Family Violence: Research Methodology, Assessment, and Theories.

1. Module #2
Florida Atlantic University
School of Social WorkFamily Violence:
Research Methodology, Assessment, and
Theories
Dr. Whiteman

2. • Types of Research
• Research methodologies
• Theory
• Macro
• Micro
• Social Construction of Family Violence
• Next steps, research, policy, and practice
Agenda

3. Studying Family Violence
• Many fields are involved in the study of family violence
– Criminology
– Social work
– Sociology
– Psychology
– Public health
• Advocates
– Value-centered group with a political agenda
• Feminism has played a role
• Problems with divergent groups and opposing viewpoints

4. Types of Research in Family
Violence
• Sociological
– Investigate through surveys
• Social Work
– Investigate through clinical samples
• Criminological
– Investigate through large data banks of crime
statistics and through forensic samples
• Psychological and Psychiatric
– Investigate through small clinical samples and
some large surveys

5. Types of Research in
Family Violence
• Public Health and Medical
– Investigate through epidemiological studies and
prevalence and incidence statistics
• Neuroscience and Genetics
– Investigate through laboratory studies
• Legal Research
– Investigate through reviews of family violence
laws and academic literature to determine what
legal changes are needed

6. Other Types of Research in
Family Violence
• Cross-Cultural/Global Inquiry
– Studying racial and ethnic minorities,
immigrants, individuals living in rural areas,
disabled people, those assigned to military duty,
and individuals from countries around the
world
• Biobehavioral Research
– Potential combining of the medical and
psychological fields to study

7. Other Types of Research in
Family Violence
• Interdisciplinary Science
– Greater collaboration between
researchers/practitioners, agencies/practitioners, and
researchers from different disciplines
• Federal Government
– Investigation of family violence through surveillance
systems (monitoring/tracking) and data collection from
large population samples
• Youth Risk Behavior System (YBRS)
– Increased funding of research projects and expanded
collaboration

8. Early Methodologies in Family
Violence Research
• Early investigations were weak methodologically
• Shortcomings included:
– Lack of understanding in ethical principles
– Inadequate methods of obtaining data
– Underdeveloped theory
– Imprecise definitions and methods of measurement
– Faulty sampling
– Failure to use optimal comparison groups
– Overreliance on descriptive and cross-sectional investigations
– Use of univariate rather than multivariate methods
– Failure to replicate studies or integrate findings
– Insufficient adjustments for cultural and ethnic differences

9. Current Methodologies in
Family Violence Research
• Advanced statistical techniques
– Structural equation modeling
– Multivariate and univariate designs
• Issues still include:
– Lack of random assignment
– Lack of theoretical foundation
– Lack of clear definitions and constant disagreements
– Divergent samples of research participants
– Lack of comparison groups
– Difficult conducting longitudinal studies
– A lack of diversity awareness

10. Measurements in Family
Violence Research
• Sources of Data:
– Official Records
– Self-Reports
– Victimization and Perpetration Surveys
– Informant Reports
– Direct Observations
• Scales:
– Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS1)
– Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2)
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64439/table/A47350/
?report=objectonly
– Parent-Child CTS

11. Issues With Current
Measurements
• Growing recognition of psychological abuse
• Need for multiple measurements
• Lack of cultural competence in assessments
• Needs to estimate rates of family violence
• Researcher training
• Overreliance on univariate designs
• Use of case histories and qualitative studies
• Ethical issues

12. Thought Questions
1. A granting agency is offering funding for a study
of the physiological reactions of infants to parents’
quarreling.
• Researchers in which academic field(s) might
want to apply for funding? Should there be an
effort to assemble a multidisciplinary team?
• Where might the researchers locate potential
research subjects?
• What type of ethical safeguards would they need
to undertake?
• What should the research design entail?

13. Thought Questions
2. A researcher from the field of criminology is
interested in understanding how some teenage boys
manage not to become bullies even though all their
friends bully their schoolmates nearly every day.
• As the researcher, would you be most interested in
gathering data about the father’s arrest record, the
family’s socioeconomic status, or obtaining DNA
samples?
• Would you prefer to study truant boys, incarcerated
delinquents, or boys attending a medical clinic?
• What theoretical formulation would best direct your
research?

