Female Perpetrators of Partner Aggression: Relevant Issues and Treatment (From Domestic Violence Offenders: Current Interventions, Research, and Implications for Policies and Standards, P 73-104, 2001, Robert A. Geffner and Alan Rosenbaum, eds. -- See NCJ-197536)

• NCJ Number: 197542
• Author(s): Lynn Dowd
• Date Published: 2001
• Length: 32 pages
• Sale Source: Haworth Maltreatment and Trauma Press
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article integrates the limited information that is available on female perpetrators of partner aggression and their treatment.

Abstract

That women engage in partner aggression has been well documented in a number of studies, including samples of dating, cohabiting, and married couples. Although findings from two national surveys and numerous studies of community, clinical, and special population samples indicate that women are as likely to be aggressive toward their partners as men, female partner violence is often minimized or denied. One study (Farley, 1996) found an association of female perpetration of partner aggression with childhood trauma histories and substance abuse. Group treatments with batterers are typically used. Intervention techniques include assessment, emotional education, the development of basic skills in self-awareness and conflict management, instruction in conditions that undermine emotional and behavioral stability, relationship issues, communication skills, thinking errors, and stress management and relaxation techniques. Recommendations for future interventions and research focus on research that distinguishes batterer typologies for males and females, interventions that focus on the characteristic underlying causes of aggression in women, and multidisciplinary efforts to instruct parents about the impact of physical and verbal abusiveness on children. 97 references