Early Exposure to Violence in the Family of Origin and Positive Attitudes towards Marital Violence: Chinese Immigrant Male Batterers vs. Controls

This study examined self-reported early exposure to violence in the family of origin and positive attitudes towards marital violence as risk factors in court-referred Chinese immigrant male batterers (N = 64) versus controls (N = 62). Early exposure to violence was positively correlated with marital violence, but it alone did not differentiate the batterers from the controls, as both groups were widely exposed to it. While it was significantly correlated with marital violence in the batterer group, it was significantly correlated with depression in the control group. Positive attitudes towards marital violence were not only correlated with marital violence but also sufficient to differentiate the batterers from the controls. It also partially mediated the effect of early exposure to violence on marital violence. These two risk factors together accounted for 21.9% of the variance in marital violence over and above sociodemographic variables and marital dissatisfaction. Research and treatment implications based on these findings were outlined.

If Violence Is Domestic, Does It Really Count?

Estimates of the prevalence of marital violence have been found to vary dramatically from survey to survey. This paper addresses one potential explanation for this difference which involves the focus and format of different surveys. We examine the extent to which survey respondents are willing to report marital violence in a context which focuses on criminal behaviors as opposed to a family violence context. In a very basic way, this answers a question as to whether individuals are willing to define acts of marital violence as criminal. Methodologically, it is a measurement issue which seriously affects the ability to compare findings across samples. National Youth Survey data are used to compare rates of generalized spousal assault and victimization reported in a crime context with rates of marital assault and victimization reported in a family violence context. Results indicate that 40 to 83% of all marital assaults and victimizations reported in the marital violence section are not reported in a format which focuses on criminal assault and victimization.     

Is animal cruelty a "red flag" for family violence? Investigating co-occurring violence toward children, partners, and pets

Cross-reporting legislation, which permits child and animal welfare investigators to refer families with substantiated child maltreatment or animal cruelty for investigation by parallel agencies, has recently been adopted in several U.S. jurisdictions. The current study sheds light on the underlying assumption of these policies-that animal cruelty and family violence commonly co-occur. Exposure to family violence and animal cruelty is retrospectively assessed using a sample of 860 college students. Results suggest that animal abuse may be a red flag indicative of family violence in the home. Specifically, about 60% of participants who have witnessed or perpetrated animal cruelty as a child also report experiences with child maltreatment or domestic violence. Differential patterns of association were revealed between childhood victimization experiences and the type of animal cruelty exposure reported. This study extends current knowledge of the links between animal- and human-directed violence and provides initial support for the premise of cross-reporting legislation.     

Exploring the social and emotional context of childhood animal cruelty and its potential link to adult human violence

ABSTRACT

Those who commit acts of animal cruelty may do so differently based upon how they individually experience such acts. These experiences may impact the link that exists between childhood animal abuse and later interpersonal violence. Limited research exists that examines how social and emotional factors such as being upset after committing animal cruelty may impact the progression from early acts of animal cruelty to later acts of adult violence against humans. Based on responses from 180 prison inmates in a Southern state, the current study examined the effects of onset and frequency of animal cruelty, covertness of animal cruelty, the commission of animal cruelty alone or in a group, and being upset after committing animal cruelty. Inmates who committed recurrent acts of childhood animal cruelty were more likely to commit recurrent acts of adult interpersonal violence.     

Towards a pattern in mass violence participation? An analysis of Rwandan perpetrators' accounts from the 1994 genocide

In this article, I focus on the logic whereby a group of eight Hutu became involved in mass violence during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. This process is considered as a sequence of meaningful events that progressively shaped the actors' frame of analysis. As such, each sequence brings a new qualitative reality which, in turn, constitutes the platform upon which the involvement in, and the perpetration of, mass violence become acceptable and legitimate in the eyes of the perpetrators. Based on both Howard S. Becker's notion of career and Roger Petersen's analysis of resistance and rebellion, I disaggregate the entire process of participation in mass violence into a sequence of six mechanisms, generating two main phases. The first one, mobilisation, refers to the movement from a neutral state to a mobilised state. The second phase, collective action, covers the drift from mobilisation to action, namely, killings.     

