TRANSIENT DOMESTICITY & VIOLENCE IN DISTRESSED HOUSEHOLD

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Prior research documents recurring patterns of adult black men residing for short periods in poor female-headed households, but little is known about such domestic arrangements. These transient male-female relationships temporarily structure family life. However, the transience as well as violence and drug use involved in these relationships often have serious consequences regarding safety and family functioning within already severely-distressed households. This five year study will examine the impacts of transient domesticity and violence in severely distressed black inner city households where drug use and/or sales are prominent. AIM A. (Domestic arrangements) To analyze the changes in economic, sexual and social relationships and roles of various adult black men in distressed female-headed households. AIM B. (Violence) To analyze the contexts and processes leading to episodes of aggression and violence among an adult couple and document episodes where drugs and violence co-occur and how these are related to transitions in male residence. AIM C. (Modeling) To analyze how transient domesticity provides models that potentially affect transmission of subcultural norms. Project staff will recruit 100 black focal subjects (50 females and 50 males) initially living with a partner of the opposite sex. Using an omnibus longitudinal ethnographic methodology these 100 subjects will be intensively interviewed three times a year and their (often changed) household arrangements observed regularly during the five year project. Focal males will be followed over their different domestic arrangements. Others (residential mates, adult kin, adolescents, children) with whom the focal subjects live will be surveyed. A comprehensive publication agenda will document the duration of residential stays, household composition and functioning, drug use/sale, violence, fictive fathering, mentoring, HIV/AIDS, and many other topics.