PHA-Exchange> Advancing the Research Agenda on Violence Against Women

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 from "Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC)" <ruglucia at PAHO.ORG> -----

Advancing the Research Agenda on Violence Against Women 


Candace Kruttschnitt, Brenda L. McLaughlin, and Carol V. Petrie,
editors, Steering Committee for the Workshop on Issues in Research on
Violence Against Women, National Research Council
US National Academy of Sciences, 2004

Available online at: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309091098/html/ 

"..........The information on prevalence and incidence (rates of new
cases) is inadequate. Current prevalence information has been derived
from methodologically disparate survey data. Survey research has been
instrumental in setting some  parameters for the scope of two types of
violence intimate-partner violence and sexual assault. Nevertheless,
survey research has been less successful in providing reliable estimates
of the prevalence and incidence of such violence, as well as information
about the context in which it occurs, its developmental patterns over
time, and the ways in which women's victimization experiences may be
linked to women's offending behaviors. 

Only a handful of current surveys that collect self-report victimization
information from women are continuous; most have varied in the sampling
frames and survey instruments used, and most were designed with other
purposes in mind. If trends are to be estimated and the general
effectiveness of interventions assessed, prevalence data must be
improved. The committee recommends a more coordinated research strategy
to help remedy this problem. 

This effort should include creating a framework for developing standard
definitions to overcome the lack of conceptual and operational clarity,
comparable samples, and interview protocols.This assessment might also
show whether linking existing  data can provide more information on the risks 
of, responses to, and consequences of violence against women and the impacts 
of interventions.

A growing body of empirical evidence reveals that perpetrators of
violence against women commonly have histories of violence and conduct
problems outside of intimate relationships; the same is also true for
women who perpetrate violent behavior. However, there is no longitudinal
sample of the U.S. population currently examining causes of violence
against or by women.

Recent studies on interpersonal violence among strangers illustrate the
confluence of several contextual factors including motivation,
perceptions of risk and opportunity, and social control attributes of
the setting that shapes the decision to perpetrate a violent event, as
well as its outcome. To understand the catalyst for a violent event
among intimates, researchers must examine male-female relationships,
perceived imbalances in power, control dynamics, identity threats,
relationship problems, and communication patterns. Such event-based
research would complement studies of the individual propensities of
offenders, focusing instead on the occurrence of violence by identifying
the specific conditions that channel individual motivation and
predispositions into violent actions, as well as the responses of the
justice and health care systems and the community. 

Social and Spatial Epidemiology of Violence: The committee believes that
current prevalence estimates for acts of stranger-perpetrated violence
such as robbery, assault, and rape may be conservative for the
neighborhoods in which poor women of color live, and that this exposure
to violence by strangers may contribute to factors that characterize
violent offending by women. Even intimate-partner violence appears to be
susceptible to neighborhood effects. The committee recommends research to 
estimate the extent of variation in violence against women among census tracts 
or small neighborhoods, police precincts or districts, or other theoretically 
meaningful social area aggregations. Research should also be aimed at 
determining which features of area composition influence rates and types of 
violence against women.

Understanding the social structural, social organizational, and social
control capacities of neighborhoods is critical to explaining
differences in rates of violence against women. This research should
compare data across gender in order to determine any differences between
male victimization and violence against women.

Distribution of Services

Availability of services has been linked to variation in rates of
intimate-partner homicides against women. The committee recommends that
research examine whether access to local services can affect localized
rates of intimate-partner violence, and consider implications for
planning and locating preventive services. Research should examine, for
example, the relationship between violence "hot spots" and service
locations to assess distances that pose barriers to the prevention or
deterrence of intimate-partner violence. Research on the locations of
other services, including counseling centers and medical services,
should examine this relationship as well.

Social ecological factors may affect not only rates of violence, but
also the efficacy of legal sanctions and social iterventions. The
committee recommends that research examine the covariation of individual
and social area factors with the responses of both victims and offenders
to legal sanctions and social interventions directed at violence against
women. 

Data Needs

To create a data infrastructure that can incorporate social ecological
factors, modifications will be needed in the sampling strategies used in
survey research and epidemiological studies. Stratified sampling designs
in survey and epidemiological research should include samples of social
areas as well as of individuals within areas. The selection of social
areas, along with the types of data collected, should reflect
theoretical questions. For example, studies of informal social control
should include survey data from individuals within the salient areas who
can report on social organization and dynamic processes of social
control. .............."

Content:
Executive Summary

1 Introduction

2 Nature and Scope of Violence Against Women

3 Social Ecological Risks of Violence Against Women

4 Prevention and Deterrence

5 Identifying and Treating Offenders

6 The Future of Research on Violence Against Women: Final Thoughts

    References

   Appendix A: Biographical Sketches

   Appendix B: Workshop Agenda

   Appendix C: Commissioned Papers



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