Two community-based group therapies, emotion focused versus goal oriented, are compared among women exposed to intimate partner violence (n = 46) and their children (n = 48) aged between 6 and 12 years. A series of repeated measures analyses are employed to evaluate the effects of time from baseline to postintervention following random assignment. Main and treatment effects for women provide support for the relative effectiveness in increasing quality of social support in the emotion-focused intervention and in the reduction of both family conflict and alcohol use for the goaloriented intervention. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's most comprehensive survey regarding IPV reveals that almost 1 in 4 women (23%) and 1 in 10 men (11.5%) report at least one lifetime episode of IPV. These rates increase among lower-income women (33.5%) and men (20.7%; household income less than US$15,000 annually; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2008). The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking, and homicide by intimate partners exceed US$5.8 billion each year, including direct medical and mental health care service expenses (nearly US$4.1 billion) and productivity losses (US$1.8 billion; CDC, 2003).Slightly less than half of female victims of intimate violence live in households with children under age 12 (43%; Department of Justice, 2009). This places children at greater risk for witnessing traumatic violence and experiencing its outcome in the form of hearing narratives recounting the violent experience or viewing victim bruises, marks, swelling, or scars (Meltzer, Doos, Vostanis, Ford, & Goodman, 2009). Children present during instances of IPV are placed at further risk for inadvertently becoming direct targets of abuse (Alessi & Hearn, 2007). According to estimates, children are present during incidences of IPV at the rate of 10% to 20% each year (Carlson, 2000). Taken together, studies collectively suggest that between 3 and 10 million children witness some form of domestic violence annually (Roberts, 2007).Consequences for children exposed to domestic violence range from internalizing to externalizing behavioral difficulties and include physical problems secondary to traumatic stress reactions (Graham-Bermann, Lynch, Banyard, DeVoe, & Halabu, 2007). In spite of these potentially broad and far-reaching consequences to children, studies addressing interventions for children exposed to IPV has been limited (Graham-Bermann et al., 2007;Meltzer et al., 2009). One reason for the limitation is that trauma in children may be frequently overlooked, inaccurately diagnosed instead as a number of mental health conditions, including depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional-defiant disorder, conduct disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and reactive attachment disorder (Cook, Blaustein, Spinazzola, & van der Kolk, 2003).Increasingly, however, family violence is recognized as a traumatic event in which a person experiences, witne...

Exploring risk factors and profiles of intimate partner violence in other countries provides information about whether existing theories of this phenomenon hold consistent in different cultural settings. This study will present results of a regression analysis involving domestic violence among Mexican women (n = 83,159). Significant predictors of domestic violence among Mexican women included age, number of children in the household, income, education, self-esteem, family history of abuse, and controlling behavior of the husband. Women's employment status was not a significant predictor when all variables were included in the model; however, when controlling behavior of the husband was withdrawn from the model, women's employment status was a significant predictor of domestic violence toward women. Results from this research indicate that spousal controlling behavior may serve as a mediator of the predictive relationship between women's employment status and domestic violence among Mexican women. Findings provide support for continued exploration of the factors that mediate experiences of domestic violence among women worldwide.

A meta-analysis on domestic violence interventions was conducted to determine overall effectiveness of mental health programs involving women and children in joint treatment. These interventions were further analyzed to determine whether outcomes are differentially affected based on the outcome measure employed. To date, no meta-analyses have been published on domestic violence victim intervention efficacy. The 17 investigations that met study criteria yielded findings indicating that domestic violence interventions have a large effect size (d = .812), which decreases to a medium effect size when compared to control groups (d = .518). Effect sizes were assessed to determine whether treatment differed according to the focus of the outcome measure employed: (a) external stress (behavioral problems, aggression, or alcohol use); (b) psychological adjustment (depression, anxiety, or happiness); (c) self-concept (self-esteem, perceived competence, or internal locus of control); (d) social adjustment (popularity, loneliness, or cooperativeness); (e) family relations (mother-child relations, affection, or quality of interaction); and (f) maltreatment events (reoccurrence of violence, return to partner). Results reveal that domestic violence interventions across all outcome categories yield effects in the medium to large range for both internalized and externalized symptomatology. Implications for greater awareness and support for domestic violence treatment and programming are discussed.

Recently, concerted efforts have increased awareness and understanding concerning domestic violence in Chile. Within this decade, a series of government-sponsored research investigations was initiated to understand the prevalence, causes, and consequences of domestic violence. This article describes the current state of Chilean domestic violence in the context of recent historical and political underpinnings. Cultural factors that have influenced the prevalence of the problem are specifically addressed, and legal changes that affect domestic violence in Chile are explicated. The country's increasing awareness and concern for domestic violence are delineated, and both grassroots and governmental responses are outlined. It is hoped that this information provides a concise and comprehensive view of available information about Chilean domestic violence.

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