Typologies of intimate violence are part of an emerging paradigm towards a multifaceted, multi-theoretical approach to understanding the causes and effects of intimate violence. For this new paradigm to be implemented into research and practice, there are several gaps in the knowledge base that must be addressed. In particular, there is a need: (a) to develop a more comprehensive typology of intimate violence that integrates characteristics of perpetrators with interactional characteristics of violence; (b) to evaluate the differential effects of this comprehensive typology for women and men; and (c) to develop of a clinical assessment approach that incorporates the most current knowledge on typologies of violence with the most current knowledge on assessment practices. Two studies were conducted to address these gaps. The first study is an empirical analysis testing Johnson's (1995; 2002) coercive control construct as an indicator of type and effects of intimate violence for women and men using secondary data analysis methods. The second manuscript is the development of a tiered intimate violence assessment approach that incorporates current knowledge on conjoint assessment with current knowledge on typologies of intimate violence. A conceptual clinical assessment approach is proposed that can be tested for its usefulness in assisting clinicians with assessing for intimate violence during conjoint sessions, and for determining whether conjoint treatment is indicated. / Graduation date: 2005

The primary objective of this research was to initiate exploratory research into the coping styles and defense mechanisms of adults vicariously exposed to violent crime. This research focused on determining the presence, nature and complexity of symptoms in those vicariously exposed to violent crime. Gaining an understanding of the coping styles and defense mechanisms that individuals who are vicariously exposed to violent crime adopt was also a central focus of this study. A psychodynamic theoretical framework was employed. Situating this research within a broader theory of coping was also necessary. Zeidner and Endler's (1996) integrative conceptual framework was used to understand the coping styles that one adopts as being both dispositional and contextual. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted with seven respondents (Wengraf,2001). Ulin et al.'s (2002) method of qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyze and interpret data. Emotion-focused coping was found to be the prominent form of coping used by the respondents. It appeared that when problem-focused coping fails to alleviate the individual's anxiety, they then engage in emotion focused coping. Two forms of emotion focused coping were identified: adaptive and pathological emotion focused coping. With regards to vicarious trauma symptoms, a variety of five symptoms were evident across the transcripts. It is also necessary to emphasize that respondents experienced variable combinations of symptoms and generally did not experience all of such symptoms. It was concluded that in the presence of the vicarious exposure to violent crime, participants utilized various defense mechanism (such as: splitting, rationalization, displacement, intellectualization and suppression) which inform their coping style and their experience of symptoms of vicarious trauma. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

