Survivors' Narratives of the Impact of Parental Suicide

The impact of parental suicide on surviving children and their family system has received inadequate research attention. Using a qualitative narrative methodology with thematic analysis, we explored the short‐term and lifelong impact of parental suicide among 10 adults who, as children or adolescents, had lost a parent through suicide. The suicide triggered a wide range of structural and relational changes to the family, resulting in a cascading series of negative outcomes. These systemic issues are discussed and recommendations made about support structures for bereaved children and their families. Limitations of the study are discussed and future research directions identified.     

Survivor Insight: A Study of Family,Friend, and Community Response to Interpersonal Violence

The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives of survivors of trauma concerning their family, friend, and community responses to their trauma. Using a community-based, participatory action framework, a measure was developed and distributed to 351 randomly drawn survivors of interpersonal violence. The majority of participants indicated that they were never or rarely helped or protected at the time they first experienced the trauma. Several significant correlations were found between participants’ perceptions of their own healing and the responses of people in their lives. Many respondents also indicated that people do not know how to help survivors heal and that the general public does not understand how trauma affects people. The results are discussed within the framework of developing supports for trauma survivors that include trauma-informed family, friends, and community. Questions for further research and implications for professional practice and trauma-informed communities are discussed.     

Gang Fights versus Cat Fights: Urban Young Men's Gendered Narratives of Violence

Scholarly accounts of young men's violence have remained remarkably consistent over time: the use of violence emerges in response to focal concerns that strongly emphasize autonomy, respect, and the defense of reputation, and is indicative of the import of hegemonic masculinities on the streets. Yet, despite persistent gender gaps in the use of violence, recent research suggests that young women use violence more often than commonly believed, and their violence is likewise tied to concerns about status and respect. Given scholarly attention to the functions of violence for accomplishing masculinity, this raises the interesting question of whether and how young men maintain the equation of masculinity with violence when faced with the reality of young women's violence. Drawing from the sociology of accounts and research on gender, language, and discourse, we analyze in-depth interviews with 39 urban African-American young men to compare how they construct and make sense of boys' and girls' violence in the context of conversations about the nature and meanings of violence.     

叙事语篇中时间表征的评定差异研究

为了探讨时间表征在多大程度上影响人们对叙事属性的判断,让66名博士生被试对12篇删除了明显时间概念词的叙事语篇（创造性与非创造性叙事各6篇）进行时间表征方面的评定,从而检验了“过去”、“现在”、“将来”等时间概念在叙事语篇中的时间表征意义,以及存在的性别、年龄等差异。     

Persuasive Effects of Fictional Narratives Increase Over Time

Fact-related information contained in fictional narratives may induce substantial changes in readers' real-world beliefs. Current models of persuasion through fiction assume that these effects occur because readers are psychologically transported into the fictional world of the narrative. Contrary to general dual-process models of persuasion, models of persuasion through fiction also imply that persuasive effects of fictional narratives are persistent and even increase over time (absolute sleeper effect). In an experiment designed to test this prediction, 81 participants read either a fictional story that contained true as well as false assertions about real-world topics or a control story. There were large short-term persuasive effects of false information, and these effects were even larger for a group with a 2-week assessment delay. Belief certainty was weakened immediately after reading but returned to baseline level after 2 weeks, indicating that beliefs acquired by reading fictional narratives are integrated into real-world knowledge.     

Uses and Gratifications of Media Violence: Personality Correlates of Viewing and Liking Violent Genres

This study examined the relation between personality factors, as measured by the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised and individuals' viewing and enjoyment of various television and film genres. Five hundred fifty adults between the ages of 18 and 78 were surveyed. Utilizing a uses and gratifications model, the factors underlying media use (gratifications sought-GS) and media liking (gratifications obtained-GO), particularly of violent fare, were investigated. Overall, it was found that viewing (GS) and liking (GO) were not strongly related. In terms of personality factors, there was some supporting evidence that personality factors are associated with liking and, to a lesser extent, watching certain content. Several of the Neuroticism facets were positively related to watching violent media, watching real crime, and watching cop dramas; however, there were no significant relations between Neuroticism and liking violent content. For Extraversion, there was a negative relation with overall television viewing, but a positive one with movie watching. When extraverts did watch television, the results indicated a significant association between Extraversion and various violent genres. For Openness there was a positive relation between liking of violent media and openness to aesthetics. Last, we found that several facets of Agreeableness were negatively associated with liking violent content.     

Social Change Movements and the Struggle Over Meaning-Making: A Case Study of Domestic Violence Narratives

Social movement theorists have emphasized the important role of meaning-making for social change movements (e.g., D. A. Snow and R. D. Benford, 1992, In: A. D. Morris & C. M. Mueller (Eds.) Frontiers in social movement theory. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, pp 133-155; C. M. Mueller, 1992, In: A. D. Morris & C. M. Mueller (Eds.) Frontiers in social movement theory. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, pp 3-26). Using the domestic violence movement as a case study, this study undertakes a close analysis of advocates' narratives about the phenomenon of domestic violence. This analysis sheds light on the current status of the movement as a social change movement attempting to promote alternative understandings of domestic violence as a social, rather than individual, problem. Study findings provide some evidence that the domestic violence movement has become increasingly de-politicized by documenting a range of narratives that convey an apolitical, degendered, individual-level analysis of domestic violence.     

