Violence in Dating Relationships

This extremely valuable collection of fourteen chapters is divided into two sections, with the first section covering research on physical abuse in dating relationships and the second section covering the issue of sexual abuse in dating relationships. With the increasing public awareness of and concern about acquaintance rape, this is an excellent and timely book. It should be in the library of any researcher who studies violence against women and it would also be an invaluable resource for any college faculty or administrator who seeks to provide a healthy educational environment for all students. The Community Psychologist

Fourteen significant articles on physical and sexual abuse in dating relationships provide a comprehensive, interdisciplinary review of the subject. The contributors to this anthology examine every aspect of the serious, but usually hidden social problems of dating violence. The articles create a theoretical framework for understanding physical and sexual abuse and chronicle the antecedents and consequences of different types of abusive behavior. State of the art research on dating violence provides the reader with extensive material. Each chapter ends with policy implications and directions for future research. Educators, researchers, and practitioners in sociology, criminology, psychology, psychiatry, and women's studies will find valuable information on this important subject.

The first part of the collection presents statistical information and compares dating violence with cohabitating and marital violence. Such subjects as courtship aggression and the effects of gender identity and self-esteem on dating violence are explored. One study suggests two types of courtship violence--predatory violence and relational violence. Another addresses patterns in help seeking behavior by those abused. The second part of the book deals with sexual aggression in dating relationships. Victimization, as well as the prevalence, risk factors, and long term consequences of date rape are presented. Other topics include predictors of sexual aggression, dating behaviors and their relationship to the risk of date rape, and acquaintance rape.

MAUREEN PIROG-GOOD is Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. She has published extensively on programs for male batterers and dating violence. Articles have appeared in Social Science Quarterly, Social Psychology Quarterly, Contemporary Policy Issues, American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, and Journal of Family Violence.

JAN E. STETS is Professor of Sociology at Washington State University. She recently completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire.