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Theories and measures of women's aggression in intimate relationships are only beginning to be developed. This study provides a first step in conceptualizing the measurement of women's aggression by examining how well three widely used measures (i.e., the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS), the Sexual Experiences Survey [SES], and the Psychological Maltreatment of Women Inventory [PMWI]) perform in assessing women's perpetration of and victimization by aggression in their intimate relationships with men. These constructs were examined in a diverse sample of 412 African American, Latina, and White women who had all recently used physical aggression against a male intimate partner. The factor structures and psychometric properties of perpetration and victimization models using these measures were compared. Results indicate that the factor structure of women's perpetration differs from that of women's victimization in theoretically meaningful ways. In the victimization model, all factors performed well in contributing to the measurement of the latent victimization construct. In contrast, the perpetration model performed well in assessing women's physical and psychological aggression but performed poorly in assessing women's sexual aggression, coercive control, and jealous monitoring. Findings suggest that the power and control model of intimate partner violence (IPV) may apply well to women's victimization but not as well to their perpetration of violence.

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A prevention trial tested the efficacy of INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament as compared to a Read Aloud attention control condition in reducing student disruptive behavior and enhancing student competence and teacher classroom management. Participants included 116 first and second grade students, their parents, and their 42 teachers in six inner city schools. Teachers completed the Sutter-Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory (SESBI) and the Teacher's Rating Scale of Child's Actual Competence and Social Acceptance (TRS) at baseline and again upon completion of the intervention. Boys participating in INSIGHTS, compared with those in the Read Aloud program, showed a significant decline in attentional difficulties and overt aggression toward others. Teachers in INSIGHTS, compared to those in the attention control condition, reported significantly fewer problems managing the emotional-oppositional behavior, attentional difficulties, and covert disruptive behavior of their male students. They also perceived the boys as significantly more cognitively and physically competent.

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This study is among the first attempts to address a frequently articulated, yet unsubstantiated claim that sample inclusion criteria based on women's physical aggression or victimization will yield different distributions of severity and type of partner violence and injury. Independent samples of African American women participated in separate studies based on either inclusion criterion of women's physical aggression or victimization. Between-groups comparisons showed that samples did not differ in physical, sexual, or psychological aggression; physical, sexual, or psychological victimization; inflicted or sustained injury. Therefore, inclusion criterion based on physical aggression or victimization did not yield unique samples of "aggressors" and "victims."

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This study examined whether relationships among women's aggression, their victimization, and substance use problems were moderated by race/ethnicity. Four hundred and twelve community women (150 African Americans, 150 Latinas, and 112 Whites) who recently were aggressive against a male partner completed a 2-hour computer-assisted interview. ANOVA and path analysis revealed that (a) for all women, victimization and aggression were strongly related; (b) race/ethnicity moderated the relationships between victimization and alcohol and drug use problems; and (c) no groups evidenced a relationship between alcohol or drug use problems and aggression. Findings suggest that it is essential to develop culturally relevant, gender-specific interventions to reduce both women's aggression and victimization, as well as related negative behaviors such as alcohol and drug use.

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This study examines motives for intimate partner violence (IPV) among a community sample of 412 women who used IPV against male partners. A "Motives and Reasons for IPV scale" is proposed, and exploratory factor analyses identified five factors: expression of negative emotions, self-defense, control, jealousy, and tough guise. To our knowledge, the study is the first to investigate the relationship between women's motives for IPV and their perpetration of physical, psychological, and sexual aggression, as well as coercive control, toward partners. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed participants' aggression was driven by complex, multiple motives. All five motives were related to a greater frequency of perpetrating IPV. Treatment programs focusing on women's IPV perpetration should address both defensive and proactive motives.

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This study examined relationships between mother-child interactions and children's behaviors in 119 urban African American mothers and their 6 - 7 year old children. Interactions during a cooking task and a follow-up child clean-up task were videotaped. Principal components analyses of behaviors during the cooking task yielded two factors in mothers (Sensitivity and Control), and three in children (Task Involvement, Responsiveness, and Communicative). Children's negativity during a clean up task was coded and mothers were interviewed about their children's problem behaviors. Parenting sensitivity was associated with positive child behaviors and parenting control was associated with negative child behaviors. Maternal education was associated with greater maternal sensitivity and less control. Child gender predicted their task involvement, responsiveness, communicativeness, negativity during clean-up, and behavior problems; maternal control and sensitivity mediated some of these relations. Findings underscore heterogeneity of African American parenting and factors that promote positive parenting and children's behavioral adjustment in early childhood.