Beyond Deficits: Intimate Partner Violence,Maternal Parenting,and Child Behavior Over Time

Exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) has negative consequences for children’s well-being and behavior. Much of the research on parenting in the context of IPV has focused on whether and how IPV victimization may negatively shape maternal parenting, and how parenting may in turn negatively influence child behavior, resulting in a deficit model of mothering in the context of IPV. However, extant research has yet to untangle the interrelationships among the constructs and test whether the negative effects of IPV on child behavior are indeed attributable to IPV affecting mothers’ parenting. The current study employed path analysis to examine the relationships among IPV, mothers’ parenting practices, and their children’s externalizing behaviors over three waves of data collection among a sample of 160 women with physically abusive partners. Findings indicate that women who reported higher levels of IPV also reported higher levels of behavior problems in their children at the next time point. When parenting practices were examined individually as mediators of the relationship between IPV and child behavior over time, one type of parenting was significant relationship, such that IPV lead to higher authoritative parenting and lower child behavior problems. On the other hand, there was no evidence that higher levels of IPV contributed to more child behavior problems due to maternal parenting. Instead, IPV had a significant cumulative indirect effect on child behavior via the stability of both IPV and behavior over time. Implications for promoting women’s and children’s well-being in the context of IPV are discussed.     

Predicting Bidirectional Intimate Partner Violence: Demographic and Historical Factors That Influence Initiating Threats or Use of Violence by IPV Victims

Using data from the National Violence Against Women Survey, this study explored the role of gender and other demographic and historical factors that influence initiating threats or use of violence among a sample of intimate partner violence (IPV) victims—an element of bidirectional violence. For this study, involvement in a relationship marked by bidirectional violence was defined as an affirmative response to this question: Were you the first person to use/threaten physical force? after respondents self-identified as IPV victims. The hypothesized model to predict initiating threats or use of violence among male victims was not significant, but marital status, income, employment status, and childhood victimization experiences did significantly predict female behavior. Age, race, education, alcohol use, drug use, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were not useful in explaining model variance for men or women. The rates of perpetration were equivalent for males and females; however, these findings suggest that gender is still an important context to consider when theorizing about bidirectional IPV.     

Old Testament Turning Points: The Narratives That Shaped a Nation – Victor H. Matthews

Book reviewed:
Old Testament Turning Points: The Narratives That Shaped a Nation , Victor H. Matthews, Baker Academic 2005 (0-8010-2774-8), 208 pp., pb $18.99     

The Absurd Sensibility of Existential Psychotherapy: Clinical Application of Survivors' Experience of Treblinka and Other Death Camps

A pragmatic existential therapy was developed to help patients stuck in intractable life situations make the psychic turn of death camp survivors who learned to adapt to savage conditions in extremity. Using a model of absurd heroism inimical to therapies seeking to modify intrapsychic dynamics, this hardminded intervention thematizes (a) the clinical activation of biological intelligence; (b) reconciliation with the existential situation; (c) problem-solving; (d) therapeutic shaping of realistic, life-affirming attitudes; and (e) absurd happiness. Phenomenological evidence of the survivors' existential posture is drawn from death camp literature, while a comparative case application features a patient afflicted with neurofibromatosis.     

Assessing Violence Risk: A Review and Clinical Recommendations

Guidance to identify and manage clients with a perceived high risk for future violence is of great importance for mental health professionals. In the past decade, several structured instruments have been developed to assess risk of future violence. Awareness of the limits and abilities of such instruments is required. This article reviews the most well‐known risk assessment tools and provides recommendations for how to approach the area of violence risk assessment.     

Creating Structure in a Time of Intense Stress: Treating Intimate Partner Violence

Violence is an increasingly visible problem in the United States, with the news and other forms of media bringing this into the forefront of the public’s awareness. Violence comes in many different forms, including intimate partner violence (IPV), which occurs for about 36% of women and about 29% of men across the United States. Given the high incidence in the United States, it is imperative to consider the best ways for mental health professionals to treat violence in relationships. Some professionals in the field have developed and utilized conjoint treatment models for working with couples who have a history of violence. This article presents the application of attachment theory to a conjoint treatment model for couples that have experienced violence. A case study is included to demonstrate the implementation of an emotionally focused therapy framework and provide a sample outcome of this treatment approach. The framework of this article provides clinicians with insight into how to approach working with violent couples in a safe and productive way. Mental health professionals are at the front lines of implementing evidence-based interventions and creating lasting change for the clients whom they work with.