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Educational policy has increasingly focused on holding teachers and schools accountable for student performance. Yet popular and academic writers have long connected exposure to neighborhood violence to poor student performance. Newly available datasets, statistical methods and computer technology allow for greater power and additional control in analyzing this relation. Using school and neighborhood data (N = 792,374 students from 1,240 school neighborhoods) from New York City between 2006 and 2010, multilevel models were used to test whether exposure to violence in the school neighborhood (the number of police-reported felony assaults, homicides, rapes and robberies) predicts student performance (scaled scores on annual English and math tests). Violent crime is significantly associated with negative students outcomes controlling for a host of student and school neighborhood level variables including poverty and prior violent crime. Effect sizes were larger when predicting math outcomes than English, and for students in middle school as opposed to elementary school. These findings suggest that educational policymakers must distinguish exposure to violence from teacher and school effects and that neighborhood violence must be addressed by stakeholders of child development whether in schools or in society at large.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among several demographic and emotional/relational variables, and physical abuse victimization in conjugal relations. Participants were eighty-two individuals, involving 41 heterosexual couples in permanent relationships, who were being seen in marital therapy for discordant relationships. This was a cross-sectional sample, with participants selected from four community-based couple and family therapy treatment facilities. Couple participants completed a questionnaire package which measured their standing on a number of socio-demographic (age, income, duration of marriage, employment, education), emotional/relationship (attachment, differentiation, self esteem, marital satisfaction, global distress, problem solving communication), and violence (aggression, physical and non-physical abuse) variables. The emotional variables selected for this study drew on principles from both attachment and Bowen family systems theory. The design of this study differentiated victims of physical violence from non-victims of violence and included multiple measures of abuse. / The findings revealed significant gender correlations in terms of level of aggression in relationships. For females, level of global distress and problem solving communication were positively associated with higher levels of marital aggression. An association between poor differentiation and marital aggression was identified for females, while self esteem only approached significance. For males, a significant correlation was identified between level of aggression and the dismissing attachment style. For males the anxious attachment style was negatively correlated with being a victim of physical violence, with self-differentiation and with having a dismissive attachment style. / The central findings were identified through the use of logistic regression analysis. Attachment style was found to be the more powerful predictor for both females and males in predicting victimization of physical violence. Separate gender analysis revealed evidence that women's anxious attachment style is a significant predictor of physical violence victimization. For males, the dismissing style was less powerful a predictor of male victimization, however the combined female-anxious, male-dismissing attachment combination was found to be highly predictive of relationship violence. Logistic regression has provided evidence for the combination of female-anxious and male-dismissing attachment pattern with poor problem solving and communication skill, within the context of a longer relationship, as significant predictors of relationship violence for the whole sample. These three variables, anxious-dismissing attachment style, poor problem solving communication and longer duration of marriage taken together have provided a predictor model or couple profile for conjugal violence in a sample of discordant couples. / Results of the final couple analysis have contributed to an emerging hypothesis, with the identification of a particular "toxic" gender defined couple attachment pattern, that can predispose a couple for relationship violence. Results have identified that anxious females coupled with dismissing males significantly increased the odds of relationship violence. Research findings were discussed in terms of clinical applications and implications for theory and future research.

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The purpose of the present study was to determine whether there are any differences between college students 1) who have received violence 2) who have received threats of physical violence, and 3) who have not received threats or physical violence from their partners. The study examined ways in which these three groups describe their own and their partners' self-esteem and personality. Significant findings indicate that perceptions of one's self esteem and partner's self esteem are affected by the level of violence received. Surprisingly, those who received threats of violence, for both perceptions of self and partners, had the lowest self esteem. No significant relationship was found between vilence and perceptions of personality. Additional findings suggest that those in violent relationships have lower relationship satisfaction that those who receive threats or no violence at all.

This investigation addressed the question "What are the characteristics of the relationship between power, interference, frustration and aggression within the context of a conjugal conflict?" This investigation used a mathematical correlational descriptive design with magnitude estimation measures to evaluate the relationships between power, interference, frustration and aggression. The measures were administered to 39 women drawn from state funded social service agencies. Thirty-three (n = 13) percent of the total sample were retested to determine the stability of the measures. The reliability of the magnitude estimation measures ranged from.90 to.98 for test retest stability and.83 to.92 for the internal consistency or theta coefficients. Regression analysis of the data indicated that power had the strongest relationship to aggression (R² =.89). Neither interference nor frustration had any relationship to the concept of aggression. Empirical modeling revealed that parental aggression, through power, increased the strength of the relationship between power and aggression (R² =.96). The model also revealed that interference had the sole relationship with the concept of frustration (R² =.83).

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which women seeking services of a shelter for battered women in the Southwestern United States were similar to the existing picture of battered women. Supplemental questions were asked concerning the effects of substance abuse, marital status, and child abuse. Information was gathered from records of a sample of 100 women who sought shelter between September 1984 and August 1987. Results were compared with previous studies by Gayford (1975), Giles-Sims (1983), and Walker. Results suggested women in this study were similar to battered women who had been studied previously. No significant relationship was found between the use of drugs and/or alcohol and the type of abuse a woman experienced, between marital status and employment status, nor between the occurrence of child abuse and a woman's willingness to involve the police. Implications and recommendations for future research were presented.