Current Controversies on Defining Nonlethal Violence Against Women in Intimate Heterosexual Relationships

DeKeseredy, Walter S.

doi:10.1177/10778010022182128

Cited by 110 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Although many studies of IPV solely focus on physical or sexual violence between intimate partners, researchers are increasingly attempting to measure a more comprehensive range of injurious acts (DeKeseredy, 2000). Instruments have been developed to measure a broad range of behaviors, including physical violence, sexual victimization, psychological or emotional abuse, and stalking.…”

Section: The Situational Context: Acts Motivation and Adverse Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconceptualizing and Operationalizing Context in Survey Research on Intimate Partner Violence

Lindhorst

Tajima

2008

J Interpers Violence

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Survey research in the field of intimate partner violence is notably lacking in its attention to contextual factors. Early measures of intimate partner violence focused on simple counts of behaviors, yet attention to broader contextual factors remains limited. Contextual factors not only shape what behaviors are defined as intimate partner violence but also influence the ways women respond to victimization, the resources available to them, and the environments in which they cope with abuse. This article advances methods for reconceptualizing and operationalizing contextual factors salient to the measurement of intimate partner violence. The analytic focus of the discussion is on five dimensions of the social context: the situational context, the social construction of meaning by the survivor, cultural and historical contexts, and the context of systemic oppression. The authors consider how each dimension matters in the measurement of intimate partner violence and offer recommendations for systematically assessing these contextual factors in future research. Keywords intimate partner violence; contextual factors; survey research; measurementIn the past 30 years, research has documented high levels of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization among women (Straus, Gelles, & Steinmetz, 1980;Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). Within the field of research on IPV, scholars have used qualitative and quantitative methods to study the epidemiology of IPV and abuse-related fatalities, the pervasive economic and physical and mental health consequences of victimization for women, and the effects of differing policies for the identification and response to IPV and have developed interventions to prevent violence and its sequelae. This body of research has fostered a growing awareness that IPV plays a significant role in social processes as diverse as parent-child attachment, youth delinquency, and HIV risk prevention. For example, studies have demonstrated an association between IPV and HIV risk factors such as engaging in unprotected sex (Gilbert et al., 2000;Maman, Campbell, Sweat, & Gielen, 2000) and having a sexually transmitted illness (ElBassel, Gilbert, Wu, Go, & Hill, 2005;Wu, El-Bassel, Witte, Gilbert, & Chang, 2003). Thus, IPV has been both a focus of research attention in determining prevalence and sequelae and one factor among many in survey research projects studying diverse social phenomena. Although incorporating IPV as a factor in survey research designs represents a step forward in our recognition of the interconnections between IPV and other social processes of interest, problems arise when the conceptualization and measurement of IPV are strictly reduced to the behavioral level (e.g., capturing only whether or not hitting or other violent behaviors occur) without awareness of the contextual factors that are important to assess in research on IPV.A rich body of literature has evolved in the study of IPV that critiques the decontextualized, behaviorally focused measurement of IPV (for a summary of these ar...

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Section: The Situational Context: Acts Motivation and Adverse Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconceptualizing and Operationalizing Context in Survey Research on Intimate Partner Violence

Lindhorst

Tajima

2008

J Interpers Violence

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“…Thus, some could assert that male perpetration prevalence rates would undoubtedly be lower, which could have a negative impact on service delivery to survivors. As argued by several researchers, if government officials are led by low prevalence figures to believe that separation/divorce sexual assault and/or other forms of woman abuse are minor problems, they are not likely to contribute sufficient resources to curb these harms (DeKeseredy, 2000;Smith, 1994).…”

Section: Prevalence Rates and Risk Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Separation/divorce sexual assault: The current state of social scientific knowledge

DeKeseredy

Rogness

Schwartz

2004

Aggression and Violent Behavior

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Many contend that the logical solution to woman abuse in marriage/cohabitation is for women to exit through legal separation, divorce, or other means. However, a growing body of empirical work shows that separation or divorce does not necessarily solve the problem of woman abuse. For example, in addition to experiencing lethal or nonlethal forms of physical violence and psychological abuse, many women who try to leave, or who have left their male partners, are sexually assaulted. The main objective of this paper is to critically review the extant empirical and theoretical work on separation/ divorce sexual assault. Suggestions for future research and theorizing are also provided. D

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“…There are a number of problems with narrow definitions of sexual assault, which have been covered elsewhere (DeKeseredy, 2000). Unlike many, if not most, studies of sexual assault, a broad definition is used here that is not restricted to acts of forced penetration.…”

Section: Broad Definition Of Sexual Assaultmentioning

confidence: 99%

Separation/Divorce Sexual Assault

DeKeseredy

Schwartz

Fagen

et al. 2006

Feminist Criminology

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. All of the names of women who participated in the study and who are quoted here have been changed to maintain confidentiality. Mandy Hall University of Hawaii-ManoaAlthough several studies find that the most dangerous part of an intimate relationship for women is when it breaks up, relatively few studies look at women who want to break up a relationship, are in the process of leaving, or who have left a relationship. This qualitative exploratory study looks at incidents of sexual assault committed by former husbands or cohabitants in the lives of rural women in Ohio. Male peer support, which has previously been examined only in studies of college men and men in urban areas, was a constant theme among this study's respondents, in addition to patriarchal control and the use of alcohol and drugs. These women suffered multiple serious sexual assaults and experienced other harms, including psychological assaults and the destruction of prized objects.

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Current Controversies on Defining Nonlethal Violence Against Women in Intimate Heterosexual Relationships

Cited by 110 publications

References 19 publications

Reconceptualizing and Operationalizing Context in Survey Research on Intimate Partner Violence

Reconceptualizing and Operationalizing Context in Survey Research on Intimate Partner Violence

Separation/divorce sexual assault: The current state of social scientific knowledge

Separation/Divorce Sexual Assault

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