Violence in Intimate Relationships

• What are the roots of violence between spouses?
• What do we know about the precursors of wife battering?
• Who are the victims of domestic abuse?

This book discusses causes and precursors of violence, exploring the psychological characteristics of perpetrators of violence, and describing and evaluating potential responses to it. Each chapter contributes to the reader′s understanding of violence in intimate relationships. Part I establishes the "what" and the "who" of violence; Part II examines the interpersonal and situational context that may contribute to violent interaction, or the "how" and "why" that underlie violent interactions; and Part III provides an account of what happens to victims as a result of physical and psychological abuse and how relationships change following violent interactions. The book provides an up-to-date supplemental textbook for courses on a variety of disciplines that deal with violence between spouses and intimate spouses.

CONTRIBUTORS: S. Oskamp, X. B. Arriaga, M. A. Straus, A. Holtzworth-Munroe, J. C. Meehan, K. Herron, G. L. Stuart, D. G. Dutton, S. A. Lloyd, K. E. Leonard, I. Arias, P. W. Sharps, J. Campbell, T. N. Bradbury, & E. Lawrence

Ximena Arriaga is currently an Associate Professor of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. Her doctoral degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is in Social Psychology, with minors in Quantitative Psychology and Developmental Science. Her primary areas of research are relationship commitment, uncertainty, and partner aggression. She also does some research on family functioning among Latinos. Her research has been funded by NIMH and contributes to the relationships and intimate partner violence literatures. She has served as an Associated Editor or Consulting Editor for Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, and Personal Relationships. Dr. Arriaga has received several teaching awards Stuart Oskamp (Ph.D., Stanford University) has focused his research interests in the areas of attitudes and attitude change, applied social psychology, behavioral aspects of energy and resource conservation, and social issues and public policy. His books include Attitudes and Opinions and Applied Social Psychology. He has been elected a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) Council of Representatives and President of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) and of the APA Division of Population and Environmental Psychology. He has also served as editor of the Journal of Social Issues and of the Applied Social Psychology Annual. Since 1984 he has organized the Claremont Symposium on Applied Social Psychology and co-edited the resulting annual volume published for many years by Sage Publications and now published by Erlbaum.