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This article provides a review of research literature on women who use violence with intimate partners. The central purpose is to inform service providers in the military and civilian communities who work with domestically violent women. The major points of this review are as follows: (a) women's violence usually occurs in the context of violence against them by their male partners; (b) in general, women and men perpetrate equivalent levels of physical and psychological aggression, but evidence suggests that men perpetrate sexual abuse, coercive control, and stalking more frequently than women and that women also are much more frequently injured during domestic violence incidents; (c) women and men are equally likely to initiate physical violence in relationships involving less serious "situational couple violence," and in relationships in which serious and very violent "intimate terrorism" occurs, men are much more likely to be perpetrators and women victims; (d) women's physical violence is more likely than men's violence to be motivated by self-defense and fear, whereas men's physical violence is more likely than women's to be driven by control motives; (e) studies of couples in mutually violent relationships find more negative effects for women than for men; and (f) because of the many differences in behaviors and motivations between women's and men's violence, interventions based on male models of partner violence are likely not effective for many women.

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Individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) are at risk for HIV/AIDS. Despite the availability of supportive community programs for those with SMI, there have been no published evaluations of community-level HIV prevention trials among this population. A pilot intervention trial was conducted to determine the feasibility of such an intervention in supportive housing programs (SHPs). A multi-component community-level trial was implemented in two SHPs with a total of 28 residents. Participants completed assessments at three time points: prior to the intervention (baseline), following skills training (post-assessment), and following the 4-month community intervention (follow- up). Results demonstrated significant improvements in psychosocial risk factors at both post- and follow-up assessments, with indications of sexual behavior change at follow-up. The community-level intervention appeared to reduce the risk of HIV among persons with SMI living in SHPs, and supports the importance of conducting larger scale intervention trials.

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Reports have appeared in the popular press in recent years concluding that women are just as violent as men. These reports stem from acontextual survey studies comparing prevalence rates of women's and men's physical violence. The authors contend that the above conclusion is simplistic and misleading, and that a theoretical framework that embeds women's violence in the context in which it occurs is sorely needed. This article proposes a model that includes women's violence in the context of their victimization by male partners, motivations for violent behavior and how they cope with relationship problems, experiences of childhood trauma, and outcomes of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance use. The model is then examined within the context of gender, race, and class. The cultural context of domestic violence for African American and Latina women is reviewed. This literature reinforces the need to place women's violence in a broader sociocultural context.

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This article examines the relationship of coping and problem drinking to men's abusive behavior towards female partners. While previous research has demonstrated a consistent association between problem drinking and male abuse of intimate partners, virtually no studies have assessed the role of coping in relation to men's violence. Furthermore, multivariate studies have not examined how these factors operate together to increase risk for abusive behavior. An ethnically diverse sample of 147 men in a court-mandated program for domestic violence offenders completed questionnaires at the first session. Path modeling was conducted to test the extent to which coping and problem drinking predicted both physical and psychological abuse. In addition, the relationships of problem drinking and physical abuse to injury of the men's female partners were examined. Results indicated that both the use of avoidance and problem-solving coping to deal with relationship problems were related indirectly to abusive behavior through problem drinking. Greater use of avoidance coping strategies was more likely among problem drinkers. By contrast, men who used higher levels of problem-solving coping were less likely to be problem drinkers. Avoidance, but not problem-solving coping also was directly and positively related to physical and psychological abuse. Men identified as problem drinkers were more likely to use both physical and psychological abuse. Finally, greater use of physical violence was strongly related to higher levels of injury among female partners, and served to mediate the relationship between problem drinking and injury. Results are discussed in terms of their contribution to the identification of risk and protective factors for men's violent behavior toward intimate female partners and implications for developing intervention strategies.

