Journal of Family Violence最新文献

Purpose

In this Brief Report, we prospectively examined associations between intimate partner violence (IPV) experiences early in the COVID-19 pandemic with later depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and modifiable health factors, among men.

Methods

Using observational data from 1,083 men in the United States from the Growing Up Today Study who participated in a 2020–2021 COVID-19 substudy, we examined associations between IPV exposure and health outcomes later in the pandemic: depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress symptoms, sleep duration, reduced sleep quality, decreased physical activity, increased alcohol use, and use of substances to cope with stress.

Results

IPV exposure was associated with increased mental health symptoms (OR_depression = 1.56 [1.36, 1.80], OR_anxiety = 1.30 [1.15, 1.47], OR_PTSS = 1.28 [1.14, 1.45]). Associations between IPV exposure and modifiable health factors were mixed, weak associations were observed for poorer sleep quality (OR = 1.23 [1.08, 1.41]) and increased use of substances to cope stress (OR = 1.19 [1.04, 1.36]).

Conclusions

The health impacts of IPV victimization on men are understudied. In times of collective stress, IPV screening is needed and increased awareness that men seeking help for mental health symptoms, sleep, or substance use may have exposure to IPV.

Purpose

This article addresses a gap in empirical knowledge on post-separation contact in the context of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) for children with disabilities. The intersection of disability and DVA is explored through the mother’s perspective and brings to the fore the unique experiences of children with disabilities in the post-separation contact space.

Methods

Known to be a difficult to reach population, the experience of disabled children were captured through in-depth qualitative interviews with a sample of eight victim/survivor mothers. Mothers were recruited through gatekeepers from a voluntary children’s organization and specialist DVA services. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was the most common disability occurring in the sample.

Results

Three major themes relating to the disabled child’s experience were identified: (i) Courts’ (lack of) consideration of children’s disability in post-separation child contact decision-making; (ii) Disruption to routine; and (iii) Quality of contact. Participating mothers reported that these experiences caused serious emotional distress for the children; distress that was heightened and compounded by their disability status.

Conclusion

Applying an intersectional lens to the experiences of children with a disability who live with DVA, this study simultaneously illuminates children’s vulnerability and marginalization in this context, whilst also identifying gaps in policy and practice responses to identify and address the individual needs of these children. Lastly, given the nascent evidence base on this topic, research which directly elicits the voice of the child is urgently needed.

Purpose

Although the intimate partner violence (IPV) help-seeking literature has expanded, limited research examines help-seeking patterns utilizing a broad range of strategies. We examined classes of help-seeking strategies using the Intimate Partner Violence Strategy Index, which includes 39 help-seeking strategies in six categories: formal (e.g., stayed in shelter, called a hotline) and informal networks (e.g., talked to family, friends), legal assistance (e.g., called police, filed charges), safety planning behaviors (e.g., hid money or keys), and resistance (e.g., fought back, ended the relationship) and placating (e.g., tried to keep things quiet, avoided him) tactics.

Methods

The sample included 150 women who experienced IPV and sought civil legal services. We used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify strategy use classes and examined differences in class membership by sociodemographics and IPV experiences.

Results

The LCA identified four classes: High Strategy Use (36% of the sample), Moderate Strategy Use-Resistance Focused (25%), Moderate Strategy Use-Placating Focused (25%), and Low Strategy Use (14%). Women in the High Strategy Use class used an average of 27.35 strategies across all six categories. Women in each Moderate Use class reported high strategy use in one category (i.e., resistance or placating). Women in the Low Strategy Use class used an average of 11.67 strategies with very few safety planning strategies. Class membership was not associated with sociodemographic variables. Women in the High Use Strategy class reported the most frequent and severe IPV.

Conclusions

Examining help-seeking patterns provides comprehensive views of how women cope with violence and can yield tailored interventions.

Purpose

This qualitative study explored Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in the Israeli Jewish Ultra-Orthodox (JUO) community to better understand the cultural and religious risk factors and features underlying IPV in this under-researched sector.

