The impact of severe stalking experienced by acutely battered women: an examination of violence, psychological symptoms and strategic responding

Stalking has been relatively understudied compared to other dimensions of intimate partner violence. The purpose of this article was to examine concurrent and subsequent intimate partner abuse, strategic responses and symptomatic consequences of severe stalking experienced by battered women. Thirty-five battered women classified as "relentlessly stalked" and 31 infrequently stalked battered women were compared. Compared to infrequently stalked battered women, relentlessly stalked battered women reported: (a) more severe concurrent physical violence, sexual assault and emotional abuse: (b) increased post-separation assault and stalking; (c) increased rates of depression and PTSD; and (d) more extensive use of strategic responses to abuse. Results underscore the scope and magnitude of stalking faced by battered women and have implications for assessment and intervention strategies.     

Domestic Violence and Intergenerational Rates of Child Sexual Abuse: A Case Record Analysis

Using case review at a shelter for battered women and their children, this exploratory study investigated the association between physical abuse, exposure to domestic violence and intergenerational occurrence of child sexual abuse. The charts of 570 children were reviewed in an attempt to explore the relationship between the children's experiences with sexual abuse and their nonoffending parent's own history of having been sexually abused. Results indicated that a significant percentage of nonoffending parents who reported a history of child sexual abuse also had children who were sexually abused. Additionally, we found that most (93%) of the children studied had been exposed to domestic violence, and while the base rate of sexual abuse was relatively low (11%), the rate of physical abuse of the children was substantial (41%). Logistic regression results indicated that children of sexually abused nonoffending parents may be at heightened risk for sexual abuse. Implications for treatment and intervention are discussed.     

Emotional functioning, attachment style, and attributions as predictors of child abuse potential in domestic violence victims

To explore cognitive and emotional factors that may exacerbate child-abuse potential among domestic violence victims, 80 participants reported on their depression, hopelessness, anxiety, and anger as well as their attachment style and attributional style. Increased emotional difficulties as well as insecure attachment styles were significantly positively correlated with child abuse potential, although depression and anxiety were the strongest predictors. Externalizing blame for the spousal abuse was not associated with abuse risk. Women residing in shelters demonstrated significantly greater abuse risk than those in transitional housing programs, suggesting that greater temporal proximity to the spousal abuse may in part account for the increased abuse potential. Depression and hopelessness, however, appeared particularly relevant to increased abuse risk in domestic violence victims in the transitional housing system. Implications of these findings for working with battered women in terms of their emotional functioning and attachment style are discussed.     

Labeling partner violence: when do victims differentiate among acts?

Domestic violence professionals have debated whether all physical assaults by partners should be labeled abuse. This study examined the use of labels such as "abuse," "victim," and "battered woman" in a sample of women (n = 78) who had sustained at least one physical assault in their current or most recent relationship. Self-labeling followed a differentiating strategy, that is, women experiencing more frequent and more severe assaults were more likely to apply labels. Lower partner income, being Black, lower relationship commitment, and having ended the relationship also were associated with increased self-labeling. Labeling of hypothetical acts followed an inclusive strategy, that is, all assaults were considered abusive. These results suggest that contextual factors influence labeling. Prevention and intervention programs may be able to increase their effectiveness by including more situational context in their messages.     

Muted Lives:

Battered older women are a silenced and invisible group. They are silenced by ageist assumptions about them as too resistant and hopeless to change or made invisible by the notion that very frail elders are the only victims of elder abuse. Women over 50, abused by partners or adult children, are not accurately perceived and consequently not adequately helped by current domestic violence or elder abuse intervention systems. A new program serving this group, involving 132 women, shows some important similarities and differences between younger and older battered women. Although barriers can differ across the life cycle, even women of advanced age can be free of abuse or develop coping skills to minimize its damage. This article explores the unique factors affecting older women victimized by domestic abuse. The author concludes with questions and suggestions for helpers interested in better serving older battered women.     

Understanding Chinese Battered Women in North America

SUMMARY

Spouse abuse is an ignored, invisible, but significant problem in the Chinese community. This paper describes the experience of Chinese battered women in North America and provides suggestions for culturally sensitive and competent interventions for them. The discussion is based on an extensive review of the literature regarding Chinese battered women. In understanding the experience of Chinese battered women and their strategic responses to the abuse, helping professionals are urged to consider cultural, contextual, as well as individual factors including family dynamics. A three-tier model of intervention for treatment of spouse abuse in the Chinese community is proposed that targets the individual battered women, the family system, and the larger community.     

