Jonel Thaller

The Average Predictive Validity of Intimate Partner Violence Risk Assessment Instruments

The field of intimate partner violence (IPV) risk assessment (predicting recidivism, lethality) is fast growing, and the majority of research examining the predictive validity of IPV risk assessment instruments has been conducted in the past decade. This study examines the average predictive validity weighted by sample size of five stand alone IPV risk assessment instruments that have been validated in multiple research studies using the Receiver Operating Characteristic Area Under the Curve (AUC). The Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment (ODARA) has the highest average weighted AUC (=.666, k=5) followed, in order of most to least predictive, by the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment (SARA; AUC=.628, k=6), the Danger Assessment (DA; AUC=.618, k=4), the Domestic Violence Screening Inventory (DVSI; AUC=.582, k=3), and the Kingston Screening Instrument for Domestic Violence (K-SID; AUC=.537, k=2). The effect size for the average AUCs for IPV risk assessment instruments is small, with the exception of a medium effect size for the ODARA. Of the 20 measures of predictive validity included in this analysis, the risk assessment was administered correctly in nine (45%). IPV risk assessment is relatively new, and the use of proxy instruments and utilization of risk assessment instruments in settings for which they were not created is widespread. While waiting for a more rigorous body of research, factors in addition to predictive validity must be taken into consideration (e.g., setting, outcome, skills of the assessor, access to information) when choosing which risk assessment instrument is appropriate for use in a particular practice setting.

Survivor Feedback on a Safety Decision Aid Smartphone Application for College-Age Women in Abusive Relationships

College-age women are at high risk for dating violence and tend to seek services at rates lower than older adults. Young women are more likely to look to their peers or to technology as a forum for accessing safety resources. This study explores a prototype smart phone application (“app”) that is a safety decision aid for female survivors of dating violence. The app is intended to assist young women to assess the danger in their abusive relationship, set priorities for safety, and develop a personalized safety plan. Through focus group sessions and individual interviews, 38 female college students in 4 states (Arizona, Maryland, Missouri, and Oregon) who self-identified as survivors of abusive relationships reviewed and provided feedback on the usefulness, understandability, appropriateness, and comprehensiveness of the app. The focus group sessions and interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Participants were positive about the potential of the app to provide personalized information about abusive dating relationships and appropriate resources in a private, safe, and nonjudgmental manner. Detailed feedback from survivors and recommendations for further development of the app are discussed.

Experiences of Online Harassment Among Emerging Adults Emotional Reactions and the Mediating Role of Fear

Online harassment is a growing problem. Among college students, 43% report some experience receiving harassing messages. Previous research has shown negative online experiences to be typical among “emerging adults” (especially college students), and these incidents may be related to normative developmental behaviors, such as “on-again-off-again” romantic relationships. Study hypotheses were derived from previous research. Undergraduate student respondents (N = 342) were surveyed about their experiences with online harassment, emotional responses to online harassment, and their relationship with the sender of harassing messages. Findings suggest that online harassment is linked to issues of intimate partner violence. Those who were harassed by a partner reported feelings of depression and anxiety. Using a gendered framework to explore online harassment is warranted because young women who are 18 to 29 years of age have higher rates of intimate partner violence than other demographic groups. Findings suggest future research is needed to understand the time ordering of these issues.

(Mis)perceptions around intimate partner violence in the music video and lyrics for "love the way you lie"

This paper utilizes content analysis to deconstruct depictions of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the music video and lyrics for Eminems hit single featuring Rihanna, “Love the Way You Lie,” using a composite of six common myth-based beliefs around IPV. Findings indicate that the myths espoused within the music video and lyrics directly and indirectly blame the victim and minimize IPV. There is a need to critically analyze depictions of IPV in the media, as consumers may refer to these representations in order to place their own experiences into context.

Baby culture and the curriculum of consumption: a critical reading of the film Babies

We focus on the recently emerging ‘baby culture’ that is fostering a curriculum of consumption and consumerism among parents-to-be and infants aged zero-to-three. To gain insight into how the cultural artifacts, practices, and trends emerging from this demographic are shaping the way we think and act in a consumer culture, we investigate Babies, a popular documentary film by French director Thomas Balmes, who spent nearly two years following the lives of four babies from Namibia, Mongolia, Japan, and the USA. We identified a metanarrative positing the civilising nature of consumption; this metanarrative was exhibited through two main themes: colonising images and ‘civilised’ cleanliness. These themes reinforce assumptions of a thriving or readily emerging baby culture in the featured consumer economy nations as contrasted with what could be read as the ‘uncivilised’ approach to parenting and child development portrayed by the film in developing countries. We argue that the film perpetuates an obsession with a baby culture defined by consumerism as it simultaneously reproduces colonialist depictions of the ‘other’. We posit that audiences in industrialised countries who view this film participate in ‘cinematic tourism’ and thus become implicated in what Willinksy calls ‘imperialism’s educational project’.

The Girl Is Mine Reframing Intimate Partner Violence and Sex Work as Intersectional Spaces of Gender-Based Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and sex work have been primarily constructed as mutually exclusive phenomena within scholarly literature, though both can be situated under the umbrella of gender-based violence and traced to male sexual proprietariness. Specialized research has resulted in deeper understanding of nuanced categorizations of sub-phenomena within both IPV and sex work, with parallel constructions along a spectrum of increasing danger. However, the scholarly construction of these continua as parallel—and thus unrelated—disguises the systemic nature of each form of violence and potentially pits victims against each other in the struggle for legitimacy. We propose a more systemic approach to understanding and researching IPV and sex work and provide examples of research already moving in this direction.