Method

Semi-structured interviews implementing the Clinical Ethnographic Narrative Interviews approach were conducted with 15 JUO women currently living with or separated/divorced from their abusive partners who were victims of IPV. The interviews were analyzed using the Interpretive Phenomenological approach.

Results

Two key themes emerged from the analysis. The first theme involves the normalization and exacerbation of violence due to specific religious and societal norms that perpetuate silence and stigma. Factors such as early marriage, religious beliefs about the sanctity of marriage, disadvantaged childhood experiences, and distorted religious justifications contributed to the victims’ vulnerability and hindered their ability to seek help.

The second theme is related to the specific features of the abuse. It covers a range of tactics employed by husbands, including financial oppression, social isolation, physical violence, and manipulation during pregnancy, all based on and justified by distorted religious concepts.

Conclusions

Though aspects of intergenerational abuse and control tactics to aggravate violence are common universal strategies in IPV, the findings here underscore the interplay between religious practices and societal expectations within the JUO community that contribute to the perpetration and perpetuation of IPV. These findings contribute to a better understanding of IPV in religious and traditional contexts and highlight the importance of tailoring interventions to address the needs of specific collectivistic and religious-based societies.

Purpose

To investigate massage therapists’ attitudes, consultation processes, and confidence to respond to situations involving domestic and family violence (DFV) in clinical practice.

Methods

An online survey-based study was conducted and Australian massage therapists, 18 years of age or over were recruited. The survey included 64 questions in 3 sections: 1) Demographics, 2) Recognize Family and Domestic Violence, and 3) Respond to domestic and family violence with 4 subsections; i) disclosures, ii) referrals, iii) further education, and iv) final comments.

Results

Two-hundred and seventeen respondents were included in the analysis. Knowledge about DFV, having a client disclose DFV and confidence to manage a disclosure, were all significantly higher with massage therapists with a personal experience of DFV. The main qualitative theme was antithetical attitudes with two subthemes: a) not in my world: I’d be enormously surprised that a person in an abusive environment would come in for a massage, b) in my world: I want to be prepared.

Conclusion

Having personal experience of DFV significantly impacted the way that respondents felt about and managed DFV in their clinic. Several massage therapists’ who had no personal experience of DFV demonstrated a lack of knowledge about DFV and less confidence to respond to it in their clinic. It is important to upskill and educate massage therapists, particularly those with no personal experience, to improve their confidence to have discussions around DFV and to respond to DFV disclosures.

Purpose

In this cohort analyses, we sought to estimate the longer-term efficacy of a high-school based bystander intervention to reduce gender-based violence (GBV) into young adulthood.

Methods

Seniors were recruited from 23 of 26 high schools that participated in the original RCT (2010–2014) designed to test the effectiveness of a bystander intervention to reduce GBV. Of 3,389 high school seniors who completed an electronic survey in their last term, 1,986 complete at least one annual follow up survey through 2018 (58.6% retention). Receipt of bystander training was defined based on (1) the high school the participant attended (‘as randomized’ in the original RCT) and (2) participants’ report of additional bystander training received after high school (‘as reported’). The primary GBV outcomes were sexual violence perpetration and victimization rates (%) for the past 12 months.

Results

Only at the final follow up were significant reductions in sexual violence perpetration (SVP) noted for the ‘as randomized’ analyses. Self-reported SVP rates were 38% lower (adjusted rate ratio = 0.62; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.48–0.81) among 1,107 participants who had attended schools randomized to the bystander intervention (SVP = 2.1%: 95% CI; 1.6–2.9) relative to 877 participants who had attended control schools (SVP = 3.4%; 95% CI: 3.0-3.9). Receipt of additional bystander training after high school was not associated with lower rates of any GBV form when compared with participants receiving no bystander training in or after high school.

Conclusions

Bystander training was not consistently associated with longer-term reductions in GBV perpetration nor victimization in this prospective cohort study based on a large school-based RCT.

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) can have detrimental consequences, including later IPV victimization for children exposed to IPV.

Purpose

This study, using a dyadic design, investigates the mediating role of emerging adults’ childhood exposure to IPV in the association between their mothers’ childhood exposure to IPV and their own experience of physical injury in intimate relationships, as well as the moderating role of mother’s psychological distress in these associations.

