Examined how women cope with physical and emotional abuse while remaining with their abusive partners. Of 130 women who had experienced conflict or violence in close heterosexual relationship, 44 were still involved in abusive relationship. Findings suggest that women who stay with abusive partners employ cognitive strategies that help them…

Several theoretical perspectives regarding the manner in which parental behavior might increase the probability that an adolescent will engage in dating violence were tested using 113 adolescent males. Frequent exposure to corporal punishment increased the risk of dating violence; interparental aggression did not. Low support and involvement by…

Notes that many children who experience abuse, family disruption, or poverty reach adulthood with a strong commitment to family life. Questions whether changes in American families are indicators of pathology, deterioration, and instability; and asks how dysfunctional families transmit commitment to the concept of family to succeeding generations.…

Explores how domestic violence is related to personal control. Finds that individuals who have initiated violence against a partner do not differ from individuals who have nonviolent relationships in feelings of personal control. Experiencing violence at the hands of a partner has more significant adverse effects on sense of personal control for…

Examined effects of race and social class in comparative study of husband-to-wife violence experienced by 307 Black and White women. Results revealed no significant differences between proportion of Black and White women victims of marital violence. Data suggest that when social class positions are controlled, Black middle class women experienced…

The Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) was administered to 30 assaultive couples where the husband was undergoing treatment for wife assault. Differential reporting was found whereby husbands tend to view their marital relationship as mutually violent, while wives view it as husband-violent. The husband-wife correlation on specific items of the CTS…

This paper develops a definition and conceptual model of violence against children on the basis of a series of nationwide epidemiologic studies, public opinion, and press survyes. (Author)

Examined role of social isolation in greater incidence of aggression in cohabiting couples than married persons using national survey data from 13,017 respondents. Claims these factors are related to cohabitors' aggression: they are likely to be youthful and black; lack social control associated with participation in organizations; and tend to…

Considered perceptions of relationship quality (positive communication, caring gestures, recollections of happiest times) in 81 discordant clinic and 51 nondiscordant community couples. Spouses in nondistressed community marriages reported more frequent and higher quality positive communication and longer lasting and more recent happiest memories…

Examines why exposure to family violence and adolescent dating violence are associated. For both genders, this relationship was mediated by the variables of positive outcome expectations and belief in the conventional rules of society. For males, the relationship was also mediated by the variables of positive outcome expectations and belief in the…

Compared levels of verbal and physical violence within 181 families with an adolescent family member's attitudes toward variables of family conflict and satisfaction. Suggests that nonviolent families are more likely to report successful conflict resolution than are violent families; increasingly severe family violence is associated with greater…

Compares the rate of physical abuse of children and spouses from a 1975 study with rates from a 1985 replication. The 1985 rates were substantially lower than in 1975. Possible reasons for the lower rates are examined and evaluated. (Author/ABB)

Examined relationships between child physical abuse and child neglect and five fertility patterns (family size, spacing, mother's age at first birth, number of fathers, family planning status of children). Data from 237 urban, single mothers who maltreated their children showed that both types of maltreatment were associated with fertility…

The contribution of the construct "satisfaction with relationship power" to physical violence by men (N=156 college males) against their dating partners was examined. Multiple regression analysis was applied to measures of amount of perceived power in relationship, satisfaction with relationship power, physical aggression, and…

Using data from a longitudinal study of adolescents (N=608), an examination was made into the connection between the experience of physical discipline in childhood and violence in intimate relationships. It was determined that harsh physical punishment in childhood is directly related to greater perpetration of violence later against an intimate…