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A prevention trial was conducted to evaluate a temperament-based intervention (INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament) as compared to a Read Aloud attention control condition in reducing behavior problems among inner city children. The participants were 148 inner-city first and second grade children, their parents, and their 46 teachers who were from six schools in a Northeastern city. Parents were interviewed on the Parent Daily Report at baseline and every two weeks until the completion of the intervention phase to assess the extent of child problem behaviors in the home. The parents also were interviewed at baseline with the Disruptive Module of the Diagnostic Interview for Children and completed the Brief Symptom Index to assess parental depression.A repeated measures multivariate analysis of covariance with parental depression as a covariate was conducted to examine the children's behavior over the course of the intervention. In order to test the impact of INSIGHTS for the overall sample and to determine whether the intervention was differentially effective for children diagnosed with a disruptive disorder versus those who did not receive a diagnosis, two and three-way interactions were examined and found to be significant. The INSIGHTS intervention was more effective than Read Aloud in reducing children's problem behaviors at home across both the diagnosed and non-diagnosed groups, but demonstrated a significantly greater efficacy among children who were at diagnostic levels compared to those who were within normal levels. Editors' Strategic Implications: The authors describe the promising practice of instructing parents and teachers on how to adapt their behavior management strategies to fit each child's temperament. Replication with a longitudinal follow-up will be necessary to determine whether program effects persist.

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The present study examines the role of anger and victimization in women's use of aggression in heterosexual intimate relationships. The sample was composed of 108 women, primarily African American, urban, and poor, who had used violence against a partner in the previous 6 months. Path modeling was used to examine the interrelationships among anger, women's aggressive behavior, victimization, childhood abuse experiences, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression. Results revealed that almost all of the women experienced violence from their partners. Greater frequency of victimization from partners and experiences of childhood abuse increased the likelihood that women would use aggression against their partners. Victimization from partners and childhood abuse also increased the likelihood that women would experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression. Women with more symptoms of posttraumatic stress were also more likely to express anger outwardly towards others. Expressing anger outwardly toward others, in turn, predicted an increased likelihood of using aggression against partners.

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This study examines the roles of physical and emotional abuse and resource utilization, relationship efficacy, and childhood abuse on relationship status (together or separated) in a sample of 69 low-income, nonsheltered battered women. Separate path models were conducted for physical and psychological abuse. Increased physical abuse was related to separated status, increased resource utilization, and decreased efficacy. The effect of physical abuse on status was mediated by resource utilization and efficacy, whereas the effect of psychological abuse on status was partially mediated only by utilization. Increased childhood abuse was associated with together status. Baseline psychological but not physical abuse predicted a longer term separated status thereby suggesting that the effects of psychological abuse may be enduring.

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As a population, persons with serious mental illness (SMI) have an elevated risk for HIV infection. However, relatively little is known about how the risk of HIV has affected their lives, how persons with SMI evaluate their HIV risk, and what preventive measures they undertake. Furthermore, relatively little is known about community-based HIV prevention for persons with SMI as most interventions have been restricted to clinical settings. This report presents findings on the HIV-related experiences of persons with SMI living in supportive housing programs, one possible setting for implementing community-based HIV prevention with this population. The qualitative investigation interviewed 41 men and women living in five supportive housing programs. In-depth, qualitative interviews elicited discussion of research participants' (a) experiences with HIV, (b) knowledge about HIV and HIV prevention, (c) assessments of their own risk, (d) descriptions of how they apply their prevention knowledge, and (e) reports of barriers for HIV prevention. Research participants describe social networks that have substantial contact with persons affected by HIV. However, contrary to some expectations of persons with SMI, research participants report using HIV prevention knowledge in negotiating their risk of contracting HIV. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of their relevance for implementing community-based HIV prevention for persons with SMI.

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This study examined patterns of substance use throughout adolescence. A cluster analytic approach was used to identify subgroups of adolescents on the basis of their levels of substance use from early through late adolescence (Grades 6 through 11). Six distinct clusters of substance users emerged-2 groups representing relatively stable patterns of substance use from early through late adolescence (ie., nonusers and alcohol experimenters), and 4 groups of users showing escalating patterns of substance use (i.e., low escalators, early starters, late starters, and high escalators). The study provides a comprehensive view of adolescent substance use by examining the progression of use from early to late adolescence, demonstrates the usefulness of studying patterns of use across multiple substances, and underscores the importance of building classification schemes based on repeated measurements of substance use to reflect changes over time. Implications of the findings for future research and for identifying high-risk subgroups of adolescents for purposes of intervention based on timing and pattern of escalation are discussed.

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