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In most interpersonal communication courses, educators teach their students about the actions competent communicators will take to make a relationship more satisfying for both parties. What happens, however, when educators consider maintenance behaviors in the context of a relationship that is destructive, a system that is not only dysfunctional, but is abusive? It might be expected that the behaviors that maintain a healthy relationship would also maintain a sick one. An even deeper question might be whether or not relationship maintenance behaviors that function to nurture a healthy relationship also function to nurture--to fuel--the dysfunction in an abusive system. If so, then the very behaviors educators teach as important skills to know and to enact as a competent communicator may function to increasingly entrap, enmesh, and contribute to a system that is destructive to that communicator. This paper briefly reviews some of the research on relational maintenance behaviors, concluding that, on the basis of the review, it appears that enacting relationship maintenance behaviors are functional if a person wants to preserve a relationship, repair a relationship, or help a relationship become more satisfying for both partners. The paper then reviews characteristics of an abusive relational system. Finally, it looks at how relational maintenance behaviors may function within the context of that system. (Contains 12 references and 2 tables.) (NKA)

This paper is intended as a discussion paper to open up talk in the literacy community on how literacy programs can account for the impact violence has on learning. It builds on the author's previous research on issues raised by literacy workers, educators, researchers, academics, therapists, and counselors concerning this impact. The current study is seeking to better understand what supports and what hinders making change in literacy programs so that the programs can more fully support learning for all women, and in particular those who have experienced violence. In this paper the author tries to reveal the processes of "dominant discourses" that exclude the issue of violence from education, thus making change unlikely. Seeing language and current practices as discourse offers a tool to get outside a focus on what is right and draw attention to examining how certain discourses open and close possibilities. (Contains 10 references.) (JDM)

Family connections, traditional activities, educational goals, and fatalism are themes running throughout research and published observations about Appalachia. Information from 3 days of interviews with the author's grandmother, an 87-year-old Appalachian woman, is compared to these common research themes. The interviewee's experiences concerning family connections were consistent with the literature in that they revealed strong family ties and a marriage to a mentally and physically abusive man who kept her isolated at home. Traditional activities such as farming, canning, and quilting were all strongly present in the interviewee's life, which corresponded with findings in the literature. Much of the literature regarding Appalachian beliefs about education portrays Appalachians as being less interested in education, with many considering formal education as a substitute for hard work. Higher education, especially for women, is discouraged. The author's grandmother did not have those experiences. She graduated high in her class and intended to attend college, but finances prevented it. At age 67, she took a few college classes. The fatalism reported in research was not a dominant theme in the interviews, but threads of resignation were detected toward the hardships she endured. While the grandmother's life mirrored many of the research themes, her strength, dignity, and courage overshadowed their negativity. (Contains 20 references.) (TD)

The forms of abuse that animals are subjected to are similar to the forms of abuse children experience, such as physical abuse, serious neglect, and psychological abuse. This document describes psychiatric, psychological, and criminal research linking animal abuse to violence perpetrated by juveniles and adults. Particular attention is given to the prevalence of cruelty to animals by children and adolescents and to the role of animal abuse as a possible symptom of conduct disorders. It reviews the motivations and etiology underlying the maltreatment of animals. The importance of including information about animal abuse in the assessment of youth at-risk of committing interpersonal violence is emphasized throughout the publication. Recommendations are included on how to curb animal cruelty. A list of resources is included for additional information. (Contains 90 references.) (JDM)

This paper explores the issues and possible etiologies associated with Non-Organic Failure To Thrive (NOFTT), a syndrome in which a child's weight gain deviates from an established pattern to become dramatically less than norms for age and sex. The case study of a 4-year-old named Lexis complements the literature review. Lexis remained small and displayed food refusal behavior leading to malnutrition and failure to thrive. NOFFT has been associated with lack of maternal care during infancy and lack of touch. In many cases, the mothers of NOFTT children do not recognize the problem, insisting that the child is merely small. Mothers of NOFTT children demonstrate fewer vocalizations, insensitivity to child cues, more negative emotional behavior, poor affective expression, and emotional unavailability. There is no one answer to preventing NOFTT, but maternal counseling and parenting classes are crucial to a child's recovery. Intervention should target the family as a whole. (Contains 18 references.) (SLD)