Methods

Mothers (36–66 y.o.) and emerging adults (18–25 y.o.) completed online questionnaires (N = 186 dyads).

Results

Results showed that maternal exposure to IPV in childhood was indirectly associated with emerging adults’ experiences of physical injury in intimate relationships through emerging adults’ childhood exposure to IPV, and that the association between mothers’ and emerging adults’ childhood exposures to IPV was only significant at high levels of maternal distress.

Conclusions

Accessible services to support the mental health of survivors of childhood exposure to IPV may be promising in breaking intergenerational cycles of IPV.

Purpose

To evaluate a cutoff score for the Healing after Gender-based Violence Scale (GBV-Heal)—an instrument to assess recovery progress for survivors of GBV.

Methods

We surveyed 321 women-identifying GBV survivors living in the Midwestern United States from April to December 2022 to evaluate their mental health symptom burden, trauma coping self-efficacy, sense of meaning, healing progress, and recovery stage. We used Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis to determine the best cutoff score for the GBV-Heal.

Results

We found a cutoff point of 64 for the GBV-Heal. Those above this cutoff point were found to have significantly lower PTSD and depression symptoms and significantly higher trauma coping self-efficacy and sense of meaning compared to those below the cutoff point.

Conclusions

The GBV-Heal cutoff score can help practitioners recognize survivors needing additional support or resources as they navigate their healing journey. The use of this scale can promote tailored care for survivors seeking healing support in a variety of public health sectors.

Purpose

This study aimed to examine the mediating role of awareness, cognitive flexibility, positive attitude towards the future, and social support in the relationship between perceived abuse and resilience in women.

Method

The researchers used structural equation modelling to test whether internal protective factors such as mindfulness, cognitive flexibility, positive attitudes towards the future, and external protective factors such as perceived social support from family and friends play a role as protective factors in the effect of abuse women perceive in their romantic relationships on their resilience. Within the scope of this research, data were collected by purposive sampling method from 818 women aged 18 and over who are currently in a romantic relationship.

Results

The findings of this study revealed that the hypothetical model established based on the literature was not rejected [χ² / df = 4,400; RMSEA = 0.065; SRMR: 057; CFI = 0.951; NFI =, 938; TLI / NNFI = 0.925; GFI = 0.964; AGFI = 0.935]. Besides, it has been found that internal and external protective factors together explain 52% of the change in resilience.

Conclusions

The mediating role of the internal and external protective factors in the model revealed that they play a crucial role in the process of developing resilience among women. The findings obtained from the research were discussed within the scope of the related literature and suggestions were presented to researchers and those working in the practice field for further studies.

Purpose

Given the danger that guns pose in the context of domestic violence, significant attention has been given to interventions that mitigate risk for lethality. To better understand the implementation of domestic violence gun laws and perceived dynamics of these laws, we conducted in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in two states that differ in culture, politics, and legislation.

Method

Using a key informant approach, we interviewed a sample of Texas professionals (n = 27) about their perceptions of the traditional domestic violence protective order (DVPO) gun law and a sample of New Jersey professionals (n = 8) about their perceptions of an extreme risk protective order (ERPO) that prohibits “high risk” respondents from purchasing or owning guns. We analyzed the content of the 35 interviews using conventional content analysis.

Results

The perceived efficacy of both gun laws was tied to the amount and strength of other existing legislation in each state. Additionally, in the absence of strong state legislation and political will to enforce DVPO gun laws, local communities must develop strategies to overcome barriers of nonenforcement such as compliance hearings and ensuring DVPO respondents fully comprehend the gun prohibition. Finally, the relevance and potential unintended negative consequences of ERPO laws in the context of domestic violence need further empirical investigation.

Conclusions

These results may inform states and communities in their efforts to develop polices to enforce gun restrictions for abusers and increase public safety given the intersection of domestic violence and mass shootings. Further, high risk teams may act as a natural catalyst to discuss domestic violence gun prohibitions in resistant communities.