This study was conducted to compare sufficiently large samples of male batterers (N=99) and help-seeking nonbatterers (N=71) on factor structure of the eight personality scales on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) and MCMI profiles within similar subgroup types. The groups were matched on age, education range, marital status, and…

This study examined the relationships between alcohol abuse and spousal violence for 96 women in alcoholism treatment as compared to these comparison groups: 78 women receiving mental health treatment; 98 women receiving services for family violence; 91 women from a random sample of households; and 100 women in a driver education program following…

Investigators and service providers have indicated the need for a tool to identify elderly victims of abuse and neglect. Identifying factors related to the risk of elder abuse/neglect can be useful in planning services and targeting limited resources for preventing future problems. A 93-item Risk Assessment Tool was created and over 100 risk…

This study was conducted to examine the moderating effects of attributions on the relationship between marital satisfaction and marital violence. It was predicted that distressed spouses who made more maladaptive attributions for partner behavior would be more likely to engage in marital violence than would distressed spouses who offered fewer…

Clinical approaches to child sexual abuse have been constrained by limited knowledge of the family dimensions of the problem. This study compared the psychiatric responses of women with and without sexual abuse histories to disclosures of their children's sexual abuse, and assessed the relationship of these histories to the nature of the child's…

Alcohol consumption is often associated with aggressive behaviors. This study compared the contexts and reasons for drinking of maritally violent men (N=44) and three maritally nonviolent comparison groups: happily married men (N=54), unhappily married men (N=41), and men who had been convicted of a violent offense, but who did not beat their…

A considerable literature has developed on the tendency to ascribe the "blame" for unfortunate life events on the victims of the misfortune. Previous research has not explored fully the victim blame tendency in the case of child physical abuse. This study investigated the relationship between the experience of physically abusive…

The violence women experience in battering is both physical and psychological. A study in 1980 found that 1 in 10 women was hit, kicked, beaten, punched and terrorized by her husband or partner in Canada. Children living in battered homes may suffer a higher risk of direct physical or sexual abuse and many are neglected. Some progress has been…

This paper describes a set of therapeutic tactics employed in the treatment of court-ordered spouse abusers at a community-based counseling center. The introduction states that the term therapeutic tactics was chosen to describe a class of interventions which are closer in nature to strategic ploys used in a contest rather than collaborative…

Recent qualitative investigations of abusive men have indicated that power and control of the wife are central themes in incidents of marital violence. Furthermore, anecdotal and empirical evidence suggest that abusive husbands hold more traditional sex-role stereotypes, are more possessive and jealous, and are more controlling than nonabusive…

A district attorney of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, argues that prosecution is the most effective and appropriate response to child abuse cases. Two basic premises are advanced. First, anyone who physically abuses, sexually assaults, or rapes a child has committed a serious crime, regardless of the relationship of the victim to the offender.…

This study examined the link between alcohol use and domestic violence in the American Indian population. A total of 204 American Indian families and 2,007 non-American Indian Whites were analyzed using the 1985 National Family Violence Resurvey. The rates of family violence were first calculated by ethnicity, and then compared to a sample of…

The Conflict Tactics Scale questionnaire on marital violence was administered to 29 alcoholics and their wives at entry to, and 1 year after, completing a behavioral marital therapy (BMT) treatment program. In the year prior to BMT, prevalence rates of any violent act, of minor to moderate violent acts, and of severe violent acts were five to six…

This study examined assaults on wives by their husbands in an attempt to provide information on the intoxication-victimization theory, a theory that posits intoxication as a condition which increases the probability of victimization. Data were obtained by telephone interviews in 1985 with a national probability sample of 6,002 households. The wife…

Attributions affect coping with victimization. Battered women who blame their husbands' moods are less likely to leave than are women who blame their husbands' permanent characteristics for the violence. Abused women often have repeated contacts with crisis intervention workers and the attitudes of those workers may affect the attributions made by…