Battered women versus male batterer typologies: Same or different based on evidence-based studies?

Domestic violence research has made great strides in understanding patterns of violence by examining typologies or categories of male batterers. Examining classifications of batterers allows for more targeted interventions and policies that address the particular risks and needs of each batterer subtype. Despite great advancement in our understanding of batterer typologies, little work has been done to examine what these typologies mean for battered women and whether battered women are easily classified into similar typologies useful for service provision. This article reviews the most common and empirically supported batterer typologies and then compares these typologies to Roberts’ [Roberts, A. R. (2007). Domestic violence continuum, forensic assessment, and crisis intervention.] The continuum of the duration and severity of woman battering is adapted from Roberts and Roberts' (2005) Ending Intimate Abuse: Practical Guidance and Survival Strategies, New York: Oxford University Press. The battered-women typology, however, introduces women's degree of independence as a factor important in battered-women classification but often ignored in batterer typologies. Making these comparisons raises several questions regarding the focus of future classificatory and typological research on intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental factors. The implications for practice with battered women in different types of violent relationships are discussed.     

Subtypes of drug-addicts in treatment: empirical support for a distinction between Type A and Type B

This study examines the possibility of replicating and generalizing a multidimensional typology of drug-addicts by means of the evaluation of 320 participants who were receiving outpatient treatment for their problem of addiction. A two-stage cluster analysis was performed, revealing the existence of two typologies of consumers, called type A and Type B. The participants classified as Type B showed various indicators of chronicity (higher mean age, higher unemployment rate), more severity of their problem of drug consumption and of medical aspects, employment support, legal, family/social and psychiatric problems in comparison with Type A. Participants from the latter group reported active employment as their main source of income and they had consumed drugs for fewer years. However, they presented more severity associated with alcohol consumption. In view of these data, Type A is called functional drug-addict and Type B chronic drug-addict. Once the groups of drug-addicts were delimited, a more specific characterization was made, taking seven problem areas into account: medical, employment support, alcohol, drugs, legal, family/social, and psychiatric areas. As a general conclusion, more psychosocial severity was observed in Type B as compared with Type A. Lastly, the implications and usefulness of grouping drug-addicts into typologies is discussed.     

On Typologies for Relating Science and Religion

Geoffrey Cantor and Chris Kenny have criticized attempts to classify various ways of relating science and religion. They hold that all typologies are too simple and too static to illuminate the complex and changing historical interactions of science and religion. I argue that typologies serve a useful pedagogical function even though every particular interaction must be seen in its historical context. I acknowledge the problems in making distinctions between categories of classification and examine some alternative typologies that have been proposed. I leave as an open question whether my fourfold typology is applicable to differing religious traditions. Finally I consider some parallels between typologies for science‐religion interactions and typologies for relationships between religions. Can our discussions be both interdisciplinary and interreligious without the danger of imposing the conceptual framework of one discipline or religious tradition on another discipline or tradition?     

Personality characteristics of alcohol dependent inpatients: relationship of MCMI subtypes to self-reported drinking behavior.

Recent cluster analytic research with alcoholic inpatients has demonstrated the existence of several Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) clusters that appear to be consistent across different subject samples. The validity of these data would be strengthened by a statistical demonstration of the similarity of attained clusters across studies--a demonstration of concordance of subject classification across different clustering techniques on the same data set- and the inclusion of external, independent measures against which to evaluate the predictive validity of the cluster typology. We found a high level of concordance in subject classification across different clustering methods on the same data set and a high level of agreement with cluster typologies attained in previous studies. Subsequent multivariate analyses employing independent scales measuring various aspects of alcohol use confirmed differences among cluster members on perceived benefits of alcohol use and deleterious effects of alcohol use. The prominent differences in alcohol use along with a rationale for their development are discussed.     

Personality Characteristics of Substance Abusers: An MCMI Cluster Typology of Recreational Drug Users Treated in a Therapeutic Community and Its Relationship to Length of Stay and Outcome

The purpose of this investigation was to define homogeneous personality subtypes among substance abusers treated in a long-term, inpatient, drug-free therapeutic community and to determine how the resulting typology was related to length of stay and treatment outcome, A hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis was performed on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) scale scores of 235 admissions to a therapeutic community. Five cluster types emerged,, which were similar to typologies found in studies with alcoholic inpatients. A concordant solution evolved when a different clustering algorithm was used with the same sample and when clustering was done with a different group of substance abusers. As hypothesized, clusters of patients with average MCMI elevations that indicated avoidant, schizoid, and antisocial qualities tended to stay in treatment fewer days and relapsed earlier during the 1-year follow-up. The implications, for substance abuse treatment are discussed.     