14. Thought Questions
3. A researcher desires to study elders in a nursing
home. She wants to study whether wealthier
residents get better care than poorer residents. She
needs to gain permission from the nursing home’s
director. What can she do to form a collaboration
with the director?
• Should the researcher present the director with a
completed research design? If not, why not?
• How can the researcher gain data from demented
elders? Should she use their data?
• Should she use interviews or develop a
questionnaire?

15. Theoretical Explanations of
Family Violence

16. Theoretical Explanations of
Family Violence
• Theory – an integrated set of ideas that
explain a set of observations
– 2 approaches:
1. Macro-theory – identify the broad factors that
make families prone to violence
2. Micro-theory – identify factors that explain
violence on an individual level

17. Macro-Theory Explanations
Macro-Theory Areas of Study:
• Cultural factors
• Social-structural variables
• Structural characteristics of the
family
• Inadequacies of deterrence
• Situational impetus
• Evolutionary theory
Macro-Theory Variables:
• Approval of violence/corporal
punishment
• Patriarchy
• Socialization
• Feminist theories
• Stress-producing elements
• Unequal opportunity
• Poverty
• Deterrence theory
• punishment

18. Micro-Theory Explanations
Micro-Theory Areas of Study:
• Learning Theories
• Individual Differences Theory
• Systems Theory and
Interactional Theories
• Correlates and Single Factor
Variables
• Multidimensional Theories
Macro-Theory Variables:
• Modeling
• Classical conditioning
• Operant conditioning
• Avoidance conditioning
• Trauma theory
• Revictimization
• Psychopathology
• Trait differences
• Attachment needs and anger
• Poverty
• Drug use

19. Psychiatric Model
• Psychopathology theory: certain
individuals suffer from mental illness,
personality disorders, and other
dysfunctions that cause them to engage in
aggressive actions.
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szcsT3pO
uBw
• Substance abuse theory: drugs or alcohol
cause or contribute to family violence

20. Social-Psychological Model
• Social Learning Theory: integrates modeling
and reinforcement so that people with whom
one interacts are the reinforcers of behavior
that results in learning.
• Exchange Theory: family violence is based
on a determination of cost and rewards.
Gelles suggests “people hit family members
because they can”.
– Criminal sanctions have been the exception
rather than the rule.

21. Social-Psychological Model
• Frustration-Aggression Theory:
individuals will react aggressively when
some goal is blocked or frustrated.
• Ecological Theory: family violence
occurs when the parent, child, and
family are mismatched with the
neighborhood and community. Disabled
children more at risk for abuse.

22. Sociocultural Model
• Culture of Violence Theory: violence is
unevenly distributed with our society and
that violence is more prevalent in the
lower socioeconomic sectors of society
• Social Conflict Theory: unacknowledged
alienation and shame generate violence
within the family

23. Sociocultural Model
• Resource Theory: use of violence within a
relationship depends on the resources a
family member controls

24. Group Homework
• Choose a theory that best explains family
violence and explain why and why not?
• Given what you have read what two
interventions would be most successful
working with your group/population of
interest?

25. Case Example
• 35 y/o married man repeatedly hits
wife. He loves wife and is deeply
committed to her. He is seeking help
because he is afraid of losing her. How
do we make sense of his hitting
someone he loves? Not only that, he
feels bad about it but it still keeps
happening.

26. Response
Make a written note of what first comes to
your mind in trying to make sense of this
behavior.
Which theoretical perspectives seem to be
“better” ways of understanding this puzzling
behavior?

27. Discovering Family Violence:
From Social Condition to Social
Problem

28. Discovering Family Violence:
From Social Condition to Social Problem
• Social Constructionist Perspective:
– Social problems “discovered” through process of
social reaction and definition
– Claimsmakers: ind./group concerned about
“unacceptable” condition raises awareness
– Those who win a debate about a social issue, define
the problem

29. Benefits of Social Constructionist
Agenda
• Provides a theoretical framework for
understanding family violence.
• Generates numerous research questions
that require investigation.
• Illustrates the use of research in ongoing
debates about family violence.
• Helps to explain cross-cultural variations in
definitions of family violence.