Significance of Family Risk Factors in Development of Childhood Animal Cruelty in Adolescent Boys with Conduct Problems

The literature suggests that physical child abuse, sexual child abuse, paternal alcoholism, paternal unavailability, and domestic violence may be significant in development of childhood animal cruelty. Two groups of early- to late adolescent boys (CTA and N-CTA) in residential treatment for conduct disorder were compared in the current study on histories of these family risk factors. The adolescents in Group 1 were comprised of boys who had conduct problems with documented histories of animal cruelty (n = 50; CTA). Group 2 consisted of adolescent boys (n = 50; N-CTA) with conduct problems, but without documented histories of animal cruelty. Results showed that children in the CTA group had significantly greater histories of physical and/or sexual child abuse and domestic violence in comparison to children in the N-CTA group. These results suggest that physical and/or sexual abuse to a child, and exposure to domestic violence, may be significant in the development of childhood animal cruelty.     

Linking marital violence,mother-child/father-child aggression,and child behavior problems

Previous research indicates that observation of marital violence has a deleterious impact on children's adjustment. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. The present study examined the relationships between observation of marital violence, mother-child aggression, father-child aggression, and child behavior problems in a sample of 185 children (ages 7 to 13) and their mothers who were residing at battered women shelters. A significant positive association was found between amount of marital violence witnessed and father-child aggression. However, the correlation between the amount of marital violence witnessed and mother-child aggression was not significant. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that both the amount of marital violence witnessed as well as mother-child aggression were significantly related to child behavior problems, even when controlling for the effects of child age, race, and father status (i.e., whether the mother's partner was the biological father or stepfather/cohabitee). Family violence variables were better predictors of girls' rather than boys' behavior problems, particularly externalizing behavior problem scores. The lack of significance between father-child aggression and child behavior problems, as well as the implications of the findings, are discussed.     

Cognitive and interpersonal factors in woman abuse

As part of a larger ecological analysis of woman battering in Israel, this study examined the combined ability of selected cognitive and interpersonal measures to differentiate among couples in which women were battered and those in which they were not. The ability of these variables to predict men's physical violence and verbal abuse and women's verbal abuse was also executed. Results indicate that a combination of low marital adjustment, high levels of conflict over children, and more perceived self-control over one's life characterized violent men; low marital adjustment and high conflict over child rearing characterized battered women. Both men's and women's verbal abuse was moderately predicted by lower marital adjustment while men's physical violence was predicted by increased levels of conflicts with his partner over child rearing. These findings suggest the importance of marital relationship factors in domestic violence and highlight the need for further study of the interaction between perceived control and marital relationship problems in relationships where men physically abuse women.     

Risk for Partner Victimization and Marital Dissatisfaction Among Chronically Depressed Patients

The link between marital dysfunction and depressive symptoms has been well established, but the link between partner violence and depressive symptoms is less clear. Further, little is known about partner violence and marital satisfaction in chronically depressed patients. In this multi-site treatment sample of chronically depressed patients (N = 316), approximately 17% of men and 12% of women reported experiencing physical victimization from their partner in the past year. However, physical victimization was not associated with the severity of depression for men or women. Cross-sectional path analyses indicated that depressive symptoms predicted marital dissatisfaction, which in turn, predicted psychological victimization. Further, psychological victimization predicted physical victimization. With chronically depressed individuals, interventions that address both depression and marital dissatisfaction may prevent psychological and physical victimization.     

Children’s attitudes towards animal cruelty: Exploration of predictors and socio-demographic variations

ABSTRACT

Assessing the risk for animal cruelty is imperative, yet understudied and problematic due to the sensitivity of the topic. Early prevention is critical, yet very little research examines cruelty when it first appears in childhood. The aim of this study was to explore children’s attitudes towards types of animal cruelty, to investigate potential demographic differences, and to examine potential associations between acceptance of cruelty and cognitive and affective factors that place children ‘at-risk’ for cruelty perpetration. Questionnaire data was collected from 1127 children in schools. The results indicate that cruelty attitudes are predicted by some demographic variables such as urban living, being male, younger age and not having pets, but depend on the type of animal cruelty. Acceptance of cruelty predicted low compassion and low reported humane behaviour towards animals. Acceptance of cruelty was predicted by negative attitudes towards animals, lower beliefs in animal minds and low attachment to pets, signifying the importance of targeting such variables in future prevention programmes. This study is an original contribution to research into childhood animal cruelty in the general population, with implications for designing and implementing early prevention programmes that tackle problematic attitudes to cruelty.     

The social and emotional context of childhood and adolescent animal cruelty: is there a link to adult interpersonal crimes?

The link between early animal abuse and later violence toward humans may depend on how acts of animal cruelty are experienced by those whose behavior demonstrates this graduation. Unfortunately, the research investigating the social and emotional context for the youthful commission of animal cruelty as it escalates to adult interpersonal violence is relatively nonexistent. Using 112 cases from a larger sample of 261 inmates surveyed at both medium and maximum security prisons in a southern state, the present study examined the effects of age of onset and frequency of animal cruelty, the covertness of animal cruelty, the commission of animal cruelty within a group or in isolation, and empathy for the abused animals. Inmates who had covered up their childhood and adolescent animal cruelty were more likely to have been convicted of repeated acts of interpersonal violence, demonstrating that the role of empathy and individuals present during acts of animal cruelty were less important than concealing those acts.     

