Examined factors influencing the decisions of 251 battered women to leave their partners. Results showed women who left had had shorter relationships and were more likely employed and non-White. Women who stayed with their assailants cited love, economic hardship, and belief the abuser would change as reasons. (JAC)

The second of two parts of a bibliography on battered wives from the literature of the past 10 years, this bibliography lists journal articles and films. The first part appears in the preceding issue of "Catholic Library World." (CLB)

Investigated whether 30 maritally distressed military couples differed from 30 distressed civilian couples using marital satisfaction questionnaires. Found same-sex differences across groups, and cross-sex differences within groups. Found military wives were more likely to be physically abused than were civilian wives, and more often requested…

Examines biblical issues (spouse roles, separation and divorce, forgiveness, faith) that are of concern to battered women from fundamentalist Christian backgrounds. Offers counselors suggestions on how to address them. (Author/ABL)

Provides a practical step-by-step model to guide all family therapists when working with couples involved in marital violence. Encourages therapists to determine whether violence is occurring, select a treatment modality, and either make arrangements to treat or refer to appropriate therapist. Five steps are outlined for use when conjoint couple…

Describes a two-year treatment of a case of marital abuse. Used psychoanalytic and family systems theory to understand the processes contributing to the emergence of violence. Documents resistances to total change. (Author/ABB)

Studied affect, psychophysiology, and verbal content of arguments in 60 couples with violent husband. Found that no wife behaviors successfully suppressed husband violence once it began; husband violence escalated in response to nonviolent and violent wife behaviors. Both battering husbands and their wives were angrier than their maritally…

The first of two parts of a bibliography on battered wives from the literature of the past 10 years, this bibliography lists books, dissertations, ERIC documents, and federal and state documents. The second part appears in the next issue of "Catholic Library World." (CLB)

Identifies different patterns of wife abuse, using a multivariate quantitative taxonomic procedure to delineate five homogeneous subgroups of abused women. Found that abuse occurs differentially in stable and unstable relationships, with differences in individual histories and responses of the victim to her assailant. (Author/JAC)

Data were collected from 20 couples with satisfactory marriages and 20 maritally dysfunctional nonviolent couples to evaluate characteristics associated with wife abuse. Abusive husbands were less assertive, abusive to children, and witnesses to parental spouse abuse; they were also likely to be conservative and alcoholics. (Author/RC)

Used survey data from 619 husbands residing in Bangkok, Thailand, to assess their use of physical force against their wives. Results provide strong support for importance of socioeconomic status, marital instability, and verbal marital conflict as predictors of Thai wife abuse. (Author/NB)

Results of a statistical analysis of a study of battered wives in shelters indicated that the wives' economic dependence on their husbands almost always ensured that they would return to their husbands and that respondents who considered the shelters useful had a higher probability of returning to their husbands. (Author)

Investigated the perceptions of 42 abused wives about their husbands and marital situations during counseling immediately following incidences of wife abuse. Results showed wives generally perceived their husbands as extremely possessive and often irrational. Wife abuse was often symptomatic of other marital problems. (JAC)

Data from a sample of 2,143 adult men and women were used to explore the relationship between wives' dependency on marriage, and wife abuse. Results indicated that it is economic and not psychological dependency which keeps women in severely abusive marriages. (Author)

Whether partners provide congruent reports about abuse in their relationship was studied with 360 couples. Findings suggest that reports of abuse can be aggregated to form internally consistent scales that show strong interpartner agreement, and that either abuser or victim reports are suitable for research use. (SLD)