Deborah Fish Ragin

Domestic Violence Survivors' Self-Identified Reasons for Returning to Abusive Relationships

The present study examines self-identified reasons for returning to abusive relationships. Ninety female residents of an urban domestic violence shelter completed structured interviews that included questions about their previous attempts to separate from the batterer and their perceived likelihood of returning in the future. The results indicated that participants appeared to underestimate their likelihood of returning to the relationship. A particularly intriguing pattern of findings emerged with respect to emotional attachment. Compared to those leaving for the first time, participants with a history of past separations were significantly more likely to indicate that they might return to the batterer because of their continued attachment. Emotional attachment also had a high rate of repeat endorsement, indicating that those who considered returning because of their attachment to the batterer were significantly more likely to have done so for this reason in the past. Clinical implications of the findings will be discussed.

Reasons for returning to abusive relationships : Effects of prior victimization

Studies have demonstrated that women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are at increased risk of revictimization, but research has not yet examined whether a history of CSA may affect patterns of remaining in or returning to abusive relationships in adulthood. This study examines the impact of a CSA history on decisions to return to abusive relationships in a sample of 104 adult domestic violence survivors. Participants were interviewed about the number of times that they had previously separated from and returned to their abusive partner, the factors that influenced their decision to return (both psychological/internal and environmental/external factors), and their perceived likelihood of returning in the future. As predicted, CSA survivors (n = 34) reported a significantly greater number of past separations than non-CSA survivors (n = 70). CSA survivors were also significantly more likely to report that their decisions to return were influenced by emotional attachment to the batterer. CSA survivors did not perceive themselves to be at greater risk of returning in the future, suggesting that they may be more likely to underestimate their vulnerability to returning to the battering relationship. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

The role of community consultation in the ethical conduct of research without consent.

In 1996, the federal government finalized regulations that permit certain types of emergency research without obtaining prospective informed consent from participants or their surrogates (U.S. Food...

Intergenerational Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence as Familial Risk Factors for Lifetime Attempted Suicide Among Battered Women

This study examines the impact of two factors, intergenerational substance abuse and exposureto domestic violence, on the lifetime attempted suicide histories of adult, minority, batteredwomen residing in a domestic violence shelter. A total of 122 women, mostly African Americanand Latina, were interviewed to obtain their retrospective reports of the frequency and use ofsubstances and on the incidences of domestic violence among their immediate (first-degree) andextended (second-degree) family members. Results revealed that battered women with a historyof suicide attempts (n = 45) were more likely to report substance abuse among both first-degree(specifically fathers) and second-degree relatives than were women without such suicide attempthistories (n = 77). Attempters were also more likely to report witnessing the physical abuse oftheir mothers. The multiple impacts of the extended family are discussed in light of thesefindings.

Shocking a community into action: a social marketing approach to cardiac arrests.

Abstract Social marketing techniques have enhanced the success of programs designed to improve the health outcomes of individuals or communities when adopting new health behaviors. Current research suggests, however, that behavior change models, when added to social marketing techniques, could result in even greater success in changing health behaviors and health outcomes. This retrospective analysis of the results of a Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) Trial, designed to improve a communitys response to cardiac arrest, tests this proposition. Data from one of the 24 participating PAD Trial sites were analyzed and interpreted from a social marketing and behavior change model perspective, to assess the success in changing a communitys response to cardiac arrest victims in 61 residential buildings that participated in the PAD Trial in New York City (NYC). The findings suggest that to improve the success of community-based, emergency response systems to cardiac arrest victims, health programs must first assess the communitys awareness of the health problem and their willingness to change behaviors before designing and implementing social marketing programs for health behavior change.