Executive Committee member Mario Gaboury, Associate Dean in the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences, Professor and Chair of Criminal Justice at the University of New Haven, and Director of the UNH Crime Victim Study Center recently published the article "Undocumented and Unprotected Immigrant Women and Children in Harms Way" along with Barbara Moynihan, Professor of Nursing and Coordinator of the Master's Program in Forensic Nursing at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT and Kasie J. Onken, graduate of the M.S. Forensic Science program at UNH in the Journal of Forensic Nursing, Volume 4, Number 3, pages 123- 129.

We look forward to a synopsis of this article in an upcoming JCVVS e-newsletter.

Proposals for workshops are currently being accepted for this unique national event scheduled September 30- October 2, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. Workshop topics will be organized into the following conference tracks:

· Foundations - general information and defines issues related to crime victimization and disabilities.

· Individual Responses - enhance individual knowledge, demonstrate skills, and challenge attitudes on specific issues related to crime victimization and people with disabilities.

· Systems and Community Responses - Enhance knowledge regarding the various systems and issues that may hinder or enhance services/resources, demonstrate skills regarding use of systems, and challenge attitudes regarding barriers and misconceptions of system services and interactions.

· Innovative Collaborative Efforts - Provide practical examples and applications for successful collaboration.

JCVVS e-newsletter reviews offer a brief synopsis of research and programs relevant to violence and victim studies. Brevity does not allow for comprehensive analysis, rather key points and observations for further review and consideration. Reviews are provided by persons affiliated by the JCVVS and do not necessarily reflect the position of the JCVVS or the affiliate Universities.

Author: Theresa Benson, MA,
Program Coordinator of the Counseling Center Paraprofessional Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Title: The Experiences of Heterosexual Men Who Have Been Targets of Intimate Partner Violence

Date: 2009

Publisher: Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation

Approved by: Brian Ogawa

How do men experience aggression from female intimate partners? To date, research on the experience of men who are targets of intimate partner violence consists mostly of survey data, which have provided both prevalence and incidence information related to violence against men. Although this type of information is useful for understanding the scope of intimate partner violence, it fails to provide a context for intimate partner violence where one might obtain an understanding of the lived experience of someone who has been the target of intimate partner violence.

Two often cited surveys in the field of intimate partner violence include the National Violence Against Women Survey and the National Family Violence Survey. Data from the National Violence Against Women Survey, an example of a crime victim study, indicate that the lifetime prevalence of violence against men by an intimate partner is 7.9%. Thus, 7.9% of men in the U.S. population will experience intimate partner violence at some time during their lifetime. In addition, data suggest that both a man's race and history of childhood physical abuse are predictive factors of men becoming targets of intimate partner violence (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). Specifically, African American men and Native American men report higher rates of intimate partner violence, while Asian American men report lower rates of intimate partner violence. What is not known from survey data is the context of the violence experienced by men. Specific questions in relation to context include, what are the precipitating events that lead to men becoming targets of intimate partner violence? Are the majority of men experiencing intimate partner violence because their female partners are striking back in self-defense? Or are men experiencing intimate partner violence that is initiated by their female partner? In addition, it is not known if incidence and prevalence data are accurate given the research indicating that men are less likely to engage in help-seeking behavior (Addis & Mahalik, 2003).

Field and Caetano (2005) provided a brief review of the survey research related to intimate partner violence. They summarized findings from the following surveys: The National Family Violence Survey and National Family Violence Resurvey conducted in 1976 and 1985 respectively (Straus & Gelles, 1990), the National Survey of Families and Households (Sweet & Bumpass, 1996), the National Violence Against Women Survey (Tjaden and Thoennes, 2000), the National Longitudinal Couples Survey (Sorenson, Upchurch, & Shen, 1996), the National Crime Victimization Survey (Rennison & Welchans, 2000), the Study of Injured Victims of Violence (Rand, 1997), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplemental Homicide Reports (Paulozzi, Saltzman, Thompson, & Holmgreen, 2001). These authors concluded that approximately 20% of couples in the U.S. general population reported intimate partner violence. In addition, men and women were equally likely to commit less severe forms of intimate partner violence, but women were more likely the victim of severe forms of physical violence. Also, Hispanic Americans and African Americans had a higher rate of intimate partner violence than Whites. This suggests that heterosexual men have been targets of intimate partner violence, but little is known about their experiences.

References

Addis, M. & Mahalik, J. R. (2003). Men, masculinity, and the contexts of help seeking. American Psychologist, 58, 5-14.

Field, C. A., & Caetano, R. (2005). Intimate partner violence in the U.S. general population: Progress and future directions. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20, pp. 463-469.

Paulozzi, L.J., Saltzman, L.E., Thompson, M.P., & Holmgreen, P. (2001). Surviellance for homicide among intimate partners-United States, 1991-1998. CDC Surveillance Summaries, 50 (No. SS-3), 1-15.

Pence, E. & Paymar, M. (1993). Education groups for men who batter: The Duluth model. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

Rand, M.R. (1997). Violence-related injuries treated in hospital and emergency departments (Special report). Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute of Justice (NCJ 156921).

Rennison, C.M., & Welchans, S. (2000). Intimate partner violence (Special report). Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute of Justice (NCJ 178247).

Sorenson, S.B., Upchurch, D.M., & Shen, H. (1996). Violence and injury in marital arguments: Risk patterns and gender differences. American Journal of Public Health,86, 35-40.

Straus, M. A. & Gelles, R. J. (1990). Physical violence in American families. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

Sweet, J.A., & Bumpass, L.L. (1996). The National Survey of Families and Households-Waves 1 and 2: Data description and documentation. Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin- Madison (http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/nsfh/home.htm).

Tjaden, P., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Prevalence and consequences of male-to-female and female-to-male intimate partner violence as measured by the National Violence Against Women Survey, Violence Against Women, 6, 142-161.

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