The effects of divorce on trust in intimate heterosexual relationships were investigated using a sample of 478 college students (156 males, 322 females). Subjects were asked to respond to scenarios and questionnaires assessing parental marital status, just world beliefs, parental conflict, and trust. Attitudes toward divorce and common problems were also assessed.

Women in distressed relationships who had sustained severe psychological abuse and either no, moderate, or severe violence from their partner were included (N = 93). Men's and women's alcohol use did not differ with level of violence. Different patterns were found in the moderate violence group regarding women's beliefs about their partner's substance problem, men's psychological abuse, and the relationship of men's and women's quantity of alcohol use and times intoxicated. Uncertainty resulting from moderate violence may strengthen the emotional impact of psychological abuse. Even when psychological abuse is exacerbated by violence, women may use active coping techniques rather than drinking to cope with abusive relationships. The findings suggest that an inordinate focus on alcohol abuse may be ineffective in combating the problem of domestic violence.

The term femicide was used to refer to the murder of women. Intimate femicide referred to the murder of women by men with whom they had an intimate love relationship. The purpose of this research was to make visible the intimate and domestic nature of femicide by describing all femicides in Saskatchewan between 1988 and 1992 inclusive. A second purpose of this research was to learn about prevention both from committed femicides and from two women who had survived an attempted intimate femicide. This research was feminist in nature and utilized elements of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Data were gathered on all women known to be murdered between 1988 and 1992 from sources such as newspaper searches, coroners' reports, and police files. Based on these data, femicides were classified as intimate or non-intimate femicides and as possibly preventable or not preventable within the femicidal incident itself. Further data were gathered from interviews with two women who had survived an attempted intimate femicidal attack. Both sets of data were then reviewed and themes relating to the prevention of femicide were elicited. These themes focussed on failures of the communities in which these women resided or were murdered, failures of the medical community to correctly identify femicidal men, failures of the judicial system in their dealings with femicidal men, failures of the organized church, and failures of the institution of the family. Ten femicides were classified as possibly preventable within the femicidal assault itself. In addition, the interviews with both survivors identified many areas of possible intervention relating to prevention over a longer period of time. The study concludes with my reflections on the process of engaging in research on femicide, discussions about areas for further research and the identification of possible implications for public policy.

The term femicide was used to refer to the murder of women. Intimate femicide referred to the murder of women by men with whom they had an intimate love relationship. The purpose of this research was to make visible the intimate and domestic nature of femicide by describing all femicides in Saskatchewan between 1988 and 1992 inclusive. A second purpose of this research was to learn about prevention both from committed femicides and from two women who had survived an attempted intimate femicide. This research was feminist in nature and utilized elements of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Data were gathered on all women known to be murdered between 1988 and 1992 from sources such as newspaper searches, coroners' reports, and police files. Based on these data, femicides were classified as intimate or non-intimate femicides and as possibly preventable or not preventable within the femicidal incident itself. Further data were gathered from interviews with two women who had survived an attempted intimate femicidal attack. Both sets of data were then reviewed and themes relating to the prevention of femicide were elicited. These themes focussed on failures of the communities in which these women resided or were murdered, failures of the medical community to correctly identify femicidal men, failures of the judicial system in their dealings with femicidal men, failures of the organized church, and failures of the institution of the family. Ten femicides were classified as possibly preventable within the femicidal assault itself. In addition, the interviews with both survivors identified many areas of possible intervention relating to prevention over a longer period of time. The study concludes with my reflections on the process of engaging in research on femicide, discussions about areas for further research and the identification of possible implications for public policy.

Questo lavoro di ricerca ha un duplice obiettivo: valutare l’interdipendenza delle relazioni intime, valutando in particolare come la relazione romantica sia connessa a quella con i genitori, e indagare il legame tra l’individuazione e la qualità delle relazioni con il padre e con la madre in età giovane adulta. Poiché la letteratura ha messo in luce come vi siano diverse traiettorie all’età adulta, questi obiettivi sono stati esaminati confrontando tre diverse nazioni, l’Italia, la Germania e la Svezia, che rappresentano un diverso percorso di transizione, per vedere se i legami tra i costrutti possano essere considerati universali. Inoltre, per meglio comprendere come si esplica l’interdipendenza tra le relazioni, sono stati utilizzati i metodi misti. I risultati mostrano che vi è, in effetti, un’interdipendenza tra tutte le relazioni considerate e che, creando diverse tipologie di individuazione, la qualità della relazione con i genitori differisce nelle diverse tipologie. Il legame tra i diversi costrutti considerati è stato trovato sia in Italia che in Germania, benché con delle specificità culturali, mentre la Svezia è la nazione in cui l’interdipendenza risulta essere più debole. / The aims of this research are to assess the interdependence of intimate relationships, studying how young adults’ romantic relationship is connected to their parent-child relationship, and to investigate the association between their individuation and the relationship with their mother and father. The literature has show different paths to adulthood, so these aims have been examined by comparing three different countries: Italy, Germany and Sweden, where the transition to adulthood presents different trajectories, in order to test whether the links between the examined constructs can be considered universal. Moreover, in order to better understand how the interdependence of relationships unfolds mixed methods have been used. Findings showed that all relationships considered are indeed interdependent and that the quality of the parent-child relationship differs depending on the different types of individuation investigated. The link among the constructs studied was found both in Italy and in Germany, though with some cultural specificities, while in Sweden interdependence appears to be weaker.

Sociometer Theory (Leary & Downs, 1995; Leary, Tambor, Terdal, & Downs, 1995) proposes that state self-esteem is a gauge of social inclusion. Expansions to this theory by Kirkpatrick and Ellis (2001) suggest that this is a domain specific process with different sociometers for different adaptive domains. Two studies were conducted to test predictions derived from the domain specific sociometer model of self-esteem proposed by Kirkpatrick and Ellis (2001). In Study 1, participants (N = 83) who were currently single, received feedback to indicate either acceptance (inclusion) or rejection (exclusion) for a potential dating situation. The results indicated that participants who were accepted versus rejected reported increases in state self-esteem and higher mating aspirations. The same effects were not present for either friendship aspiration or friendship investment, indicating domain specificity. The effect of the manipulation on mating aspirations was also significantly mediated by state self-esteem. Study 2 replicated Study 1 using participants (N = 81) who were currently in an intimate relationship. The results indicated that participants who were accepted versus rejected reported increases in state self-esteem and decreases in perceived relationship quality (commitment and satisfaction). The same effects were not present for either friendships aspirations or friendship investment. The association between the manipulation and resulting changes in perceived relationship quality were significantly mediated by state self-esteem, with state self-esteem acting as a suppressor. The results from both studies support a domain-specific conceptualisation of sociometer theory.

Bakgrund: Våld mot kvinnor med barn i nära relationer är ett samhällsproblem. Socialstyrelsen har tagit fram en handlingsplan till hjälp för socialtjänsten vid arbete mot våld i nära relationer. Metod: Empirisk studie genom webbenkät med öppna och slutna frågeställningar. Enkäten skickades till socialtjänsterna i 33 kommuner i Västra Götaland, 5 av dessa svarade på enkäten. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka uppfattningar hos anställda på socialtjänster i Västra Götaland om socialtjänsternas arbete enligt handlingsplanen mot våld i nära relationer, och uppfattningar om extern samverkan. Resultat: De anställdas uppfattning är att socialtjänsten tillämpar preventiva åtgärder men i övrigt går detta inte att kartlägga vidare från studiens resultat. Samverkan mellan myndigheter fungerar bra men det framkommer inte av studien vilka myndigheter socialtjänsten samverkar med. Diskussion: Låg svarsfrekvens gör att resultatets trovärdighet är låg. Hade istället kvalitativa intervjuer använts som metod för insamling av data kunde en kartläggning av åtgärdstagandet och samverkan varit möjlig att genomföra. Slutsats: De anställdas uppfattning är att socialtjänsterna arbetar enligt handlingsplanen avseende extern och intern samverkan och att denna fungerar bra. Däremot är kartläggning av våldsutsatthet knapphändig och uppgifter om åtgärdstagande utom våldsprevention saknas i respondenternas svar. Resultatet går således inte att generalisera. / Background: Violence against women with children in close relationships is a societal problem. The National Board of Health and Welfare has developed an action plan to help the social services in working against violence in close relationships. Method: An empiric study using online survey with open and closed questions. The questionnaire was sent to the social services in 33 municipalities in Västra Götaland, 5 of which responded to the questionnaire. Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine perceptions of employees at social services in Västra Götaland about the work of social services according to the action plan against violence in close relationships, and perceptions about external collaboration. Results: The employees' view is that the social services apply preventive measures, but this cannot be further mapped from results of the study. Collaboration between authorities works well, but the study does not show which authorities the social services collaborate with. Discussion: The low response rate implies poor reliability of the results. Had instead qualitative interviews been used as a method of data collection, mapping of the measures and collaboration would have been possible. Conclusion: The employees view is that the social services work according to the action plan regarding external and internal collaboration and that this works well. On the other hand, mapping of victims of violence prevention is missing in the respondent’s answers, hence, the result is not possible to be generalized.

The aim of this study is to, from a profession’s perspective, inquire into emotions and emotional labor for social workers who work with women who are subjected to men’s violence in intimate relationships. Through this we have developed knowledge concerning the work conditions for social workers working with violence in intimate relationships. This study is based on interviews with six social workers in one municipality by a semi-structured method. By the material we got from interviewing we did an analysis of this together with previous studies and also by two theoretical frameworks; Emotional labor by Hochschild and Coping strategies by Lazarus and Folkman. The analysis proves that social workers who work with women who are subjected to men’s violence in intimate relationships get emotionally affected by the work and need to handle these different kinds of emotions with several strategies. The analysis also proves that emotional labor and using coping strategies is one of the social workers daily work tasks. Emotions, emotional labor, and coping strategies therefore influence the prerequisites as a whole within social work as a profession as these work assignments many times come as both invisible, non-qualifying and also, even at times, without paid salary.

No description available.

This study aims to enhance understanding of the experiences of women subjected to post-separation violence in their interactions with authorities. Employing a narrative analysis grounded in feminist theory, five autobiographies storys published between 2005 and 2020 were explored. A thematic analysis strategy was applied to identify and analyze patterns and themes within the women's narratives.  The findings show that sometimes women feel the support they receive is not enough. It's crucial for authorities, especially social services and the judiciary, to consider the study's findings to improve the support they offer. The study also points out that post-separation violence is known in Sweden but lacks specific research on its dynamics. I suggests more research into how social services can handle post-separation violence, given the uncertainty women in the study felt about the support they received. To conclude, future research should compare this study's findings with how women perceive support after the introduction of child contact centers in Swedish law. This could maybe improve the support provided by authorities to women who have experienced post-separation violence.