Michele Cascardi

Marital aggression. Impact, injury, and health correlates for husbands and wives.

The overall aim of the current study was to comprehensively evaluate the prevalence, impact, and health correlates of marital aggression in a clinical sample of maritally discordant couples seeking psychological treatment. Participants were 93 consecutively presenting clinic couples and 16 maritally satisfied matched control couples from the community. Overall, 71% of clinic couples reported at least one act of marital aggression during the past year. Although 86% of the aggression reported was reciprocal between husbands and wives, impact and injuries sustained as a function of this aggression differed between husbands and wives. Specifically, wives were more likely than husbands to be negatively affected and to sustain severe injuries (eg, broken bones, broken teeth, or injury to sensory organs). Additionally, wives who experienced marital aggression reported clinical levels of depressive symptomatology. Recommendations are offered and risk markers are identified to improve detection by physicians of patients who may be involved in violent marriages.

Depressive Symptomatology, Self-Esteem, and Self-Blame in Battered Women

Thirty three currently battered women who sought counseling/support services from a Nassau County, New York community agency that provides services to victims of domestic violence participated. Eighty-nine percent of the women experienced severe acts of physical abuse and 31% of the women required surgery or suffered concussions as a result of their injuries. Fifty-two percent of the women scored above 20 on the Beck Depression Inventory. As the number, form, and consequences of physically aggressive acts increased and/or worsened, the womens depressive symptoms increased and self-esteem decreased. However, only 12% of the women in this sample blamed themselves for causing their partners violence. Further, neither self-blame nor partner blame was associated with length of abuse or the frequency and severity of physical aggression. However, self-blame was marginally associated with depressive symptomatology.

Efficacy of a dating violence prevention program on attitudes justifying aggression

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate a five-session dating violence prevention curriculum in terms of its effect on attitudes justifying the use of dating violence. METHODS The curriculum was implemented in all health classes in a Long Island, New York, school. A total of 193 students participated (boys, n = 106; girls, n = 87). A quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate change in attitudes justifying dating violence, with health classes randomly assigned to the treatment or no-treatment conditions. RESULTS Pre- to postprogram assessments indicated that there were significant decreases in overall attitudes justifying the use of dating violence as a means to resolve conflict among students exposed to the curriculum material, whereas those who were not exposed did not show attitude change from pre- to postprogram evaluation. CONCLUSIONS The curriculum shows promise as an effective tool for changing attitudes condoning dating violence. Future research is needed to determine whether the observed attitude change is also linked to reduction in aggressive behaviors.

Co-occurrence and Correlates of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depression in Physically Abused Women

Ninety two women presenting for treatment for marital problems and who were physically victimized by their spouses (e.g., pushing, shoving, punching) within the past year participated in this study. There were three study objectives: (1) document rates and co-occurrence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), (2) identify predictors of PTSD and depression symptom frequency/severity, and (3) systematically evaluate disorder-specific group differences in marital- and marital violence-related factors. Within the month prior to assessment, 29.8% of the sample met diagnostic criteria for PTSD and 32% for MDD. MDD and PTSD were significantly, but moderately, correlated at both the symptom and diagnosis levels. However, PTSD symptom frequency and depression symptom severity were predicted by different marital- and marital violence-related factors. PTSD symptoms were predicted by spouses dominance/isolation tactics and intensity of husband-to-wife physical aggression while depressive symptoms were predicted by marital discord and intensity of husband-to-wife physical aggression. Comorbid women and those with PTSD only reported significantly more spousal fear and husband-to-wife physical aggression than those with MDD only or neither disorder. No group differences were found on rate of marital discord or spouses controlling/isolating tactics. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical and treatment implications for abused women seeking treatment for marital conflict.

Gender Differences in Dating Aggression Among Multiethnic High School Students

PURPOSE (1) To assess prevalence of physical dating aggression and victimization among high school students; (2) to assess prevalence of mutual and exclusive aggression; (3) to determine whether aggression differs across ethnic groups and relationship type; and (4) to ascertain the likelihood of injury and breakup in individuals who reported that they were the recipients of physical aggression. METHODS Students (N = 2363) from seven multiethnic high schools participated. Because males in high school date females younger than they and the reverse for females, and because males and females may underreport aggression, only within gender comparisons were conducted. RESULTS More females reported engaging in physical aggression (40%) than reported being victims of aggression (30%). Fewer males reported engaging in physical aggression (24%) than reported being victims of physical aggression (31%). If physical aggression occurred, typically both partners were aggressive. For females, exclusive engagement in physical aggression (perpetration) was reported at higher rates than exclusively being the recipient of physical aggression (victimization) and vice versa for males. Dating aggression was less prevalent among male Asian students than other ethnic groups. Engaged males and females reported the highest rates of physical aggression. Injury was reported by over 25% of males and females who reported being the recipients of physical aggression. CONCLUSIONS Dating aggression intervention programs should address physical aggression of both males and females. Because approximately 30% of the high school males and females reported being the recipients of physical aggression by their partners, primary prevention efforts should occur before high school.

