Pregnancy-associated Homicides (PAHs) are homicides committed while a woman is pregnant, and recent reports from Florida's Pregnancy-associated Mortality Review (PAMR) suggest that it is a leading cause of unnatural deaths for pregnant women. However, a study has not examined the motives, characteristics, and underlying factors behind these homicides. Therefore, this study explored Florida's Pregnancy-associated Intimate Partner Homicides (PAIPHs) using a sample of women that were reportedly pregnant at the time of their mortality (n=33), as well as a comparison group of not-pregnant women (n=33). To conduct the study, reported homicide data from news sources, police reports, and other public records from 2000 to 2019 were aggregated, coded, and analyzed. Findings show that there are differences between PAIPHs and Not-pregnant Intimate Partner Homicides (NPIPHs), and pregnancy is a risk factor for femicide. The primary motives were unwanted pregnancy or relationship, rejection, avoidance of prosecution, abuse exposure, doubts concerning the paternity of the child, and infidelity accusations. Although PAIPH and NPIPH victims were killed for leaving or threatening to leave the perpetrator, PAIPH victims were more likely to be killed because the perpetrator wanted to end the relationship. Most PAIPH victims were unmarried or recently married (less than a year), and Black women had the highest rate of victimization. As for PAIPH perpetrators,78.5% were Black, 30.3% were convicted felons, and some intentionally targeted the unborn child with a knife, gun or blunt force. The findings suggest a need for Maternal Intimate Partner Violence programs, policies, and interventions targeted towards pregnant women and their intimate partners, as well as strategies to combat firearm usage amongst convicted felons.

Dating violence (DV) victimization in adolescence has been shown to be predictive of both negative emotions and delinquent behavior later in life. However, research that delves into DV victimization and subsequent outcomes, such as deviant behavior, is largely atheoretical. Robert Agnew's general strain theory (GST) provides a theoretical framework to address this limitation. In focusing on negative interactions with others, the theory posits that strain produces negative affect states which leads to deviant or criminal coping. Prior research has identified victimization as a strain, a type of noxious stimuli, which is significantly related to negative emotionality, crime, and deviance. I build on this literature by examining the relationship between dating violence victimization, negative emotionality, and substance use. In addition, little research to date has examined the role that biological factors play in moderating these relationships. Using Add Health, and drawing on two separate, but related, theories, I explore whether the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) interacts with dating violence victimization to affect depressive symptoms and self-reported substance use. The analytic strategy involved a series of logistic regressions separated by gender. Results show DV victimization is significantly related to increased odds of binge drinking in males, DV victimization is significantly related to marijuana use for both males and females, and 5-HTTLPR moderates the effect of DV victimization on marijuana use for females only. Although depression does not mediate the relationship between DV victimization and substance use, results show depressive symptoms are independently associated with increased odds of marijuana use. Utility of a GST and biosocial model, implications, and avenues for future research are discussed.

Domestic violence has been considered a serious issue for many decades. This problem manifests itself physically, sexually, and emotionally and can affect anyone. However, most of the domestic violence literature focuses specifically on physical intimate partner violence. Various theoretical frameworks have been utilized to explain the occurrence of domestic violence including social disorganization theory and gender inequality. These explanations are limited, however, with the former primarily extended to physical assault and the latter focusing on violence against women. This study is important as it extends our knowledge of how these two perspectives can be applied to domestic violence through the analysis of domestic stalking, violation of protective orders, and homicide at a structural level. Incident data for these crimes that occurred in 2016 were obtained from the Chicago data portal and demographic data were obtained from the 2016 American Community Survey's 5-year estimates. Univariate, multivariate, and spatial analyses were conducted at the census tract level to determine the associations between the two theoretical frameworks and each crime. Statistical results indicate that social disorganization theory and gender inequality can partially explain the occurrence of domestic stalking, violation of protective orders, and homicide. Concentrated disadvantage was one of the most consistent predictors of domestic violence, but the direction of the relationship varied across models. There were significant gender inequality factors, but the directions also varied. Spatial results demonstrate clustering of the crimes in areas characterized by increased social disorganization as well as areas possessive of certain indicators of gender inequality. This study is unique as it employed both social disorganization and gender inequality frameworks at a structural level, employed various spatial analysis and mapping techniques, and it analyzed understudied acts of domestic violence to set precedent and open doors for future inquiry.

IPV victimization leads many women who suffer from unstable housing into homelessness. These victims are in danger of severe negative health outcomes that are already prevalent in the homeless community, as well as seen in victims of IPV. This study seeks to explore the impact that IPV victimization has on negative health outcomes in the homeless community, compared to the negative health outcomes that homeless women face who are not homeless because of IPV victimization. This study hypothesized that women who are homeless because of IPV victimization face more severe negative health outcomes. The data for the current research is from the Florida Four-City Study of Violence in the Lives of Homeless Women project (Jasinski et. al., 2010) and includes 737 respondents. There was statistically significant findings to support the hypothesis in the health outcomes for the current episode of homelessness for being treated at a clinic for mental problems, self-reported depression, and self-reported anxiety for women who blame their current episode of homelessness on IPV victimization.

