NCJ Number
108227
Date Published
1987
Length
152 pages
Annotation
Based on interviews and a literature review, this book profiles the characteristics and causes of violence between male and female spouses, followed by the description of a systems approach for counseling spouse abusers.
Abstract
The study examines the cases of 241 known violent men, supplemented with information on 542 other violent men taken from indepth interviews with their wives or girlfriends. The analysis considers the men's motives, their social circumstances, their demography, and their feelings about the victims and their own violence. Similar information, obtained from a literature review, is presented for violent female spouses. Among the causative factors identified are stress, previous learning, and traumatic childhood experiences. The study illuminates the culture of male violence, exploring why violence in active military families is three times as severe as that in civilian families and the fact that religion is an underused resource for addressing the problem. The systems approach to counseling spouse abusers focuses on both persons in a violent relationship and emphasizes multiple causes. The treatment mode is matched to the severity and extent of violence as well as the context in which the violence occurs. Chapter references, a subject index, a life endangerment index, and the survey instrument used in the followup study of violent men.