The purpose of this study is to examine domestic violence as it occurs in same-sex male relationships. Data were collected by in-depth interviews with twenty-five gay males, who were between the ages of 23 and 43, and who had previous experience being in a homosexual relationship where domestic violence was present. The major findings of this study include the respondents': 1) definitions of domestic violence and abuse; 2) the type of domestic violence or abuse personally experienced; and 3) reasons they believe domestic violence or abuse occurs in these types of relationships. This study illustrates the need for further research in this area of domestic violence and for programs or services targeted for this specific population.

A family violence prevention program for incarcerated male offenders was evaluated. One hundred and one (101) offenders incarcerated in minimum and medium security facilities participated in a high intensity family violence prevention program offered by Correctional Services of Canada. Thirteen psychological, attitudinal, and behavioural measures were administered to the offenders. The measures were administered either pre-treatment only, pre-and post-treatment, or post-treatment only. Five measures were self-report measures completed by offenders, and eight were administered and scored by qualified corrections personnel. The offenders showed a number of positive pre- to post-treatment changes. Following treatment, offenders reported that they were less likely to rationalize their abusive behaviour or believe that being a man grants one special privileges and entitlements over women. Offenders were less likely to support the use of power and control tactics over women or to endorse an assortment of myths that can foster inequality and abuse. Following treatment, offenders were judged to have shown an improvement in their willingness to sympathize with their partner as well as an improvement in their conflict-resolution skills. Offenders were also judged to show substantial pre- to post-treatment improvements in their compliance with, and response to, treatment, as well as demonstrating an improved ability to apply the knowledge and skills learned from treatment. The Statistical Information on Recidivism (SIR) Scale failed to demonstrate concurrent and predictive validity on a sub-sample of these domestic violent offenders.

A family violence prevention program for incarcerated male offenders was evaluated. One hundred and one (101) offenders incarcerated in minimum and medium security facilities participated in a high intensity family violence prevention program offered by Correctional Services of Canada. Thirteen psychological, attitudinal, and behavioural measures were administered to the offenders. The measures were administered either pre-treatment only, pre-and post-treatment, or post-treatment only. Five measures were self-report measures completed by offenders, and eight were administered and scored by qualified corrections personnel. The offenders showed a number of positive pre- to post-treatment changes. Following treatment, offenders reported that they were less likely to rationalize their abusive behaviour or believe that being a man grants one special privileges and entitlements over women. Offenders were less likely to support the use of power and control tactics over women or to endorse an assortment of myths that can foster inequality and abuse. Following treatment, offenders were judged to have shown an improvement in their willingness to sympathize with their partner as well as an improvement in their conflict-resolution skills. Offenders were also judged to show substantial pre- to post-treatment improvements in their compliance with, and response to, treatment, as well as demonstrating an improved ability to apply the knowledge and skills learned from treatment. The Statistical Information on Recidivism (SIR) Scale failed to demonstrate concurrent and predictive validity on a sub-sample of these domestic violent offenders.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-91). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-91). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-207).

The purpose of this preliminary and exploratory research project was to identify possible links between insecure male attachment patterns and wife assault. Attachment theory suggests that the quality of early interpersonal relationships has a profound effect on the psychological, emotional and social development of the individual. Insecure attachment has been found to be associated with a number of relationship problems and these interpersonal problems have also been identified with men who assault their wives. Based on this similarity, the insecure attachment paradigm may offer a useful theoretical orientation for understanding the conflict behaviours of men who assault their wives. The sample of fifty adult men who had assaulted their female partners was drawn from two therapy groups. In this preliminary and exploratory study, a number of measures were used to assess each man's mental representation of childhood attachment and his adult intimate attachment patterns, intimate conflict tactics and interpersonal jealousy and anger problems. The associations between insecure preoccupied, dismissing, and fearful attachment pattern ratings and male conflict tactic and relationship problems were then analyzed. The findings indicated that men who assault their wives had a high proportion of insecure adult intimate attachment patterns. These assaultive men were also found to be predominantly insecure in both their mental representations of childhood attachment and adult intimate attachment pattern ratings, with the greatest continuity occurring with the insecure preoccupied and fearful pattern ratings. Three patterns of relationship problems corresponding to the three insecure adult intimate attachment pattern rating were found. Preoccupied attachment pattern ratings were positively correlated with interpersonal jealousy scores and the reported use of the reasoning, verbal/symbolic abuse, physical abuse and severe physical abuse conflict tactics. Dismissing attachment pattern ratings were positively correlated with interpersonal anger scores and negatively correlated with the reasoning, verbal, physical and severe physical abuse conflict tactics. Fearful attachment pattern ratings were similar to the dismissing pattern in the positive correlation with interpersonal anger scores. The importance of considering insecure adult intimate attachment pattern ratings when providing group therapy to men who assault their wives was considered. Men with high insecure dismissing adult intimate attachment pattern ratings seem to require a distinctly different therapeutic approach than those with high insecure preoccupied adult intimate attachment pattern ratings and ideas in this regard are discussed.