30. Historical Context:
Discovering Child Maltreatment
• In previous times children thought of as small and
inadequate versions of adults
• Children as women did not have “rights” or legal
protections
• Children considered property
– http://youtu.be/iBN9T18QSCI

31. Child Victimization
• Factors contributing to society’s lack of
recognition of physical child abuse:
– Political powerlessness
– The belief that children were small versions of
parents
– Historically children have been regarded as property
of parents
– Children considered economic drain on the family

32. Historical Context:
Discovering Child Maltreatment
• First child abuse court case (Mary Ellen
Wilson, 8 yrs. old) was resolved uner the
Prevention to Cruelty to Animals.
• 1946: Dr. Caffey reported children with
long bone fractures and injuries were a
result of trauma.
• 1961: Dr. Kemp coined the phrase
“battered child syndrome”. Society
recognized parents do willfully abuse

33. Excerpt from the Battered
Child Syndrome
The battered-child syndrome, a clinical condition in young children who
have received serious physical abuse, is a frequent cause of
permanent injury or death. The syndrome should be considered in any
child exhibiting evidence of fracture of any bone, subdural hematoma,
failure to thrive, soft tissue swellings or skin bruising, in any child who
dies suddenly, or where the degree and type of injury is at variance with
the history given regarding the occurrence of the trauma. Psychiatric
factors are probably of prime importance in the pathogenesis of the
disorder, but knowledge of these factors is limited. Physicians have a
duty and responsibility to the child to require a full evaluation of the
problem and to guarantee that no expected repetition of trauma will be
permitted to occur.
*The full recognition of child abuse as a social problem occurred
when doctors described the battered child syndrome.

34. Discovery of Child Abuse
• 1974: Passage of the Child Abuse
Prevention Act.
– Federal funding to states to combat abuse in
it various forms.

35. Types of Child Maltreatment
• Physical abuse
• Neglect
• Psychological abuse
• Sexual abuse
• Children who witness violence
• Sibling abuse
• Abused and abusive adolescents

36. Historical Context:
Discovering Intimate Partner Violence
• Historically women were chattel
– English common law: “rule of thumb” law
– Women had very few legal rights as individuals
separate from their husbands.
– Restitution for rape of a wife was paid to the husband
not the wife.
– Early marriage laws allowed a man to hit his wife to
“keep her in line.”

37. Historical Context:
Discovering Intimate Partner Violence
• Society recognized violence against women
because of the women’s movement.
– 1848: Women’s Rights Convention
• Right to vote (1920)
– 1960s and ‘70s: feminist movement
• NOW
• Chiswick Women’s Aid
• National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
– 1996: Violence Against Women Act

38. Types of Intimate Partner
Violence
• Abused/battered women
• Marital rape
• Dating violence
• Sexual assault among dating couples
• Stalking

39. Historical Context:
Discovering Elder Abuse
• 1962: Congress authorizes payments to
states for protective services
• 1974: Mandate for all states to provide
protective services
• 1978: Hearings on “parent battering”
• 1989: Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect

40. Types of Elder Abuse
• Physical
• Emotional/psychological
• Neglect
• Self-neglect
• Abandonment

41. Discovery of Family Violence:
International Issues
• What are some “Customary Laws” widely
observed?
– China: infanticide
– India: dowry payments
– Afghanistan: Taliban
– Chile: “private violence”
– Russia: 14,000 intimate homicides annually
– Africa/Mideast: female genital mutilation

42. Discovery of Family Violence:
New and Emerging Issues
• What are some new and emerging issues?
• Violence between gay/lesbian partners
– Rates similar to heterosexuals
• Cross-cultural factors: Haitian, Latino
– Authoritarian parenting styles in some
cultures
– Higher levels of risk factors
– Social isolation

43. Practice, Policy, and Prevention
Issues
• Prevention (before): social and educational
– Family support/training programs
– School-based programs
– Community awareness campaigns
• Intervention (after): societal responses
– Mandatory reporting laws
– Family preservation, foster care, adoption
– Criminal justice issues
– Offender/victim treatment
– Shelters/hotlines
– Coordinated community responses

44. What two important things did we discuss
today?

45. • Beloved Son Turns on His Father
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mentally-ill-
youth-in-crisis/