This paper presents and discusses the responses of a class of first-grade students and a class of fourth-grade students to the elements of psychological maltreatment in the fairy tales "Cinderella" and "The Twelve Months." Responses of the first-grade students indicate that both boys and girls felt that the fairy tale heroine let herself be treated badly because she was nice. When asked what they would have done if they were treated like that, the responses of the female students indicated that they believed that being nice would set things right in the end. However, the boys indicated that their reactions to mistreatment would be to strive to defend themselves rather than to passively accept their circumstances. Responses of the fourth-grade students indicated that they felt that the fairy tale heroine let herself be treated badly because she was not only nice but she was also powerless. When asked what they would have done if they were treated like that, both boys and girls thought that they would strive to defend themselves or would actively seek to change their circumstances. The study has practical applications in that it appears that fairy tales can be used as a resource for raising children's awareness of the elements of psychological maltreatment. The paper also includes a discussion of the theoretical frameworks thought to be important in explaining the importance and impact of fairy tales, including psychoanalytic, social-learning, behavioral, and feminist viewpoints. (Contains 26 references.) (GCP)

In the mid 1980's some of the counselors on Guam began to explore oppressive family patterns. This resulted in major legislative, child welfare, and law enforcement changes, as well as a quest for treatment strategies that would meet the needs of this unique multi-cultural population. This paper discusses the use of experiential, culture-sensitive techniques to help women experiencing partner abuse. Themes are used as treatment strategies for education and recovery group counseling of abused women and include personal safety, victim blaming, growing up females, and denial. (JDM)

This report is a brief introduction to the findings of a research project that examined the impact of abuse on women's literacy learning and explored approaches to literacy programming in the light of these impacts. Interviews were conducted with literacy workers, learners, and counselors to determine the impact of abuse they saw in their work and how literacy programs could address the impact of violence. Following an introduction there is a section that discusses violence and trauma. The next section covers the issues of control, connection, and meaning and how they can be incorporated into a literacy program. The connections between literacy and therapy are then explored. Next an examination is made of new possibilities for literacy practice in light of the impact that violence can have on learning. The last section discusses how to create balance among mind, body, emotion, and spirit through literacy programs. All of these sections are followed by a list of possible actions that can be taken by literacy programs and organizations. (ADT)

The Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS) are intended to measure use of nonviolent discipline, psychological aggression, and physical assault in parent-child and other family relationships. The latter two scales provide a basis for identifying psychological and physical maltreatment. Two revisions of the CTS became available in 1996. One, the CTS2 is designed to measure relationships between partners in a marital, cohabiting, or dating relationship, while the other, the CTSPC is designed for measuring parent-child relationships. This paper makes available information based on the original CTS and the CTSPC to facilitate understanding and appropriate use. Research results suggest that the internal consistency reliability of the scales are low because parents who engage in one type of maltreatment do not necessarily maltreat the child in other ways. Despite this, when the CTS and CTSPC have been used in epidemiological surveys, they have revealed many more cases of child abuse than have been reported to child protective services. Nevertheless, research suggests that these CTS rates must be regarded as lower bound estimates. Additionally, clinical screening with the scales, while identifying many cases that would not otherwise be known, will still miss many cases. A substantial body of evidence supports the construct validity of these measures, and the brevity and minimal reading level of the scales make them feasible for clinical screening, survey research, tracking progress among families receiving services, and for obtaining data on the effectiveness of prevention and treatment programs. Two appendixes present the original CTS and CTSPC items by scale and subscale and a discussion of prevalence rates and chronicity of maltreatment. (Contains 71 references.) (SLD)

The Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales (CTSPC), a version of the well-established Conflict Tactics Scales, was developed to improve its ability to obtain data on physical and psychological child maltreatment. The conceptual and methodological approaches used to develop the CTSPC are described and psychometric data, including reliability, validity, and normative data, are presented based on a nationally representative sample of 1,000 U.S. parents. The Psychological Aggression and Physical Assault scales of the original version were revised to: (1) improve clarity and age-appropriateness; (2) add items to increase content validity; and (3) better differentiate among levels of severity of aggression by parents. A supplementary scale has been added to address child neglect. Reliability ranges from 0 for the severe physical assault subscale to 0.70 for the nonviolent discipline subscale. Despite low reliability coefficients, the CTSPC has found a prevalence rate for physical maltreatment of 49 per 1,000, much greater than for cases reported to child protective services, and 5 times greater than the rate uncovered in a national incidence study. The CTSPV is better suited to measure child maltreatment than the original instrument. It is brief and easy to administer. The instrument is attached as an appendix. (Contains 2 tables and 50 references.) (SLD)

The Neglect Scale was designed as a measure of neglect of children's basic needs by caretakers. It measures neglect of physical, emotional, supervisory, and cognitive needs. The version of the Neglect Scale described in this report can be used in interview or questionnaire format with adolescents to describe their current situations or with adults to describe neglect when they were growing up. Preliminary psychometric data based on a college student sample (340 to 359 students) is presented for the full 20-item scale, including the 4 subscales, and for 8-item and 4-item short forms. These preliminary data indicate that the Neglect Scale has a high level of internal consistency reliability. Evidence is also presented in support of construct validity. Limitations of the Neglect Scale are discussed, and modifications that enable the scale to be used with a variety of populations are described. An attachment presents the scale. (SLD)

This study used data from the Rochester Youth Development Study to examine linkages between childhood maltreatment and later delinquency. Three central issues were addressed: (1) the magnitude of the relationship between early child maltreatment and later official and self-reported delinquency; (2) the possibility of spuriousness in this relationship; and (3) the impact of more extensive measurement of maltreatment on later delinquency. The final sample was comprised of 1,000 students attending seventh or eighth grade in 1988 and their primary caretakers, with males and students from high crime areas overrepresented. Data were collected through separate interviews with adolescents and caretakers. The child maltreatment measure was based on information from Child Protective Services records. Five indicators of maltreatment were used, prevalence and frequency of maltreatment, duration, number of types of maltreatment, and total severity score. Outcome measures included official measures of number of police contacts as a juvenile or arrests as an adult and self-report of delinquency from eighth through twelfth grades. Delinquency indices were general, serious, moderate, minor, and violent delinquency. Results revealed a significant relationship between child maltreatment occurring before age 12 and subsequent self-reported and official delinquency and the relationship, especially for more serious forms of delinquency, remained when controlling for other factors such as race/ethnicity, sex, underclass status, and family structure. The results also suggested that more extensive maltreatment is related to higher rates of delinquency. Appendices provide exemplars of levels of abuse severity and the delinquency scales. (Four tables delineate findings. Contains 65 references.) (AA)

In response to a 1993 Minnesota crime bill, four task forces reviewed violence education in professional higher education programs and made recommendations for legislation and law enforcement. The four task forces--in Law, Health Services, Human Services, and Education--made several critical recommendations that applied across professions: interdisciplinary violence education should be taught by knowledgeable faculty for all students in professional education programs; victims and offenders should participate as speakers, panelists, and community resources; protocols should be developed in all professions for dealing with violent or abusive members; cultural competency should be stressed for students and practitioners; pre-admission standards should screen students at risk for violent or abusive behavior; and opportunities for service learning should be provided all students. Among the 10 recommendations for legislation and 6 recommendations for law enforcement were the following: appropriate certification boards should create a specialization in law relative to crimes of violence; law enforcement schools should create experiential learning opportunities in areas related to violence and abuse; and the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board should define "conduct unbecoming an officer" to include patterns of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse or harassment. Appendixes contain a list of task force members and tables showing the evaluation of graduate professional education programs. (JB)