Restraining Orders for Battered Women:

Since the passage of the Pennsylvania Protection from Abuse Act in 1976, many states have enacted legislation to provide civil restraining orders for battered women. These orders, which offer a civil court alternative to criminal sanctions, are court-issued temporary or permanent orders which direct an assailant to refrain from further abusive conduct. Interviews with recipients of restraining orders suggest that the orders are generally ineffective in reducing the rate of abuse of violence. However, they were effective in reducing abuse for women with less serious histories of family violence or where the assailant was less violent in general. They were ineffective in stopping physical violence. Measures to improve restraining order mechanisms should: more clearly codify abuse and violence, improve access for those not married or cohabitating, streamline procedures and shorten waiting periods, address a full range of child-related concerns, strengthen sanctions, and mandate official responses to violations. Additionally, comprehensive legislation is needed to coordinate civil and criminal remedies.     

FEMALE TACTICS AND STRATEGIES OF INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE: A STUDY OF INCIDENT REPORTS

Researchers have debated the extent to which females pursue violence against their male partners for purposes of enforcing or resisting control. In an effort to shed light on this important topic, we examined 43 incident reports of women who were court-referred to a batterer intervention program to explore how and why they engaged in intimate partner violence. Our analysis of the reports revealed that the most common tactic of physical violence was pushing and the most common tactic of psychological violence was intimidation. The motive to enforce was observed in the majority of the incident reports, while attempts to resist, retaliate, and punish occurred in about one third of the reports. We also found that female violence typically occurred in the contexts of anger and fear. The implications of our research for violence intervention programs are discussed.     

Spousal resources and relationship quality in eight European countries

ABSTRACT

We relate relationship satisfaction and thoughts about leaving a romantic relationship to a couple’s relative and absolute resources and check for context-dependency of those associations. Our theoretical point of departure is that the more resources women have compared to their spouses, the higher their intra-household bargaining power to negotiate themselves out of unpleasant tasks, particularly in gender-egalitarian and very income equal and unequal societies. In traditional societies (which score low on the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)), the inflexible role of men within the household presumably prevents women from bargaining a better position, which in turn negatively affects relationship quality. Income equality (low GINI coefficient) may be a prerequisite for women’s bargaining position, where more inequality (mid-GINI) may be detrimental for it. Nevertheless, extreme income inequality (high GINI) may again be favorable for women’s relationship power. Using country fixed effects models on data from the Generations and Gender Surveys (GGS), we compare men and women who are in a couple (formed after 1995) for eight European countries. We find that absolute resources matter more than relative resources, at least for relationship satisfaction: Higher educated couples are more satisfied with their relationships, which could suggest lower stress levels in those couples (in more traditional contexts). Second, we observe GINI context-dependency of the association between relative education and relationship satisfaction for women and relative education and exit thoughts for men, although opposite to what we expected. Perhaps reference group theory or gender display theory can explain these unexpected results. Finally, we find that women have more break-up plans in societies with a lower score on GEM. This last result is consistent with the notion that bargaining only works in egalitarian contexts.     

Psychological abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder in battered women: examining the roles of shame and guilt

Psychological abuse among battered women has been relatively understudied. However, battered women's reports in the existing qualitative and quantitative research suggest that the effects of psychological abuse can be even more damaging than the effects of physical abuse. The current study attempted to clarify the relationship between psychological abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within a sample of battered women by statistically controlling for the effects of physical abuse. This study also explored the affective experiences of shame and guilt as important variables in the development of PTSD in battered women. This investigation replicated previous work suggesting that battered women are very much at risk for a diagnosis of PTSD and suggests that clinicians and researchers may need to focus on psychological abuse as a predictor of PTSD symptomatology. The current findings encourage attention to shame reactions in battered women and suggest new directions in the study of PTSD for other traumatized populations.     

Mothers' strategies for protecting children from batterers: the perspectives of battered women involved in child protective services

During in-depth, individual interviews, seventeen battered women involved in the public child welfare system discussed the effects of domestic violence on their children, and their strategies for protecting and supporting them. Most mothers articulated the detrimental effects of domestic violence on their children and coherent strategies to protect them physically, but described difficulties supporting young children psychologically. Collectively, mothers reported a number of apparently useful strategies for supporting children's psychological resilience. Implications for intervention are discussed.     

THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF BATTERED WOMEN IN FAMILY THERAPISTS' OFFICES: MALE PRIVILEGE COLLUDING WITH MALE VIOLENCE

Family therapy has not served battered women well. Men use battering to silence women; a woman, once abused, is unlikely to speak honestly in a situation where doing so invites re-abuse. Therefore we rarely perceive, label or deal effectively with male violence toward women, a major source of marital disruption. To stand with the oppressed, we must learn to detect the possibility of abuse, separate the couple, and refuse to collude with criminal acts.     

