Validation of a Measure of Intimate Partner Abuse (Relationship Behavior Rating Scale–Revised) Using Item Response Theory Analysis

There is a need for a screening instrument to provide insight into intimate partner abuse (IPA) to inform legal decisions in child custody, divorce, child welfare, and criminal cases. This study is the third validation of the Relationship Behavior Rating Scale–Revised (RBRS–R) for concurrent validity with the widely used Conflict Tactics Scales 2 (CTS2). Item response theory results show that the RBRS–R compares favorably to the CTS, but also provides a higher degree of resolution than the CTS2 with respect to additional elements of IPA that can be manifested in different situations or individuals. This additional information might be very important in determining the safest legal process (mediation versus traditional litigation) and appropriate case outcomes to protect victims of violence.     

What We Can Learn of Resilience from Older African-American Women: Interviews with Women Who Worked as Maids in the Deep South

Resilience theory is increasingly informed by an in-depth study of personal narratives and story telling by survivors of personal trauma and cultural hardship. From the perspective of risk and resilience theory, this study examines the personal narratives of three older African-American women who engaged in domestic service from childhood. Collectively, their autobiographical memories describe experiences coping with the forces of an oppressive social and economic system. Our analysis of these personable narratives reveals how these women not only endured the cruelties of segregation and racism but somehow prevailed over them.     

Openness in Korean Adoptions: From Family Line to Family Life

Since about 2000, a limited number of adoption organizations and parent groups in the Republic of Korea have been exploring how to increase communicative openness between adoptive parents and their children and between adoptive families and their neighbors. At least one agency has also developed structures to facilitate contact between the adoptive family and birth mother. The effort to increase openness is tied to a philosophy that challenges widespread assumptions in Korean society by centering its aims on family life rather than the continuity of the family line. The growth of openness has not been accompanied by a rise in domestic adoption numbers, but it has contributed to broader efforts to liberalize family relationships in Korea.     

Foreign Policy and the Domestic Worker

In 2009, following numerous high profile abuse cases, the Indonesian government placed a moratorium on its citizens taking up employment in Malaysia as domestic workers. From the perspective of feminist International Relations, the emergence of migrant domestic work as a foreign policy concern between these two states is significant – exposing a relationship between foreign policy and the webs of transnationalized social relations of reproduction that underpin the development prospects of middle to low income states. In this article I utilize the example of the Malaysia–Indonesia dispute in order to develop some tentative suggestions concerning the possibility of integrating an analysis of transnational social relations of reproduction into foreign policy analyses. The article initially overviews how the dispute is widely understood in relation to Indonesia's turn to a more democratic foreign policy. The inadequacy of such a reading is explored further. The article suggests that the above-mentioned dispute should rather be understood in relation to the specific configurations of productive–reproductive relations that underpin migratory flows and the role of Indonesia and Malaysia as ‘regulatory’ states involved in the establishment of return-migration systems in which women migrants are viewed as economic commodities and policed via a range of state-sanctioned practices (including commitments to anti-trafficking).     

THE USE OF PROGRAM

This paper focuses on whar has been thought of in social group work as "program"-program skills, program content, program media, or use of program- and what is now known as nonverbals, exercises, simulations or games, or expressive therapy. Certain dilemmas of rhe past, e.g., process vs. product (content), talking vs. doing, social work vs. recreation, are reviewed as obstacles to the integration of doing-oriented activities within the major rheorerical approaches to group work in social work. Such obstacles haw been less encumbering to other professions which have presently assumed the dominant theorerical leadership in this area. Some recent developments in knowledge, technology, and social-culrural forces are described which have contributed to a present milieu that places increased value of diverse modes of expressiveness. The paper concludes with seven future-oriented proposals that theory, practice, and research in this area demand.     

Welfare Workers' Cultural Models of Domestic Violence

ABSTRACT

Despite progress in policies and services for domestic violence, service use remains lower than the need suggests. This study, an analysis from a larger project on social service providers, examines welfare workers' shared beliefs about domestic violence. Using a mixed method design utilizing pile sorts (n = 38; 11 child welfare and 29 financial assistance), a survey (n = 57; 24 child welfare and 33 financial assistance), and in-depth interviews (n = 3; two child welfare and one financial assistance)—workers organized their ideas about factors that contribute to domestic violence, rated the factors along key dimensions of meaning (importance, controllability, characteristics of victims or perpetrators, and cause or effect), and shared experiences of their work with domestic violence cases. Financial assistance and child welfare workers organized their beliefs similarly demonstrating consensus on the importance of the factors, and shared beliefs about the factors that were causes and effects of domestic violence. In interviews, child welfare workers emphasized their focus on systems and collaboration. Despite areas of agreement, child welfare and financial assistance workers did not demonstrate consensus on ideas about domestic violence overall. The findings have implications for practice, specifically for improving responses to domestic violence and increasing the use of domestic violence services.     

Domestic Labor and Marital Satisfaction: How Much or How Satisfied?

Abstract

Using questionnaire data from 96 couples, we examined the relationship between respondents' domestic-labor performance, domestic-labor satisfaction, and marital satisfaction. We analytically separated the dimensions of domestic labor (i.e., household tasks, emotion work, and childcare) and ran separate analyses for men and women. We found that the amount of labor performed is associated with satisfaction with emotion work and childcare arrangements, but not the household task arrangement. Satisfaction with domestic-labor arrangements mediated the relationship between actual domestic-labor performance and marital satisfaction, and the central role of emotion work emerged in our analysis.     

从“含苞待放”到“含苞未放”——建国后毛泽东文艺思想研究（二）

如果说1942年《在延安文艺座谈会上的讲话》的发表,标志着毛泽东文艺思想形成了完整的理论体系,那么,到1956年＂双百＂方针的提出,则标志着毛泽东文艺思想进入了新的发展阶段。在＂双百＂方针提出后的一段时间里（自1956年下半年到1957年上半年）,文学创作确实在＂双百＂方针的指引与鼓励下,出现了一个短暂的辉煌时期,造就了中国当代文学史上第一个创作高峰。但在此后的20年间中国的文艺界和学术界并没有出现毛泽东所预想的＂百花齐放,百家争鸣＂的自由民主的大好局面。此中原因纷繁复杂。本人试图对此加以探讨,并重点论述专治政治及领袖的个人意志与爱好对1949年至1979年这三十年间给文艺界造成的重大影响及酿成的悲剧。     

国际人权领域悖论的宪政解读——以美国为例

国际人权法作为为国家保护人权设定义务的条约、公约、国际习惯法的总和,对相关会员国国内人权保护机制的构建和运行具有越来越广泛的影响,甚至对个别国家的主权造成非常负面的影响。然而,考察国际人权法律的发展历程,以及主导此历程的发达国家如美国的经验,可以发现一些悖论性的历史表现。就美国而言,这一悖论性的历史表现背后存在着深厚的宪法根源。     

论家庭暴力防治立法中“家庭成员”之界定

我国在家庭暴力防治立法中对＂家庭成员＂界定时,需厘清民法通则、刑事诉讼法和两高司法解释等法律对＂近亲属＂规定的混乱局面,遵循大陆法系传统,借鉴大陆法系典型国家或地区成熟经验,以＂近亲属＂概念界定＂家庭成员＂。应借鉴国际社会和两大法系典型国家或地区的成熟立法经验,扩张＂近亲属＂概念,适应时代发展要求,对于具有同居、恋爱及其他相关亲密关系者,准用家庭暴力防治立法的相关规定。