Ruth E. Fleury

When Ending the Relationship Does Not End the Violence Women's Experiences of Violence by Former Partners

Much of the existing research on intimate male violence against women has focused on the prevalence of and response to abuse that occurs within an ongoing intimate relationship. Little attention has been paid to the abuse that occurs after women have ended abusive relationships. In the current study, women leaving a shelter for women with abusive partners were interviewed across 2 years. More than one third of the women were assaulted by a former partner during the time of the study. Several factors under the control of the batterer were found to be related to ex-partner assaults, including his prior violence, threats, and sexual suspicion. Several factors under partial control of the survivor were also explored and were found to be less strongly related to violence by an ex-partner. Implications for improving the community response to women with abusive partners and ex-partners are discussed.

Why Don't They Just Call the Cops?: Reasons for Differential Police Contact Among Women with Abusive Partners

Incidents of domestic violence are frequently not reported to police (e.g., Johnson, 1990; Langan & Innes, 1986; Roy, 1977), and people commonly assume that women’s reasons for not calling about violence by a current or former partner are intrapersonal (e.g., shame, embarrassment, love). However, few researchers have asked battered women themselves about the frequency of their police contacts and their reasons for not calling the police. In this study, participants were recruited from a battered women’s shelter and asked about their experiences with the police over the prior 6 months. Two thirds of the sample had had contact with the police during that time, but most did not have as much contact with the police as they had needed. Women gave multiple reasons for not calling the police; these reasons frequently included situational barriers, such as being physically prevented from using the telephone and/or being threatened with more violence. Only 3% of the sample reported that shame, embarrassment, or love were their sole reasons for not calling the police. Underreporting was related to previous (negative) experience with the police, as well as to the level of violence experienced. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Feminism: Definitions, support, and correlates of support among female and male college students

The purpose of our research was to examine definitions of feminism, support for feminism, and gender attitude and personality trait correlates of support. Using a sample of predominately White college students, findings indicated quite favorable definitions of feminism, and more support than opposition to it, especially among female respondents. Support for feminism was related to 5 of 6 gender attitude dimensions for females, but unrelated to their gender personality traits. For males, support was related to only one gender attitude dimension, and to femininity; more feminine males were more supportive. Implications for the distinction between feminism and feminist and for the status of feminism among college students are discussed.

Effects of affect, stereotype consistency, and valence of behavior on causal attributions

Abstract The authors examined 3 hypotheses about the effects of 2 positive and 2 negative affects on causal attributions. On the basis of cognitive appraisal theories of emotion, they predicted that the grateful and angry participants would attribute causality for like-valenced behaviors to the target more strongly than would the happy and sad participants, respectively. Following an affect-induction procedure, 229 Anglo-American participants read a description of an African American target whose behavior was stereotype consistent or stereotype inconsistent and positive or negative in valence. As predicted, when the behavior was negative, the angry participants attributed it more strongly to the target than did the sad participants. When the behavior was positive, the grateful participants attributed it more strongly to the target than did the happy participants. The importance of distinguishing among affects and considering their multidimensional nature in predicting effects on social judgments is emphasized.

The numbers game: Gender and attention to numerical information

Research suggests that males outperform females on standardized tests of math ability from early adolescence onward. Several explanations for this difference focus on the different experiences of females and males with numerical information. We reasoned that males have more experience with numerical information than females because “typical” male interests (e.g., sports) are more likely to involve numerical information than “typical” female interests (e.g., physical appearance). Thus, we predicted that males would attend more to numerical information than would females, at least when the information was presented in a male-related or gender-neutral context. Females were expected to attend more than males when the context was female-related. Results using White/Caucasian subjects provided some support for these predictions. Implications for future research on the relationship between the gender-linkage of math materials and gender differences in math performance are discussed.

What happened depends on whom you ask: A comparison of police records and victim reports regarding arrests for woman battering

Following Sherman and Berks (1984) study of the deterrent effects of arrest, researchers have continued to examine the role of the criminal justice system in responding to woman battering. Much of this research has used either victim reports or official records as data, even though victim reports and police records often disagree. The current study compared victim reports and official records of arrest and conviction for woman battering to examine the magnitude and pattern of discrepancies. Participants were recruited from a shelter for women with abusive partners and were interviewed several times across two years. Their police and court records were also examined. Agreement regarding arrest and conviction was low, with victims more likely to indicate that an arrest or conviction occurred. Implications of these discrepancies for researchers, victim decision making, and law enforcement are discussed.