The "Medea complex" among men: the instrumental abuse of children to injure wives

It has been previously documented that wife and child abuse often co-occur. The present study tested competing hypotheses about the reasons for this co-occurrence, specifically trait versus instrumental theories of aggression within families. Three commonly cited catalysts (unemployment, drinking, and life-stress events) for men's abuse of family members were analyzed to determine whether they equally predict partner or child abuse. Interviews were conducted with 363 women and children about spousal and paternal abuse, and women were interviewed about sociodemographics and the stressors described above. Families were oversampled for the presence of spousal violence. Logistic regressions revealed that heavy drinking (log-odds ratio 4.86) and life stress events (log-odds ratio 1.6) predicted men's abuse of their partners. These risk factors were unrelated to child abuse. Wife battering, however, placed children at heightened risk (log-odds ratio = 2.77). Children of battered women stood a 42% chance of receiving escalated abuse from their fathers. It is proposed that men's abuse of children is in many instances instrumental in order to coerce or retaliate against women, echoing the Greek myth of Medea who killed her own children to spite their father.     

Support and education groups for children of battered women

The children of battered women have been called the forgotten victims of domestic violence. Indeed, few clinicians have published accounts of their work with these children. This article describes in detail a support and education group program for children of battered women. Five hundred and seventy-five children have participated in the program, with promising results on several measures of success.     

Motherhood of Battered Women: The Struggle for Repairing the Past

The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze battered women's subjective perceptions of their own motherhood. Although there is substantial knowledge about the negative effects of children witnessing their mothers' abuse by their fathers, there is little research available on the motherhood of battered women. Examining this issue in the clinical, ethical, and research domains is a complex process. Yet, increasing our understanding of battered women's own perspective is essential if we want to implement comprehensive and effective treatment. The present study is based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 20 battered women. The finding show that battered women describe a basic mission in their life that structure the core meaning of their motherhood, namely, to repair the negative experiences of physical and emotional distress caused by their parents. Such repair is seen as compensating for the past and as building a positive and safe emotional reality for their children's future.     

Examining the correlates of engagement and disengagement coping among help-seeking battered women

This study examined several potential correlates of engagement and disengagement coping, including abuse-related factors, socioeconomic and social coping resources, and childhood trauma variables among a sample of battered women (N = 388). Relationship abuse frequency, particularly psychological aggression, and peritraumatic dissociation were the strongest positive predictors of the use of disengagement coping. Social coping resources, including tangible support and appraisals of social support and belonging, were associated with higher engagement coping and lower disengagement coping. A positive association was also found between interparental domestic violence and disengagement coping, and negative associations were found between both childhood physical and sexual abuse and engagement coping. Results suggest that coping strategies used by battered women are multidetermined and deserve further exploration.     

Belonging: women living with intellectual disabilities and experiences of domestic violence

Women with an intellectual disability are under-represented in domestic violence research, yet they are one of the most vulnerable groups who are at risk of violence and abuse. This article aims to contribute to the domestic violence field by reporting on a narrative dialogic performative study, which utilised a feminist poststructural perspective to explore significant relationships and the concept of belonging in the lives of women with a mild intellectual disability. Four in-depth narrative interviews were conducted. The study found that the women shared similar stories of devaluation and rejection in childhood and hence the women’s search for belonging contributed to their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse in domestic violence relationships. The paper argues that gendered discourses and constructions of intellectual disability regulate domestic violence as a personal problem or way of life for women with intellectual disabilities.     

Charting the Course: An Overview of Domestic Violence in the South Asian Community in the United States

In the South Asian community in the United States, domestic violence is a prevalent problem of significant magnitude. Although the community stridently denies the existence of this horror, women have been systematically organizing antiviolenceagainst- women work for the last 15 yearsAt this time, it is a vibrant movement struggling with several complex issues that are perhaps less common in thedominant white community. As in the lives of immigrant women of color, much of the intricacies of domestic violencein the South Asian context emerge from the intersections of race, class, andsresidencystatus problems. Consequently, a slew of personal, institutional, and cultural barriers commingle to form roadblocks for battered South Asian women, who attempt to escape family violence. As the needs of battered South Asian first and second generation women enlarge and become more perceptible, the community-based organizations have to ready themselves for more complicated activities in the future.     

Domestic violence and child protection: issues in safety planning

There is strong evidence for the link between domestic violence and child abuse. Agencies' policies regarding domestic violence and child protection are critical in determining the dimensions of practitioner intervention, including safety planning for women and children. This paper explores the issues identified in research around safety planning where there are domestic violence and child protection concerns which was conducted with practitioners in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in 2001. In particular, the paper focuses on three of the factors that influence practitioner intervention with women and children. These are: definitional understandings of domestic violence and child abuse; child protection legislative changes, including mandatory reporting and domestic violence as a child‐at‐risk category; and the NSW child protection statutory authority's response to domestic violence. The interplay between these factors results in complexities of practice for practitioners as they attempt to maximize women's strengths and minimize risks to children's safety. The resultant inconsistent response to domestic violence and child protection by government and non‐ government agencies suggests the need for domestic violence interagency guidelines. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.