The Elder Abuse Awareness Project was undertaken: (1) to determine the incidence of abuse and neglect in seven Illinois counties; and (2) to develop, produce, and distribute educational materials on elder abuse for the service provider and for senior citizens. Results are presented and discussed. (MT)

Data on couples show that rates of domestic violence are related to attitudes about violence and to social structural variables. With respect to physical punishment of one's children and to spousal violence, findings show a spouse's violence has greater impact on the respondent's violence than the respondent's own attitudes about violence.…

Reviews research on family violence and sexual abuse of children in the 1980s. Examines family violence rates, intergenerational transmission of violence, effects of violence on children and women, and effectiveness of interventions. Review of child sexual abuse examines defining sexual abuse, its prevalence, research on sexual offenders and risk…

Parents and children completed measures that assessed children's behavior problems and depression. Children had experienced abuse, witnessed spouse abuse, experienced and witnessed abuse, or experienced no domestic violence. Reports of effects of domestic violence on children varied, depending on the type of violence and the person reporting it.…

Explores the cycle of family violence and its impact on homeless families. Once family violence sends families into homelessness, community violence prevents them from escaping. Re-envisioning shelters as centers of learning rather than emergency facilities can begin to break the cycle of violence. (SLD)

Recently, it has been argued that "anti-smacking" campaigns have been so successful that "explicit pro-smackers" are now thin on the ground. Yet the use of physical chastisement remains widespread. One response to this contradiction is to focus less on parents and more on children's rights. In this article, however, the authors…

This booklet explores an issue that has only recently begun to receive widespread public attention: the mistreatment or neglect of elderly people within the home. What is known about mistreatment of the elderly by their families or by persons within their households is discussed in this document. It also explores what can be done about it, both in…

This study investigated maternal emotion socialization in physically maltreating and nonmaltreating mother-child dyads (N = 63 dyads) to examine the relation between maternal support in response to children's emotional displays and children's psychological adjustment (i.e., internalizing and externalizing behavior problems). Child participants…

There is no one style of parenting which characterizes young mothers as a group. In addition, life circumstances play an important role in shaping maternal behaviour. The aim of this study was to identify patterns of maternal play behaviour and contextual (social and personal) factors associated with these different patterns. In this study, 107…

Survey information shows that sexual abuse of children is widespread, being reported by 19% of the females and 9% of the males in the sample. Most sexual victimization took place within the child's family, not with strangers, as "child molesters" have traditionally been stereotyped. While the problem cuts across social and economic lines, it seems…

With the exception of intra-family murder and child abuse, there has been very little research on violence between family members. However, preliminary results of this study indicate that even at age 17 and 18, 62 percent of siblings had hit each other during the previous 12-month period. Also, physical fights between husband and wife have…

A study of 10 high-risk (of child physical abuse) and 10 demographically similar low-risk Spanish mother-child dyads investigated interactional patterns in the home. High-risk mothers made fewer neutral approaches to their children, displayed more negative behaviors toward their children, and made more indiscriminate responses to their children's…

Study of college undergraduates (N=267) examined the relationship between corporal punishment inflicted by parents and perpetration of animal abuse. Analyses showed that the association between fathers' corporal punishment and sons' childhood animal cruelty persisted after controlling for child abuse, father-to-mother violence, and father's…

Examines the effects of different types of domestic violence on adolescent adjustment. High school students (n=935) participated in this study. Results revealed the amounts of parent-child violence and interparental violence witnessed were significant predictors of both externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Significant effects were…

Mother-child play of 12-month-old infants (N = 130) from maltreating (N = 78) and nonmaltreating (N = 52) families was analyzed as a context that integrates infants' developing social and cognitive skills. Play was coded from semistructured and unstructured play paradigms. No group differences were found in infants' play maturity. Infants from…