ERIC Number: EJ777452
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Oct
Pages: 2
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0003-066X
EISSN: N/A
The Complexities of Domestic Violence
Dutton, Donald G.
American Psychologist, v62 n7 p708-709 Oct 2007
Comments on the article by Robert Bornstein, "The complex relationship between dependency and domestic violence: Converging psychological factors and social forces." Although a more focused examination of the psychological factors involved in domestic violence is welcome, there are some factual errors in Bornstein's article that need attention and represent a general problem in reports of domestic violence. Bornstein wrote, "Studies indicate that more than 95% of abuse perpetrators are men" (p. 595) and then proceeded to assess dependency in male perpetrators and female victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). The study indicating that more than 95% of IPV perpetrators are men was not cited and is, in fact, fictitious. The best empirical evidence indicates an entirely different finding. Clinical predictions of dangerousness made in psychiatric emergency rooms often underestimate female dangerousness. Risk of harm to children has often been based on wife abuse-child abuse incidence co-occurrence estimates from shelter house samples of women and erroneously generalized to community samples. For these reasons, regeneration of the gender paradigm by Bornstein, or others, serves to misinform the profession.
Descriptors: Family Violence, Victims of Crime, Intimacy, Gender Differences, At Risk Persons, Child Abuse, Psychological Patterns, Social Influences
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A