The father's role in families where there has been domestic violence is now known to have significance impact on future intergenerational abuse (Dutton, 1998). Fathers who shame and physically abuse their sons are putting these young boys at risk for becoming potential abusers. However, even though this risk factor is known, the literature review conducted through this study shows the absence of information on the father/child relationship. Also absent was a knowledge on parenting groups available for these men. In attempting to address this gap in the research and to gain a better understanding of how these fathers experienced the parenting group, I realized I first needed to understand how these men experienced their lives. Using interpretive inquiry, three men were interviewed about their understanding of their life experiences. The men chosen for the research had a history of domestic abuse within the family. Data collection included observations made during the parenting group, profiles gathered from intake files, and transcripts from the interviews. The data were analyzed for themes, patterns, confirmations, and contradictions, and then interpreted to reconstruct the men's stories. The findings of the study indicate several topics common to all three men: custody, visitation, the role of the father, emotional functioning, and past and present relationships. Interwoven among the topics were the themes of inefficacy, personal care, emotional nurturance and attachment, and awareness of the way they use language. Their stories echo the same message: they love their children and want to be with them. / ix, 151 leaves ; 29 cm.

This study examined the perceptions of counsellors who provide group counselling for abusive men regarding what characteristics differentiate program dropouts from program completers. A total of 37 counsellors participated via an online-based or paper-based survey. The respondents rated 44 different client variables from four different categories (demographic, psychological, client-group, and client-therapist) on their impact on a client‟s likelihood to drop out of the program. The results were analyzed using chi square analyses, Mann Whitney U Tests and Kendall‟s tau-b correlations to determine the extent to which these variables were judged to impact dropout and how these results interacted with respondents‟ characteristics including demographic variables as well as experience and training variables. The results confirmed that many of the variables found in previous literature to discriminate between these two groups do operate in this way. Additionally, the results suggest several new sets of variables that could be helpful including batterer typology variables, stages of change variables and stages of group development variables. The implications of the findings are discussed with regards to their application in developing and facilitating group programs for abusive men with a view to identifying and intervening with potential dropout clients such that they are more likely to complete the program. The thesis concludes by discussing future research opportunities in this area and outlining the limitations of the study. / xvii, 174 leaves ; 28 cm

Portrayals of sexual and/or domestic violence committed by men against women appear in the television schedules and in movie theatres on almost a daily basis. There is a long established tradition of concern about how depictions of violence in the audiovisual media can impact on audiences. However, minimal consideration has been given to what kind of discursive 'messages' such portrayals might contain and how audiences engage with these. This research explores to what extent audio-visual portrayals of violence against women might offer certain ways of reading and understanding that violence, and how women audiences interpret these. It investigates this through both textual and reception analyses, with the framework through which reception is examined being directly related to the textual material itself. The study assesses to what degree audio-visual texts are capable of structuring audience interpretation, and whether there is any direct relationship between this and how women viewers actually read the texts. Four audio-visual products are examined: the Hollywood film The Accused; an episode of the soap opera EastEnders; the television play Closing Ranks; and an edition of Crimewatch UK. Ninety one women, formed into 14 focus groups, participated in the reception research. Half of these women had experienced violence of a domestic and/or sexual nature, whilst the other half had no experience of such violence. Groups further varied in terms of nationality (Scottish and English), class (working-class and middle-class) and ethnic background (white, Asian and Afro-Caribbean). The research demonstrates that neither audio-visual texts nor their reception can be considered outwith an appreciation of how social and cultural factors influence both. The media are involved in the circulation of cultural meanings about acts of violence against women and in mediating this cannot help but draw on existing discourses which surround such violence. As audiences, women also draw on their socialised conceptions of such violence, though how they engage with and read its representation is affected by their social and cultural positionings and their own lived experiences.