Marianne R. Yoshioka

Social Support and Disclosure of Abuse: Comparing South Asian, African American, and Hispanic Battered Women

Sixty-two battered women who had accessed domestic violence services were asked to whom they disclosed the partner abuse, the responses they received, and how supported they felt by kin and nonkin network members. The findings showed that older women and those who had resided in the United States longer were more likely to make disclosures to kin members. Older women, those who had higher levels of perceived social support, and those who reported lower frequency of physical violence were more likely to disclose to nonkin members. The findings suggest that those women experiencing more severe abuse may be the least likely to disclose to others. As a group, the South Asian women were older and more educated, and greater proportions were or had been married to the abuser. In contrast to the other groups, a greater proportion reported having been burned or scalded and fewer reported being sexually coerced. In greater proportions, they disclosed the abuse to brothers and fathers and were advised to stay in their marriages. Service providers working with minority battered women must be knowledgeable of cross-cultural differences in the experience of abuse and disclosure patterns. Culturally appropriate and aggressive outreach within specific ethnic communities may be required to reach battered women in the community. Service providers must consider working with members of womens informal support network to provide both emotional and instrumental support.

Disclosure of HIV Status: Cultural Issues of Asian Patients

Disclosure of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status is a difficult emotional task creating opportunities for both support and rejection. For Asian patients there may be additional self-imposed barriers to disclosure that are rooted in cultural values. The purpose of this article is to describe how Asian cultural values of harmony and avoidance of conflict affect the disclosure experiences of HIV-positive Asian American and immigrants. Effective practice guidelines have been developed based on this information. Based on in-depth interviews with 16 HIV-positive Asian men, three focal issues were identified that serve as barriers to disclosure to family members: protection of family from shame, protection of family from obligation to help, and avoidance of communication regarding highly personal information. Additionally, patients felt disclosure was inhibited by the lack of HIV education to which families living overseas may have access. This is compounded by their lack of access to translated materials that they could send to family members. Similar to past disclosure research with non-Asian samples, the findings suggest that gay Asian men seek emotional support from gay friends. They would consider disclosing to relatives only when health reasons necessitated it. It is essential that helping professionals be attentive to the dishonor that patients may experience through disclosure and the stigma associated with being gay. Patients who are considering making a disclosure may need assistance with thinking through ways to provide HIV/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) education to those family members that have little knowledge in this area. This may include translating or locating informational brochures translated into the familys language.

Attitudes Toward Marital Violence: An Examination of Four Asian Communities

This article examines wife abuse attitudes among a sample of 507 Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Cambodian adults living in the United States. The findings show that 24% to 36% of the sample agreed that violence is justified in certain situations such as a wifes sexual infidelity, her nagging, or her refusal to cook or clean. Southeast Asian respondents were more supportive of attitudes supporting male privilege and of the use of violence in specific situations in comparison with the East Asian respondents. Korean respondents were unique in their relatively weak endorsements of violence in contrast to the remaining three groups studied.

Culture and Interpersonal Violence Research Paradigm Shift to Create a Full Continuum of Domestic Violence Services

This article addresses the importance of culture within the context of domestic violence. It takes the position that to work more effectively with diverse cultural groups, the development of a full continuum of services that includes eliminating the violence and keeping families together is required. The authors believe that intervention models developed in the fields of HIV/AIDS may provide important examples for future work.

Early Exposure to Violence in the Family of Origin and Positive Attitudes towards Marital Violence: Chinese Immigrant Male Batterers vs. Controls

This study examined self-reported early exposure to violence in the family of origin and positive attitudes towards marital violence as risk factors in court-referred Chinese immigrant male batterers (N = 64) versus controls (N = 62). Early exposure to violence was positively correlated with marital violence, but it alone did not differentiate the batterers from the controls, as both groups were widely exposed to it. While it was significantly correlated with marital violence in the batterer group, it was significantly correlated with depression in the control group. Positive attitudes towards marital violence were not only correlated with marital violence but also sufficient to differentiate the batterers from the controls. It also partially mediated the effect of early exposure to violence on marital violence. These two risk factors together accounted for 21.9% of the variance in marital violence over and above sociodemographic variables and marital dissatisfaction. Research and treatment implications based on these findings were outlined.

Nagging and other drinking control efforts of spouses of uncooperative alcohol abusers: Assessment and modification ☆

This article presents a conception of spouse drinking control and an approach to assessment and modification to reduce the customary drinking control efforts of spouses of alcohol abusers unmotivated to enter treatment. Modification of the nonalcoholic spouses customary drinking control is offered as an important early step in helping to prepare him or her to become a positive rehabilitative influence. Based on its use in unilateral family therapy with 68 spouses of uncooperative alcohol abusers, procedural guidelines, criteria for use, and two case examples from a crossover experimental dyad are described. Also presented are clinical results illustrating the success of the program, benefits and conditions relating to its use, and areas of possible application.

Unilateral relationship enhancement in the treatment of spouses of uncooperative alcohol abusers

Abstract This article presents the conceptualization of unilateral relationship enhancement (URE) and a URE treatment program developed for use with the spouses of alcohol abusers unmotivated to enter treatment. Enhancing the marital relationship through a unilateral program is described as an important step in the preparation of the spouse to function as a positive rehabilitative influence with his or her alcohol-abusing partner. This article presents the part URE plays within a unilateral family therapy for alcohol abuse, procedural guidelines and criteria for use, a case example, clinical results based on some 68 spouses of uncooperative alcohol abusers, benefits and limitations, and other areas of possible application.

Spouse Interventive Confrontations in Unilateral Family Therapy for Alcohol Abuse

Edwin J. Thomas is Fedele F. Fauri Professor of Social Work, Professor of Psychology, and Director, Marital Treatment Project, and Marianne R. Yoshioka is social worker, Marital Treatment Project, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. This research was supported in part by Grants R01 AA4163-03 and 5 R01 AA4163-05, National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Edwin J. Thomas, Principal Investigator. The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Denise Bronson, Cathleen Santa, Joanne Yaffe, and Daphna Oyserman in the pilot phase of the research and of Richard Ager, Kathryn Betts Adam, and David Moxley in the current evaluation phase.

Substantive Differences in the Assertiveness of Low-Income African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian Women

Abstract A sample of 115 low-income African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian women participated in 6 assertiveness role plays. A content analysis of their responses indicated that there are substantive differences in terms of what constitutes passive, assertive, and aggressive responses. The findings suggest that there are basic conceptual differences across the groups regarding connections and obligations to others. Differences in perceptions of assertiveness point to the culturally specific nature of assertiveness. Functionally, each group of women was able to stand up for themselves, yet boundaries between appropriate and inappropriate responding were placed somewhat differently across groups, depending on the situation.

Spouse enabling of alcohol abuse: conception, assessment, and modification.

This article presents a conception of spouse enabling of partner alcohol abuse, a review of its dysfunctions, and an approach to assessment and modification to reduce spouse enabling behavior. Based on experience with its use in unilateral family therapy with many spouses of treatment-refusing alcohol abusers, procedural guidelines, treatment methods, two case examples from a crossover experimental dyad, and clinical results for the two cases in the dyad are described. Also presented are practice issues, characteristics of spouse enabling as they relate to disenabling intervention, and areas of possible application of the disenabling program.