, as well as ideas future research, are discussed.     

Antecedents of Physical and Sexual Victimization Among Homeless Women: A Comparison to Homeless Men

Homeless women experience extensive health risks including physical and sexual victimization. Few studies that have gathered information on homeless persons have reported results separately for women or have compared them directly with men. Research that both investigates antecedents of victimization among homeless women and compares them to those for men is necessary to determine whether prevention efforts must be different for each group. We investigated potential antecedents of recent (past 30 days) physical and sexual victimization in a probability sample of 394 homeless women and compared findings to those for 1159 homeless men. As hypothesized, mental disorder, substance dependence, and engaging in economic survival strategies significantly predicted victimization among homeless women. With few dissimilarities, these characteristics also predicted victimization among homeless men. Although differences in the needs and experiences of homeless women and men must be recognized, both women and men require assistance to establish and maintain safe residences, treatment of any substance use and mental disorder, and alternatives to economic survival strategies that place them at risk for victimization.     

Female Offenders in Domestic Violence

SUMMARY

It is well accepted that large numbers of men batter women. Although some data also reveal that women report assaulting men in large numbers, interpretation of the latter data has been fraught with controversy. The present article reports on a sample of women arrested for domestic violence. When questions were asked about frequency of violence initiation, which partner began the overall pattern of violence in the relationship, and the women's reasons for using violence, it was found that about two-thirds of the women were battered and using violence to protect themselves or to retaliate for previous violence against them. Implications of these findings for conceptualizing women's violence as well as for training law enforcement personnel are discussed.     

Trends in the Treatment of Men Who Commit Violence against Women

Violence committed by men against women has a long history. At this time its prevalence is being increasingly documented and questioned in our society. Mental health workers have not had sufficient knowledge of the problem and, therefore, have not provided adequate treatment or devised preventive strategies. This article reviews the available literature regarding characteristics and treatment of three types of abusive men (rapists, incest offenders, wife batterers) and discusses the generalizability of common treatment approaches and counselor roles in treating these men.     

Legal and Policy Responses to Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: The Need to Evaluate Intended and Unintended Consequences

Greater training and specialization in working with children exposed to domestic violence has resulted in new policies, interagency protocols, and legislation in many states. This paper examines court-related responses in criminal, child protection, and family court custody proceedings, which highlight legislative changes and resulting systemic change. Although this legislation originated with the best of intentions to assist and protect children, some of the most striking outcomes have been negative and unintended. Laws that mandate reporting of children exposed to domestic violence can clash with inadequate training and resources, or inadvertently revictimize abused women. Similarly, child custody legislation that raises a rebuttable presumption that a violent spouse will not receive custody or joint custody of children after parental separation has resulted in greater skepticism about abuse allegations. We propose that efforts at law reform can be enhanced by a more thoughtful analysis of potential intended and unintended consequences, and should be accompanied by a comprehensive evaluation plan to monitor implementation effects.     

Violence in Low-Income Neighborhoods in the United States

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on the chronic violence in low-income neighborhoods to which children and adults are regularly exposed. Such neighborhoods have been called “urban war zones,” and those who witness the violence have been referred to as co-victims. This paper examines what we know about the prevalence of neighborhood violence, the consequences of continued exposure to it, the dominant responses to the problem within psychology, a critique of these responses, and possible next steps.