Domestic Violence Among Couples Seeking Therapy

描述(申请人提供)：家庭暴力是当今社会一个严重而普遍的问题。然而，越来越多的人认识到，所有的暴力并不是一样的。Johnson(1995)描述了两种类型的家庭暴力，一种是普通的夫妻暴力，这种暴力是温和的，相互的，不会随着时间的推移而增加；另一种是父权恐怖主义，它符合虐待的常见概念。他的研究和其他科学家对社区样本、新婚夫妇和寻求治疗的夫妇之间的暴力行为的研究表明，常见的夫妇暴力行为是两者中更常见的一种，主要发生在上述人群中。尽管如此，大多数关于家庭暴力治疗的研究都是基于虐待理论，这可能不适合经历较轻微暴力的夫妇。目前的研究将检查经历非常轻微暴力或常见夫妇暴力的夫妇的治疗结果，以确定没有专门针对暴力的传统夫妇治疗是否可以有效地治疗这类夫妇。它还将检查一组因中度到严重暴力而被排除在临床试验之外的夫妇的结果，并探索他们之间的婚姻满意度、婚姻状况、寻求治疗和家庭暴力的进展情况。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Domestic violence is a serious and prevalent problem in our society today. Increasingly, however, there is a recognition that all violence is not the same. Johnson (1995) described two types of domestic violence, common couple violence, which is mild, mutual and does not increase over time, and patriarchal terrorism, which fits the common conceptualization of battering. His research, and that of other scientists examining violence among community samples, newlyweds, and couples seeking therapy, suggest that common couple violence is the more frequent of the two, and occurs primarily in the populations described above. Despite this, most research on the treatment of domestic violence are based upon theories of battering, which may not be appropriate for couples experiencing milder levels of violence. The current study will examine therapy outcomes among couples experiencing very mild levels of violence, or common couple violence, to determine if traditional couple treatments that do not address violence specifically can effectively treat such couples. It will also examine the outcomes of a group of couples who were excluded from a clinical trial because of moderate to severe violence and explore the progression of marital satisfaction, marital status, treatment seeking, and domestic violence among them.