Do Psychological Studies of Battered Women harm the Issue of Woman Battering?

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (0) ◽  
pp. 221-258
Author(s):  
Ri Wha Hong ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Battered Women ◽  
Woman Battering ◽  
Psychological Studies

Woman-Battering, Child Abuse and Social Heredity: What is the Relationship?

1983 ◽  
Vol 31 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 147-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Stark ◽  
Anne Flitcraft
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Battered Women ◽  
Wife Abuse ◽  
Physically Abused ◽  
Male Batterer ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Woman Battering ◽  
Battered Mothers

This paper explores the relationship between child abuse and woman-battering. In so doing the authors test and reject the hypothesis, common in the violence literature, that ‘violence begets violence’. The vast majority of woman-batterers do not come from homes where they were beaten, and the vast majority of men who were beaten as children do not later batter their wives. Child abuse experts deny the importance of woman-battering. Interventions to stop child abuse focus on changing the ‘mother's’ behaviour. Wife abuse is, however, the major precipitating context of child abuse. Children whose mothers are battered are more than twice as likely to be physically abused than children whose mothers are not battered. When women are battered and children are abused it is usually the male batterer who is responsible for the maltreatment of the child. In other cases women may turn to child abuse when their own battering is already well-established. Battered women who abuse their children are more likely to be treated punitively than non-battered mothers who treat their children in a similar manner. They are, for instance, more likely to have their children removed. These findings have important implications for policy. The authors point out that those who are concerned about child abuse ‘would do well to look toward advocacy and protection of battered mothers as the best available means to prevent current child abuse as well as child abuse in the future’.

Unintended Side Effects of Pro-Arrest Policies and Their Race and Class Implications for Battered Women: A Cautionary Note

1989 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan L. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Battered Women ◽  
Residual Effects ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Female Victims ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
Qualitative Methodologies ◽  
Arrest Policies ◽  
Woman Battering

Increasingly, arrest appears to be the disposition of choice for combatting violence between intimate partners. However, the ramifications of such policies may differentially impact on female victims, particularly those battered women with fewer resources and alternatives who have traditionally placed a greater reliance on police intervention. The residual effects of pro-arrest policies may operate subtly, becoming indiscernible through quantitative analyses of follow-up data and emerging only when qualitative methodologies are employed in conjunction with quantitative methodologies. Although pro-arrest policies are one way to attack the problem of woman battering, the policies become problematic if they disproportionately affect women from minority and lower socio-economic groups, facilitating negative consequences, including possible reoccurrences of violence. This paper raises some of the pertinent issues involved when research fails to capture or address the potential implications of pro-arrest strategies once implemented, and suggests ways to explore the extent and ramifications of these effects.

Killing the Beast within: Woman Battering and Female Suicidality

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Stark ◽  
Anne Flitcraft
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Battered Women ◽  
Attempted Suicide ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Clinical Intervention ◽  
Male Violence ◽  
Medical Response ◽  
Predominantly Female ◽  
Woman Battering ◽  
Abusive Men

This article explores the importance of woman battering for female suicidality, with special attention to the link among black women. Suicidality has classically been framed with a distinctly male bias. As a result, suicide attempts (a predominantly female event) have been defined as “failed suicides” and the distinctive social context of suicidality among women has been missed. The authors propose that suicidality among battered women is evoked by the “entrapment” women experience when they are subjected to “coercive control” by abusive men. A literature review highlights the probable importance of male violence as a cause of female suicidality. Pursuing this possibility, we assess the significance of battering in a sample of women who have attempted suicide, the characteristics of battered women who attempt suicide, and the appropriateness of the medical response. The results indicate that battering may be the single most important cause of female suicidality, particularly among black and pregnant women. The implications of this finding for theory and clinical intervention are discussed.

scholarly journals Self-concepts and demographic characteristics of battered women in Gauteng, South Africa

Curationis ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
E.S. Idemudia
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Battered Women ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self ◽  
Woman Battering ◽  
Women Abused

In South Africa, studies have shown that one in every four women are abused or battered. Put graphically, 25% of women in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) are assaulted by their boyfriend/partner or husband and a woman suffer battering on average of 39 times before she seeks outside help. Woman battering can leave women abused, distressed, create fear, limits behaviour, cause psychological damage and physical harms and very often breaks down self-esteem and leaves the individual self-incompetent. Hence the need to understand how women who have been abused rate their pre and post abuse self-concepts, how their demographic characteristics influence their self-concepts and also understand their attitude towards their abuser.

Law Enforcement Officers' Attitudes about the Appropriate Responses to Woman Battering

1995 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Belknap
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Battered Women ◽  
Law Enforcement Officers ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Police Response ◽  
Arrest Policies ◽  
Woman Battering ◽  
Departmental Affiliation

The debate over the appropriate police response to cases of battered women has intensified over the last two decades, with the majority of the research focusing on the deterrent aspect of pro-arrest policies. By contrast, this study is an examination of 324 law enforcement officers' reported attitudes and preferences regarding arrest and mediation and attitudes about battering victims and offenders. Overall, the findings include far more support for mediation than arrest, and a general tendency of officers to view women claiming to have been battered as non-credible and unworthy of police time. The variable that most strikingly differentiates officers is departmental affiliation, followed by race and sex. These findings affirm the plight of battered women when appealing to the police for assistance, as well as the importance of the departmental orientation and subculture in terms of predicting police response.

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