Alan Rosenbaum

CHILDREN: THE UNINTENDED VICTIMS OF MARITAL VIOLENCE

This paper attempts to investigate the effects of wife-battering on children. Current behavior problems of the children are examined and potential long-term consequences are evaluated through retrospective examination of the abusive husband. Findings suggest that both present and future behavior may be adversely affected by childhood exposure to domestic violence.

CHILDREN OF MARITAL VIOLENCE: A Closer Look at the Unintended Victims

The impact of marital violence on male children was assessed via data provided by mothers in three groups: maritally abused; nonviolent, maritally discordant; and satisfactorily married. Both marital violence and nonviolent marital discord were found to be related to behavioral and emotional problems in the witnessing children. Frequency of exposure to both discord and violence and punitive maternal parenting style were also shown to have differential negative effects.

The Effects of Parental Marital Violence on Young Adults: An Exploratory Investigation.

There is some evidence that both marital discord and marital violence have deleterious effects on the emotional health of witnessing children. Little attention has been paid to the effects of such turmoil on young adults, despite some evidence that negative effects may persist into adulthood. Standardized self-report measures of aggression, depression, and anxiety were administered to three groups of college students: (a) those who had viewed parental violence (n = 44); (b) those who had viewed nonviolent discord (n = 43); and (c) those whose parents were satisfactorily married (n = 77). Students who themselves had been abused by their parents were excluded. Results indicated that students who had viewed parental marital violence were significantly more anxious than those from satisfactory relationships, and that women who had viewed violence were more depressed and more aggressive than women in either of the comparison groups. Methodological and theoretical implications of these significant findings are discussed.

Research Issues Concerning Family Violence

After decades of professional inattention and neglect, the area of family violence has received substantial publicity in recent years, and more research is being conducted now than ever before. Several factors have contributed both to the inattention and to the burgeoning interest. Researchers in this area come from a variety of disciplines, including psychology, sociology, criminology, medicine, law, and others. Communication between these fields has been inadequate, conceptual schemata and research strategies are often divergent, and there is sometimes competition between the professions. As a consequence, numerous inconsistencies in methodology, results, and interpretation have emerged, and these contribute to the confusion regarding the etiology and demography of family violence.

Of men, macho, and marital violence

Recent evidence suggests that there may be a relationship between marital satisfaction and the sex role identities of the couple. Specifically, couples in which the husband is either feminine or androgynous appear to be happier. Conversely, couples in which the husband is classified as undifferentiated are apparently more dissatisfied. There is some evidence, as well as theoretical speculation, that abusive husbands may be low in femininity, less likely to be classified as androgynous, and more likely to be classified as undifferentiated. This investigation compared the sex role identification of abusive husbands to that of comparison samples of both discordant, and satisfied, nonviolent husbands. The results indicated that batterers were lower in masculinity, less likely to be classified as androgynous, and more likely to be classified as undifferentiated than husbands in either of the comparison groups. Lack of differentiation between the two nonviolent groups suggests the possibility that findings of previous investigations supportive of a relationship between sex role identity and discord, in general, might be artifactual. The theoretical and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.

Relationship Aggression Between Partners

Relationship aggression is known by many names; battering, domestic violence, spouse abuse, dating aggression, and marital violence are the most common. Regardless of how it is named, it refers to aggression between partners involved in an intimate relationship. Although it is frequently attributed to the power differential between men and women, there is sufficient evidence that it occurs in same-sex relationships, both male and female. We also know that female to male aggression is as common as male to female aggression (O’Leary et al., 1989; Straus & Celles, 1986) although it has been convincingly argued that the meaning of female to male aggression is different and the consequences less damaging. This chapter is concerned with aggression by males toward females in the context of intimate heterosexual relationships.

Family Violence-Adult·

Over the past 20 years family violence* has been identified as one of the nation’s largest health problems. Child, spouse, and elder abuse have become the concern of police, judges, legislators, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers. Although legislators have responded to the public’s concern about some forms of domestic violence with mandated reporting laws and by imposing stiffer consequences for perpetrators, social service and mental health systems (i.e., hospitals, clinics, and private practices) have shouldered much of the burden of dealing with this problem. Consequently, it is important that clinicians become familiar with the psychiatric characteristics of those individuals involved, and with the interventions used to treat this problem.