Characteristics of Women Physically Abused by Their Spouses and Who Seek Treatment Regarding Marital Conflict

Physically abused women seeking treatment for marital difficulties (abused women, n = 49) were compared with maritally discordant, nonabused women (discordant only, n = 23) and maritally satisfied nonabused women (community control, n = 25). Abused women reported significantly more fear of their spouses and reported that their spouses were significantly more coercive and psychologically aggressive than women in the 2 matched nonabused groups. Abused women did not report higher rates of abuse as a child, nor did they report higher rates of past psychopathology than women in the nonabused groups. However, abused women and nonabused discordant women reported higher rates of emotional abuse in childhood than maritally satisfied nonabused women. Furthermore, both clinical groups had a tendency to have higher lifetime rates of major depression before their current marriage than the maritally satisfied women. This result suggests that childhood abuse and a history of depression may be risk factors for women in abusive and nonabusive discordant relationships. As expected, abused women reported higher rates of posttraumatic stress disorder than women in the discordant-only and community control groups. Treatment implications for both standard treatments for marital problems and treatments for victims of physical abuse are discussed.

Psychological and Environmental Factors Associated with Partner Violence

This article presents a brief summary of the literature on variables associated with cessation or continuation of partner violence with the aim of generating two conceptual models: psychological and environmental. Toward this goal, the authors first examine existing theoretical models of womens influence on partner violence. Second, they review psychological and environmental variables associated with womens influence on partner violence. To capture the richness and complexity of factors involved in partner violence, the two models include multifaceted constructs such as psychological difficulties, resilience, and partner violence. The conceptual models are designed to provide a framework for developing research that will enhance the understanding about womens influence on the course of partner violence and, in turn, will inform interventions aimed at helping women reduce violence in their lives.

High school students' responses to dating aggression

The purpose of this study was to identify high school students’ actions in response to physical aggression in their dating relationships. The association of these actions with race/ethnicity and gender was also examined. From a sample of high school students (N = 476), a subsample who reported that they had experienced at least one episode of being victimized by physical aggression in a dating relationship (n = 183), served as the sample of interest. On average, students engaged in two help-seeking actions, with females reporting more actions than males. Overall, the most common responses to physical aggression in a dating relationship were aggressive action (e.g., fight back), informal help seeking, threatened or actual breakup, and doing nothing (males) or crying (females). Females were more likely to fight back than were males. Race was largely unrelated to students’ actions. Intervention opportunities and areas for future research are discussed.

Two new measures of attitudes about the acceptability of teen dating aggression

Aggression in dating relationships is associated with attitudes that justify its use. Attitudes about dating aggression are targeted by prevention efforts, contributing to a need to measure these attitudes sensitively, accurately, and multidimensionally. We describe two new measures of attitudes about aggression, each tapping different attitudinal components, and compare their psychometric properties with an existing scale. The 1st assesses attitudes about physical aggression in provocative situations. The 2nd taps attitudes about verbally aggressive, controlling, and jealous tactics against a dating partner. Data from 2,313 high school students were factor analyzed and cross-validated for each new scale. Compared with an existing measure, the scales had comparable levels of reliability and validity and improved response distributions. A 2nd-order factor analysis lends support to a multidimensional view of attitudes about dating aggression.

Animal models of post-traumatic stress disorder: face validity

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating condition that develops in a proportion of individuals following a traumatic event. Despite recent advances, ethical limitations associated with human research impede progress in understanding PTSD. Fortunately, much effort has focused on developing animal models to help study the pathophysiology of PTSD. Here, we provide an overview of animal PTSD models where a variety of stressors (physical, psychosocial, or psychogenic) are used to examine the long-term effects of severe trauma. We emphasize models involving predator threat because they reproduce human individual differences in susceptibility to, and in the long-term consequences of, psychological trauma.