Patriarchal ideology and wife-assault: A meta-analytic review

Using the framework of patriarchal theory, the present meta-analytic review examined the predicted relation between wife assault and the maintenance of a patriarchal ideology. This relationship was evaluated using three measures of patriarchal ideology: (1) attitudes toward violence, (2) gender attitudes, and (3) gender schemas. Overall, assaultive husbands reported more positive attitudes toward marital violence and lower scores on masculine and feminine gender schema scales than nonassaultive husbands. Methodological factors accounted for the significant heterogeneity among the gender attitude effect estimates for men. A nonsignificant average effect in the males' gender attitude emerged in studies which used husbands' self-report data and case-control comparison groups. In contrast to men, assaulted wives held more feminine gender schema and tended to exhibit more liberal gender attitudes than nonassaulted wives across studies. These meta-analytic findings offer limited support for the ideological component of the patriarchal theory of wife assault and are discussed with respect to their theoretical and methodological implications.     

Parent and child reports of animal cruelty and their correlations with parent and child reports of child delinquency

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine whether child and parent reports of animal cruelty in children correlated with child- and parent-reported delinquency in these same children. A group of 3397 children (1778 boys and 1619 girls; age?=?9 years) from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing sample [FFCW: Reichman, Teitler, Garfinkel, & McLanahan (2001). Fragile families: Sample and design. Children & Youth Services Review, 23, 303–326] served as participants in this study. The prevalence of animal cruelty as reported by the child (4.7%) and parent (3.0%) were both low and the zero-order correlation between the two estimates was non-significant, suggesting that they were measuring different constructs. A two-equation multiple regression analysis was conducted, controlling for child gender, domestic violence within the home, mother hitting/spanking, and father hitting/spanking. Findings indicated that parent-reported animal cruelty correlated significantly with child-reported delinquency, controlling for child reports of animal cruelty and the four control variables. Child-reported animal cruelty, however, failed to correlate with parent-reported delinquency, controlling for parental reports of animal cruelty and the four control variables. These results suggest that parental reports of animal cruelty may be more useful as indicators of delinquent involvement than child reports. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed.     

Measurement of teen dating violence attitudes: an item response theory evaluation of differential item functioning according to gender

Accurate assessment of attitudes about intimate partner violence is important for evaluation of prevention and early intervention programs. Assessment of attitudes about cross-gender interactions is particularly susceptible to bias because it requires specifying the gender of the perpetrator and the victim. As it is likely that respondents will tend to identify with the same-gender actor, items and scales assessing attitudes about intimate partner violence may not have equivalent measurement properties for male and female respondents. This article examines data from 2,575 high school students who participated in a teen-dating violence intervention study. The majority of participants were Latino (91%), and the sample was nearly evenly split with respect to gender (51% female). Items from two scales (boy-on-girl violence, 4 items; girl-on-boy violence, 5 items) reflecting teens' attitudes about dating violence were calibrated with the graded item response theory (IRT) model and evaluated for differential item functioning (DIF) by gender. A total of three items, two from the girl-on-boy violence scale and one from the boy-on-girl violence scale, were identified as functioning differently for girls and boys. In all cases where DIF was detected, the item's attitudinal statement was easier to accept for the gender group that was portrayed as victim rather than perpetrator. For both scales, accounting for the identified DIF influenced inferences about the magnitude of mean differences in attitudes between boys and girls. These results support the use of IRT scores that account for DIF to minimize measurement error and improve inferences about gender differences in attitudes about dating violence.     

Abortion and gender relationships in Ukraine, 1955–1970

This article examines the sociocultural conditions underpinning the so-called ‘abortion culture’ in Soviet Ukraine. Unlike previous studies on abortion in the Soviet Union which have primarily used country-level data, this study employs original sources – in-depth biographical interviews and archival materials – to investigate local conditions and the manner in which decisions regarding abortion were made. The author studied couples whose reproductive years comprise the period from 1955 to 1970, when modern contraceptives were not readily available but abortion was legal. Two localities in Ukraine – the cities of Lviv and Kharkiv – are included in the investigation. The findings suggest that local patriarchal gender regimes and their associated spousal dynamics defined when and how women exercised their agency in birth control and abortion decisions. In couples where spouses communicated about birth control and abortion decisions, the women sought less abortions. These women did not feel a need to exercise their agency, as the husband took over both responsibilities. When abortion was practised as a routine family-size-limitation method, spouses did not communicate about birth control and abortion, and the two were practised solely as a husband's and wife's responsibility, respectively. These women sought abortions to fulfil their own goals and, at the same time, to maintain the dominant patriarchal order in marital relationships as they understood it. Additionally, peer networks seemed to be the crucial element reinforcing women's agency in these processes.     