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia in alcohol dependent patients: a randomized controlled pilot trial

In a randomized controlled trial, we evaluated the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral treatment for insomnia to improve sleep and daytime symptoms, and to reduce relapse in recovering alcohol dependent (AD) participants. Seventeen abstinent AD patients with insomnia (6 women, mean age 46.2 ± 10.1 years) were randomized to 8 sessions of cognitive-behavioral treatment for insomnia for AD (CBTI-AD, n = 9) or to a behavioral placebo treatment (BPT, n = 8). Subjective measures of sleep, daytime consequences of insomnia and AD, alcohol use, and treatment fidelity were collected at baseline and post-treatment. Diary-rated sleep efficiency and wake after sleep onset, and daytime ratings of General Fatigue on the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory improved more in the CBTI-AD compared to the BPT group. In addition, more subjects were classified as treatment responders following CBTI-AD. No group differences were found in the number of participants who relapsed to any drinking or who relapsed to heavy drinking. The findings suggest that cognitive-behavioral insomnia therapy benefits subjective sleep and daytime symptoms in recovering AD participants with insomnia more than placebo. The benefits of treating insomnia on drinking outcomes are less apparent.     

Personality characteristics of substance abusers: an MCMI cluster typology of recreational drug users treated in a therapeutic community and its relationship to length of stay and outcome.

The purpose of this investigation was to define homogeneous personality subtypes among substance abusers treated in a long-term, inpatient, drug-free therapeutic community and to determine how the resulting typology was related to length of stay and treatment outcome. A hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis was performed on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) scale scores of 235 admissions to a therapeutic community. Five cluster types emerged, which were similar to typologies found in studies with alcoholic inpatients. A concordant solution evolved when a different clustering algorithm was used with the same sample and when clustering was done with a different group of substance abusers. As hypothesized, clusters of patients with average MCMI elevations that indicated avoidant, schizoid, and antisocial qualities tended to stay in treatment fewer days and relapsed earlier during the 1-year follow-up. The implications for substance abuse treatment are discussed.     

The Effect of Conflict Goals on Avoidance Strategies: What Does Not Communicating Communicate?

Avoidance is proposed to be a goal‐directed behavior rather than a behavior that reflects passivity or inaction. To evaluate this proposition, a typology of conflict goals and a typology of conflict avoidance strategies are created, and the relationship between nonavoidance strategies and the elements of these 2 typologies are evaluated within a structural equation model (N = 352). Findings show that, except for pretending and withdrawal, conflict goals successfully predict avoidance strategies, thereby affirming their strategic importance. The article concludes by addressing areas for future research, including modifications and refinement of the typologies and proposing other strategies and goals that may be theoretically significant.     

Personality variables, psychopathological alterations and personality disorders in alcohol-dependent patients according to Cloninger's typology of alcohol abuse

In this paper, an evaluation of Cloninger's typology of alcohol abuse in personality, psychopathology and personality disorders is carried out. The sample consisted of 158 alcoholics in treatment (56 Type I alcohol-dependent patients and 102 Type II alcohol-dependent patients). All subjects were assessed with diverse assessment tools related to personality (Impulsiveness Scale, Sensation Seeking Scale and STAI), psychopathology (SCL-90-R, BDI and Inadaptation Scale) and personality disorders (IPDE). The main findings were that Type II alcohol-dependent patients were more impulsive and sensation-seeking and they displayed more hostility and emotional distress than Type I alcohol-dependent patients. Personality disorders were not so prevalent in the case of Type I alcohol-dependent patients. The most specific personality disorders for Type II alcohol-dependent patients were narcissistic and paranoid. The implications of this study for further research are commented on.     

New directions in offender typology design,development, and implementation: Can we balance risk,treatment and control?

It should come as no surprise that there is no “one-stop shopping” offender typology available that can identify the risk level, targeted treatment protocols, and control levels of the offender groups examined in this special issue: murderers, sex offenders, batterers, violent prisoners, and violent mentally ill offenders. We are in desperate need of further research establishing the links between offender risk level, offender treatment needs, and offender control requirements for each of these offender groups. This article provides a “state of the art” discussion of the key issues that must be addressed by policymakers, practitioners, and ultimately, the public, vis-à-vis the design, development, and implementation of typologies for each of these targeted groups of offenders. This is followed by our assessment of the lessons learned from the great prison classification experiment. We conclude by providing an assessment of new directions in the development of typologies of offenders and the communities in which offenders reside, based on the simple notion that offender change–not offender control–needs to be the primary focus of the next generation of correctional classification systems.     

Applying a Time‐Patterned Typology of Homelessness Among Individuals with Mental Illness

Identification of subgroups of the homeless populations, or typologies, has been an important research priority to guide homelessness services and policies. This study builds on previous typological research conducted in the general homeless population by focusing on individuals with mental illness to further delineate typologies within a more homogenous subset of the homeless population. A time‐patterned typology based on episodes of street and shelter homelessness over a four‐year period was applied to a sample of 246 individuals identified through mental health administrative records. Four groups were created based upon patterns of homelessness: 26.8% experienced homelessness for 4 years, 13.4% had one episode of homelessness but were no longer homeless at the end of the follow‐up, 48.4% had at least two episodes of homelessness, and 11.4% had a single episode of homelessness lasting 3 months or less. Findings from a multinomial logistic regression indicated that gender, presence of a psychotic disorder, substance abuse, and year of study enrollment significantly predicted group membership. Residential trajectories upon exit from homelessness and at the end of the four‐year follow‐up were examined. Implications for current policy and future research are discussed.     