Domestic violence (DV) is a global issue that can affect anyone regardless of what role they play in a family household. It does not discriminate by education, age, religion, etc. DV includes any type of violence or abuse that occurs within a domestic setting. For the purposes of this study, this content primarily focuses on intimate partner violence (IPV) as the main form of DV and is used interchangeably throughout the text. This study examines the influence of population density on arrest rates for DV and some factors behind the likelihood of arrests in urban and rural areas. The literature between both of these societies has demonstrated a clear difference in social behaviors that shape the response to DV (Websdale and Johnson 1998). Normative social influence theory suggests that people's influence may lead someone to conform in order to be liked or accepted by a group (Izuma 2017). This theory hypothesizes that the proportion of people living in rural per county will have fewer arrests for DV than the proportion of people living in non-rural areas because of the need for positive relationships that can lead to conformity (Izuma 2017). Furthermore, it is predicted that there are less arrests in rural areas because of the effects of informal social controls in these areas. Informal social controls can take place between police and citizens that may interact more personally through socialization. An example is when citizens take matters into their own hands, therefore prolonging the reporting of crimes to police. This study uses secondary data provided by sources such as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) website and Social Explorer. Broader implications of this research are that it could shed some light on the social dynamics that impact the outcome of crime in both densely populated and sparsely populated areas.

Background: National studies have previously found that those within the disabled population are underserved in regard to healthcare, education, employment and medical access. Historically, the majority of those who are disabled due to this engrained inequality receive government assistance. Multiple laws have been enacted to protect those who fall into this minority such as ADA, section 504 and IDEA. These laws ensure the disabled equal access to employment, public services, education, public accommodations and telecommunications. Federally funded departments called student disability services (SDS) are on college/university campuses to ensure equal access and treatment throughout a student's college career. Under the SDS department, students can request accommodations, advocacy, and support throughout their 4- year degree. The purpose of this study is to explore whether student's who utilize the SDS department at the University of Central Florida are earning equivalent or higher GPA percentages in comparison to student's who do not utilize services from the department. Method: I worked along with the SDS department on the University of Central Florida's campus to gather data on current students being assisted by the department without any identifying information from the spring 2018 term. The sample total was 2,569 students who were active with the SDS department. In order to assess this question, an OLS regression analysis will be run to regress each of the variables: ethnicity, sex, diagnosis and academic classification.

Using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, I applied Phelan, Link and Tehranifar's (2010) fundamental cause theory (FCT) framework to examine the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and prescription opioid use behaviors. I also explored the mediating roles of health status and the deployment of flexible resources. I hypothesized that (1) a negative association would exist between SES and prescription opioid use, misuse, and use disorder, and (2) health status and the deployment of flexible resources (e.g. health care access, knowledge, social support) would mediate this relationship. As hypothesized and consistent with FCT, higher SES was associated with significantly lower odds of prescription opioid use behaviors. Two flexible resources, health care access and social support, and various indicators of poor health helped explain this relationship. Inconsistent with FCT, knowledge of heroin use as being a "great risk" was not a mediator of the SES-prescription opioid use behaviors association. Based on these findings, efforts to reduce SES disparities in prescription opioid use behaviors should emphasize reducing SES disparities overall as well as in health and access to important health-enhancing resources. Limitations of this study and directions for future research are discussed.

This 2 x 3 factorial study focuses on roles of different rejection types (instigating force) and lack of self-regulation (weak inhibiting force) on the commission of obsessive relational intrusion (ORI). Rejection was manipulated through vignettes depicting no rejection or one of two types of romantic rejection: an explicit rejection (rejection that makes an internal attribution to the rejected as cause of relationship ending) or a passive rejection that “lets the pursuer down easy” (external attributions for relationship demise). Self-regulation was manipulated through a thought suppression exercise (2 conditions: free writing/no suppression vs. restricted writing/thought suppression). After scenario and writing exercise, participants (N = 221) rated their likelihood of thinking or engaging in ORI. A main effect of rejection and an interaction between rejection and self-regulation were observed. Participants explicitly rejected reported higher scores for aggressive acts compared to participants passively rejected. The difference was exacerbated with depleted self-regulation.

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and intimate partner violence (IPV) are both crimes with high prevalence rates which frequently have females as their victims. Survivors of each are frequently found in psychotherapy, yet to date few studies have examined the interaction between each form of gender violence. The present study looked at several ways in which CSA and IPV interact, including assessing prevalence rates of CSA among female IPV survivors, examining somatic difficulties found among female CSA survivors who are also survivors of IPV vs. female non-CSA IPV survivor controls, and by exploring body image and sexual difficulties found among female CSA survivors who are also survivors of IPV vs. female non-CSA IPV survivor controls. Participants were a sample of 140 women with a history of domestic violence recruited from a variety of settings including community mental health facilities and correctional facilities. Results showed that all three forms of childhood maltreatment studied (CSA, childhood physical abuse (CPA), and childhood witnessing of IPV) were elevated among survivors of IPV; rates of CSA were 51.4% within our sample of female survivors of IPV, rates of CPA were 52.1%, and rates of childhood witnessing of IPV were 67.1% within the same sample. Among various somatic complaints studied (sleep difficulties, depression, eating difficulties, and weight problems), female CSA survivors of IPV evidenced higher rates of childhood sleep difficulties, childhood and adulthood depression, and adulthood eating difficulties than did female non-CSA IPV survivor controls. While participants overall evidenced high rates of problems with body image and sexuality, there were no significant differences between female CSA survivors of IPV and female non-CSA IPV survivor controls within this study. Possible reasons underlying the latter negative findings were discussed. Both groups showed higher rates of body image and sexual dysfunction than would be predicted for normative participants, though given the absence of a normal control group in the present study it is difficult to discern how much higher these rates might be.

Meta-analyses with 144 correlations from 44 studies to assess the relationship between experienced, father-to-mother, and mother-to-father violence in the family of origin and partner violence for males and females in clinical, community and student samples.