Marital Rape: Is the Crime Taken Seriously Without Co-occurring Physical Abuse?

This vignette study was conducted to determine how observers' beliefs about marital rape are altered by the knowledge of a prior history of husband-to- wife physical violence. Participants (n = 50 college students) read three different marital rape situations; in one situation the husband had been physically violent in the past; in another he had not. In the third situation, participants were not given any information about the physical abuse history between the spouses. As expected, participants blamed the victim most for the marital rape and minimized the seriousness of the rape when they had been told that there was not a prior history of husband-to-wife physical abuse. These findings suggest that observers use a physical violence history to establish the coercion needed to determine that marital rape had occurred. The legal implications of these findings are discussed.     

Long-Term Effects of Witnessing Marital Violence for Women: The Contribution of Childhood Physical and Sexual Abuse

A sample of 313 college women completed a questionnaire about experiences with violence in childhood and adulthood and adult adjustment and relationship functioning. Nine percent of the women reported having witnessed some type of physical conflict between their parents. Witnessing marital violence was associated with other family mental health risks, childhood physical and sexual abuse, and adult physical assaults by strangers. Women who witnessed marital violence reported more symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder than other women, after family background and abuse variables were accounted for. Significant interactions between witnessing marital violence and childhood physical abuse were observed for measures of social avoidance and predictability in partner relationships, indicating that the effects of witnessing marital violence depended on the presence of childhood abuse. Implications of these results for research and interventions are discussed.     

Violent marriages: Gender differences in levels of current violence and past abuse

Military couples mandated for marital violence treatment (n=199) self-reported pretreatment levels of marital violence. This sample is unique in that data from both partners in severely violent marriages were available. Spouses were interviewed conjointly about past and current marital violence, childhood victimization, type of parental violence witnessed, and subjective impressions of childhood emotional and/or physical abuse. Results suggest that in the majority of these couples both husbands and wives reported engaging in acts of current marital violence (83%). However, significant gender differences were found such that husbands were more likely to use severely violent tactics, less likely to receive a marital violence injury, and less likely to report being afraid during the last incident of marital violence than wives. Surprisingly, wives were more likely than husbands to blame themselves for the first incidence of violence in the marriage. Husbands and wives did not differ in the prevalence of witnessing parental aggression, but wives were more likely than husbands to report being beaten as children and to perceive themselves as abused. For both genders, victimization from mother predicted marital perpetration, whereas victimization from father predicted marital victimization.     

Correctional Officers and Domestic Violence: Experiences and Attitudes

This article presents the first statewide data regarding correctional officers’ attitudes about and personal experiences with domestic violence. Online surveys were administered to Florida correctional officers asking a series of questions, including their beliefs and attitudes about the prevalence of domestic violence among colleagues, and their childhood and adult experiences with domestic violence. Results from 710 officers revealed that 33?% of respondents knew about correctional officers who had committed unreported domestic violence; 30?% reported that they had directly experienced domestic violence as children; and over 11?% reported that they had been physically violent with an intimate partner. Multivariate statistics showed that age, race, and childhood experiences with domestic violence were significantly related to correctional officers reporting being physically abusive to an intimate partner or family member. These and other findings highlight the need for increased agency prevention efforts and research on the phenomenon of correctional officer-involved domestic violence.     

Multiple stressors,violence in the family of origin,and marital aggression: A longitudinal investigation

The negative perception of stress is significantly associated with marital aggression, as is violence in one's family of origin. However, most individuals experiencing stress do not engage in family violence. The present study tests an aspect of social learning theory, proposing that violence in one's family of origin predisposes one to react to stress by aggressing against one's spouse. Two hundred and seventy five couples completed questionnaires measuring multiple (work and life) stress, and marital aggression 6 and 18 months following their wedding. Information on violence in their family of origin was collected 1 month prior to their wedding. Moderated multiple regressions showed that for women, stress predicted marital aggression 1 year later after controlling for age, education, and initial marital aggression. No effects emerged for violence in the family of origin for either men or women. Conceptual implications for further studying the role of violence in the family of origin and the relationship between multiple Stressors and physical aggression are advanced.