THE AIMS OF TYPOLOGIES AND A TYPOLOGY OF METHODS

Typologies like Ian Barbour's have been widely used—and critiqued—in religion-and-science. Several alternatives have been proposed by, for example, John Haught, Willem Drees, Mikael Stenmark, and Shoaib Ahmed Malik. However, there has been a surprising deficit in discussion of what we wish typologies to do in religion and science in the first place. In this article, I provide a general analysis of typologies in religion-and-science by (1) providing a classification of existing typologies as conclusion- or concept-oriented; (2) showing that typologies are used, or expected to be used, as first-order categorizations of how religion and science are related and as second-order classifications of scholars/scholarly works; (3) discussing several aims which we might want typologies to achieve in their second-order usage; and (4) presenting a new kind of typology focused on the methods used by scholars which achieves those aims in a unique way.     

A NEW VIEW OF LESBIAN SUBTYPES: STABLE VERSUS FLUID IDENTITY TRAJECTORIES OVER AN 8-YEAR PERIOD

Research has increasingly documented that the distinction between lesbian and bisexual women is one of degree rather than kind, and some researchers have therefore argued for an end to sexual categorization altogether. To the contrary, I maintain that researchers should explore alternative criteria for sexual categorization that might allow us to discern novel and meaningful subtypes of same-sex sexuality. Toward this end, I explore the usefulness of a typology that focuses on change in lesbian identification over time, using a sample of young sexual-minority women that has been observed longitudinally for a period of 8 years. Specifically, I contrast women who have maintained consistent lesbian identifications over this time period (stable lesbians) to women who have alternated between lesbian and nonlesbian labels (fluid lesbians) and women who never adopted lesbian labels (stable nonlesbians). The pattern of similarities and differences among the groups changes as a function of the specific phenomenon being assessed (e.g., sexual and emotional attractions, sexual contact, developmental histories), suggesting the value of using multiple, alternative sexual typologies as heuristics to guide future research into life span development of sexual orientation and identity.     

A typology of behavior problems in preschool children

The purpose of this study was to produce a typology of behavior problems in preschool children. Distinct subtypes were identified through the use of cluster analytic techniques on data from the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC)-Parent Rating Scales. Analyses were based on archival data collected on a sample of 268 children, aged 2 to 5 years, who were referred to determine their suitability for a day treatment program. Five distinct and reliable subtypes of preschool children's behavior problems emerged. Ratings of adaptive and social skills based on the BASC Adaptive Scales and measures from the Parenting Stress Index served as external variables to assess the distinctiveness of the derived subtypes. The findings provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the subtypes identified in this study that are consistent with the findings of previous subtyping investigations focusing on school-aged children.     

Controversies Involving Gender and Intimate Partner Violence in the United States

This paper summarizes five challenging ongoing controversies involving gender and U. S. intimate partner violence (IPV) (i.e., gender symmetry of perpetration; utility of typologies; understanding bi-directionally violent couples; violence motivations and self-defense, and treatment effectiveness). Reviewed evidence support three central theses that: 1) there are subtypes of IPV; 2) women are as involved as men with some but not all subtypes of IPV, and 3) recognition of these gender-related challenges will improve policy, treatment, and working models of IPV. Within this paper, a dyadic culture-family-attachment-skill deficit model of IPV is conceptualized and three types of bi-directionally violent couples are named and described (dyadic dominance, dyadic dysregulation, and dyadic couple violence). Practice and policy implications of these advances are articulated.     

Dysnomia in Alzheimer's disease: an evaluation of neurobehavioral subtypes.

The relative influence of perceptual and semantic features on naming performance was investigated with reference to the neurobehavioral profiles displayed by patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Forty-one patients were classified as manifesting a verbal, visual, or global subtype based upon their pattern of neuropsychological functioning. Perceptual characteristics of to-be-named pictures were varied by manipulating the amount of line detail, whereas semantic qualities were varied by altering word frequency norms. All AD subtypes were less accurate than normal elderly controls in naming low frequency pictures. Patients and controls took longer to name low frequency and high complexity pictures, and this effect was comparable across the AD groups. Patients with predominantly visual deficits were significantly slower in naming than controls, and those with verbal impairments made a higher proportion of semantic naming errors when compared to patients displaying visual or severe global impairments. These results suggest that deficits in semantic processing contribute to naming dysfunction in AD, and they highlight the importance of examining dissociations among neurobehavioral subtypes.     

Understanding online child pornography use: Applying sexual offense theory to internet offenders

This review outlines the links between contemporary etiological and offense-process theories of child sexual abuse and our current knowledge of individuals who commit offenses related to online child pornography. First, we integrate previous behavioral typologies into a four-category internet offender typology. Second, we summarize development of etiological theory and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these theories in explaining the child pornography offender. Third, we outline the potential situational and ecological factors relating to the online environment that may also be a cause for the development and maintenance of prurient online behavior. Fourth, we review theories of the offense process and apply these to research into the modus operandi of child pornography offenders. Finally, we examine the usefulness of this approach in the assessment of risk and the treatment of online offenders.