Faculty Bibliography

The objective of this study is to examine risk factors of physical aggression against a partner in a large representative Active Duty Air Force sample. A stratified sample of 128,950 United States Active Duty members were invited to participate in an Air Force-wide anonymous online survey across 82 bases. The final sample (N = 52,780) was weighted to be representative of the United States Air Force. Backward stepwise regression analyses were conducted to identify unique predictors of partner physical aggression perpetration within and across different ecological levels (individual, family, organization, and community levels). Relationship satisfaction, alcohol problems, financial stress, and number of years in the military were identified as unique predictors of men's and women's perpetration of violence against their partner across ecological levels. Parental status, support from neighbors, personal coping, and support from formal agencies also uniquely predicted men's but not women's perpetration of violence across ecological levels. This study identified specific risk factors of partner violence that may be targeted by prevention and intervention efforts aimed at different levels of impact (e.g., family interventions, community-wide programs).

The U.S. government has recently spent several hundred million dollars to promote healthy relationships in new parents. The influx of money implies that relationships of new parents are at elevated risk for declining satisfaction and dissolution. This meta-analysis aggregates data from 37 studies that track couples from pregnancy to after the birth of the first child and 4 studies that track childless newlywed couples over time and compare couples who do and do not become parents. Results indicate significant, small declines in relationship satisfaction for both men and women from pregnancy to 11 months postbirth; 5 studies that followed couples for 12-14 months found moderate-sized declines. Seven variables moderated the decrease in relationship satisfaction from pregnancy to early parenthood. However, the decrease in satisfaction may not indicate anything unique about the transition to parenthood; the 4 studies following newlyweds indicated that those who do not become parents experience a decrease in relationship satisfaction similar to that of parents across a comparable span of time. Implications for prevention and future directions are discussed.

R. E. Heyman and A. M. S. Slep developed and conducted an effectiveness trial of a diagnostic system for child and partner maltreatment. The current investigation tested the widespread dissemination of the diagnostic system at 41 child and partner maltreatment services sites (n = 549 partner maltreatment cases and n = 342 child maltreatment cases). Agreement between field and master reviewers' decisions was good for partner physical and emotional abuse (kappa = 0.83-0.84). Agreement was also good for child physical, emotional, and sexual abuse (kappa = 0.73-0.89) but lagged slightly for child neglect (kappa = 0.66). Thus, multifaceted and content valid family maltreatment diagnostic criteria can be disseminated reliably. Replication studies of interrater agreement of the diagnostic system in typical clinical and agency settings are necessary; however, the high levels of agreement in myriad field sites imply that consistency of maltreatment determinations is achievable in widespread use.

Noncompliance is a primary reason parents seek services for their young children. Research on socialization suggests that warning children about consequences is associated with greater compliance. In the current study, we test whether promised consequences (i.e., promises of parental responses to subsequent child behavior), compared with directives alone, were more strongly associated with compliance. We also tested whether some types of promised consequences were more strongly associated with compliance than others. Forty White mother-toddler (age 17-36 months) dyads were video recorded in a 30-min behavioral analogue situation. Interactions were coded using a derived coding scheme. Promised consequences were not found to be more strongly associated with compliance than were directives alone using sequential analyses; however, negative and immediate promised consequences were more strongly associated with compliance. Findings suggest that promising negative and immediate consequences for noncompliance may encourage compliance.

Using a sample (N = 453) drawn from a representative sampling frame of couples who are married or living together and have a 3 to 7 year-old child, this study investigates (a) the amount and specific areas of change desired by men and women, (b) the relation between relationship adjustment and desired change; and (c) the ways in which partners negotiate change. On the Areas of Change Questionnaire, women compared with men, wanted greater increases in their partners' emotional and companionate behaviors, instrumental support, and parenting involvement; men wanted greater increases in sex. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (Kenny, 1996), both men's and women's relationship adjustment predicted desired change (i.e., actor effects), over and above the effects of their partners' adjustment (i.e., partner effects); partner effects were not significant. Each couple was also observed discussing the man's and the woman's top desired change area. Both men and women behaved more positively during the partner-initiated conversations than during their own-initiated conversations. Women, compared with men, were more negative in their own and in their partners' conversations.

Although research supports the negative sequelae of the "demand/withdrawal" pattern, research is scant on the impact of "nondemanding" change requests (e.g., specific, increasing, "we" requests). We hypothesize that such change requests will be associated with less partner withdrawal/resistance, better problem resolution, and greater relationship satisfaction. Seventy-two conversations between couples who were recruited through random digit dialing were coded for change request qualities. Results indicate that wife specific and "we" requests led to less husband resistance, and husband increasing and "we" requests led to less wife resistance. Greater percentages of wife and husband specific and "we" requests were related to better problem resolution in the conversation, and greater percentages of wife specific and "we" requests were related to greater wife satisfaction. Research and clinical implications are detailed.

Relational problems are clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndromes or patterns that occur between or among individuals and that are associated with present distress or disability or with a significant increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom. Relational problems (e.g., partner relational problems, partner abuse, child maltreatment) are included as Axis I disorders in the DSM-IV as V-codes (i.e., "Other conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention"). However, there are no criteria provided in the DSM-IV for these codes. In this article, we briefly review literature that incontrovertibly documents both relational problems' syndromes/patterns and their serious sequelae. We then review a series of studies that provide evidence of content validity and inter-rater agreement for criteria to determine presence versus absence of relational problems. The most studied subset of relational problem criteria, those for partner and child maltreatment, have been shown to have remarkably high levels of reliability when disseminated broadly in the field (kappa = .66-.89), at agreement levels never reached by DSM diagnoses for individuals. We conclude by arguing that science, service, families, individuals, and the DSM itself, would be well served to include diagnostic criteria for relational problems and to consider the various options for placement of relational problems/processes in the DSM-V.

We discuss translational research and its application in family violence research by (a) discussing what translational research is, (b) describing a six-stage model of the translational research cycle, (c) pondering the implication of each stage for family maltreatment research, and (d) providing examples of areas ready for translational research relevant to family violence.