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Intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure has been associated with poor mental health outcomes for victims, but fewer studies have examined the unique contributions of emotional abuse to mental health. This study explored the contextual relationships between the type and frequency of IPV, community factors, and emotional health. Data were collected from a community-based IPV intervention program. Logistic regression found an increased likelihood of depression for respondents who experienced emotional abuse more than once per week (odds ratio [OR] = 4.864) and were worried about contact by the abuser (OR = 5.898). Results indicate the need for specific policy and practice attention to this issue., (© The Author(s) 2016.)

In contrast to younger populations, little attention has been paid to the increase in seniors using Internet-based venues to find relationships and the potential risk for adverse outcomes this poses. This study examined data collected via an online survey from 45 ethnically diverse women aged 50+ “seeking relationships” on MySpace. The majority of women reported a relationship with someone they met online (85%). They also reported experiencing adverse events including financial exploitation (40%), threats (55%), and physical harm (38%) by someone they met online at levels greater than traditional relationship seeking in the general population. Directions for future research are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Families involved with child welfare services often experience a range of stressors in addition to maltreatment, including intimate partner violence, substance abuse, and mental health problems. Children in these families are at risk for developing a myriad of problems. Although parenting education programs are among the most routine interventions for families involved with child welfare services, there is relatively little data available about these programs for families with multiple stressors. This study sought to explore the family stressors in parents involved in the child welfare system who have been referred to an intensive therapeutic parenting program, and the relationship of those stressors to change in parenting attitudes. Quantitative abstraction of parenting program files was conducted. Analyses included descriptive and bivariate statistics, and related samples t tests to examine change in parenting attitudes. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a sub-sample of this population. File abstraction revealed that parents in this population experiencing multiple co-occurring stressors ranged from 23 to 39%. Significant improvements in parenting attitudes were found for most groups of participants, including those with violence, mental health, and substance abuse problems. Qualitative interviews indicated that parents felt that they were learning from the parenting program and were supported by the facilitators . Parents facing multiple stressors are unlikely to be able to parent effectively, and may need significant support and intervention. Additional understanding of the types of issues they face and whether particular interventions are effective for those groups would allow for the development of more targeted interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated whether the use of a multilevel system of intervention based on batterer assessment resulted in lowered risk of re-arrests for both domestic violence and other crimes. The study conducted analysis of data from 1995 to 2004, including initial arrest and program placement information and re-arrest rates for 17,999 individual batterers. The study found that recidivism rates were substantially lower for participants who completed the programs when compared to those who did not and that the re-arrest rates were substantially lower than are generally found in the literature on batterer recidivism. The study provides guidance to batterers intervention programs in approaches to designing countywide programs that are most effective in reducing recidivism in domestic violence batterers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]