Analyzes state and federal laws and court litigation bearing on legal issues arising from denial of education to New Jersey children in spouse abuse shelters. Includes an extensive bibliography and appendixes outlining guidelines for educating such children and delineating domestic violence shelter standards. (MD)

The prevalence of sexual abuse by male batterers has been estimated to be between 34% and 59%, although there are few studies examining the effects of this sexual abuse on the female victims. Further, the relationship between other forms of abuse and sexual abuse by a battering partner has not been systematically examined. The purpose of this…

This document presents a report on domestic violence and sexual assault in Alaska. An introduction includes vignettes and a review of the problems of domestic violence and sexual assault. National and state statistics are provided and it is noted that Alaska has the highest incidence of rape in the country. The next section describes major…

Surveyed 65 couples beginning marital therapy and 37 couples from the community to examine interspousal reliability on reports of marital violence. Agreement between partners on the occurrence of violence was low to moderate for both samples. Husbands underreported their violent behavior, and/or wives tended to overreport violence performed by…

Sixteen preschoolers from homes with conjugal violence were compared with 16 controls from nonabusive homes. Children of abused mothers performed more poorly than controls on three of four measures of empathy (role enactment, social inference, and role taking). Implications for social development were noted. (CL)

Contends that familiar and comfortable family therapy theories were not designed to deal with violence and may help maintain collective avoidance of the issue of violence among family therapists. Explores limitations of therapeutic neutrality and dangers inherent in some interventions. Concludes that effective amelioration of family violence…

Examines why men have been omitted from physical child abuse research. Focuses on motivational processes and social structures that differentiate men's physical child abuse from women's. Argues that widespread gender imbalances in power, men's lack of role models and rewards for nurturant activity, and their socialization to violence bear direct…

Compares the sexual interests of intrafamilial heterosexual child molesters (n=20) and heterosexual nonoffender men (n=18). Stimuli consisted of audiotapes describing various types of sexual contact with adults and children. Nonoffenders preferred adult stimuli while intrafamilial and extrafamilial offenders did not discriminate between the adult…

A survey of 34 nurse practitioner graduate students (93% female) found that 32 had personal experience of abuse; 68% did not feel educational prepared to treat victims of domestic violence. Although a large majority was sympathetic toward victims, small percentages indicated abuse was sometimes justified and the victim bore some responsibility.…

Summarizes current knowledge about the prevalence and effects of childhood exposure to domestic violence. Describes responses to this problem by the services systems with which children exposed to violence have contact and explores what is known about how well these responses work. (Contains 97 references.) (SLD)

This paper describes a wilderness weekend retreat for abused women facilitated by the authors. An overview of wilderness therapy, addressing its historical roots, key theoretical perspectives, as well as issues of emotional and physical safety, is presented. Special emphasis is placed on how to create a wilderness experience that is empowering to…

Thirty years after the first national estimates of intimate partner violence were published, the field has reached such a level of maturity that complex questions can be posed and sophisticated research studies can be designed to answer them. Out of this body of research, one of the most important things that researchers have learned is that…

The pervasive, personal crisis of intimate partner violence (IPV) demands community information resources in workforce, health care, mental health, public housing, criminal justice, and social service arenas. Although generally underutilized, public libraries have a pivotal role to play as the only public institution specifically structured to…

Assessing and responding to risk are key elements in how police respond to domestic violence. However, relatively little is known about the way police make judgments about the risks associated with domestic violence and how these judgments influence their actions. This study examines police decisions about risk in domestic violence incidents when…

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a severe health problem associated with significant distress and impairment in women. The most common psychiatric difficulty in battered women is posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, no research to date has investigated the relative impact of the severity of IPV and IPV-related PTSD symptoms on battered…