From sexual name-calling and grabbing to sexual threats, Iowa high school students face situations in their schools that fit traditional definitions of sexual harassment. This report details a first-of-its-kind study of 503 Iowa high school students. Incidents that could be described as harassment are common in Iowa high schools: 19 percent of female students and 8 percent of male students reported ongoing harassment of some kind; 38 percent of females and 26 percent of males reported some repeated exposure to sexual harassment; and 26 percent of females and 28 percent of males reported "one or two exposures" to sexually harassing situations. This means that, collectively, 83 percent of females and 62 percent of males in this study have had at least one exposure to a sexually harassing incident. Projecting these percentages to the entire Iowa high school student population would indicate that 98,300 Iowa high school students have had at least one exposure to a sexually harassing situation as described in this study. Other key findings include the size of the high schools did not affect findings; harassing situations were equally common for younger and older students; and students looked to adults--teachers, counselors, and administrators, to help them deal with sexual harassment. Contains a list of members of the sexual harassment advisory board, the Social Interaction Survey, and the Social Interaction Survey Questionnaire comments. (KW)

This testimony provides a review of sexual harassment at the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the U.S. Air Force Academy. Information on the extent to which sexual harassment occurred at the academies, the forms it took, its effects on those subjected to it, as well as the academies' efforts to eradicate sexual harassment is presented. This review contains the following sections: (1) Background; (2) Results in Brief; (3) Sexual Harassment Continues at the Academies; (4) Women at the Academies Tend To Deal with Sexual Harassment Informally; (5) Sexual Harassment Can Produce Stress; (6) Academy Programs Generally Met DOD Standards; (7) Additional Steps Taken by the Academies; (8) Academies Have Not Evaluated Their Sexual Harassment Eradication Programs in a Routine, Systematic Manner; (9) Other Options for Sexual Harassment Prevention Programs; and (10) Conclusions. In summary, data being collected by the academies is not adequate to judge their progress in eradicating sexual harassment. Without trend data to determine whether sexual harassment is declining, the academies will not be able to assess the effectiveness of their programs or to decide whether to continue existing programs, restructure them, or institute new ones. (EH)

This position paper asserts that sexual harassment in educational settings constitutes a serious problem and is on the increase, if the number of court cases involving alleged incidents of harassment in education is any indicator. Members of the academic community appear reluctant to confront incidents of sexual harassment and develop proactive policies to eliminate sexual harassment from the schools. A historical perspective of the development of this complex social problem is outlined. In earlier times women were regarded as possessions, with little social freedom. The adoption of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 granted equal employment rights to women. Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments threatened educational institutions with the possible loss of federal funding if they did not take steps to prevent discrimination; sexual harassment being defined as a form of discrimination. The 1980 Equal Opportunity Commission guidelines reflect the Title IX definition of sexual harassment. Research on the topic shows that sexual harassment is a continuing and increasing problem in secondary and postsecondary institutions, among women primarily, but also among males. Landmark legal cases involving the issue of sexual harassment are reviewed, with suggestions on models and procedures for establishing written policies for educational institutions. Prevention program models also are discussed. (EH)

Emotional child abuse is virtually inevitable in the context of the traditional nuclear family and often has a more detrimental effect on children than other, more widely publicized forms of maltreatment. This paper documents clinical, statistical, and empirical evidence showing that "normative" child-rearing practices in our culture have pathogenic properties and effects. Manifestations of emotional child abuse include: (1) behaviors based on parental hostility such as verbal abuse, sadistic socialization measures, lack of respect for the child's personal boundaries, threat of abandonment, and stifling a child's spontaneity; (2) destructive practices based on indifference and neglect, including excessive permissiveness and inconsistency; (3) behaviors based on ignorance, including dishonest role-playing, overprotection, and isolation; (4) overly restrictive or harsh moral codes; and (5) parents' defenses and addictive patterns that are transmitted to their children. A number of factors are involved in the psychodynamics of emotional maltreatment: parents' ambivalent feelings, the projection of parents' negative traits onto children, the confusion between emotional hunger and genuine love, the exclusivity of traditional coupling, and the utilization of the child as a symbol of immortality. It is mandatory that we examine dehumanizing child-rearing practices delineated here in order to help future generations of children. (Author)

Describes the prevalence of psychological aggression in a nationally representative sample of 991 parents. Prevalence rates greater than 90% and the absence of differences according to child or family characteristics suggests that psychological aggression is a near universal disciplinary tactic of American parents. Discusses the implications of the findings for the conceptualization of psychological "abuse". (Contains 38 references, 3 tables, and 1 figure.) (GCP)

Child maltreatment articles (n=2090) published from 1977-1998 were reviewed. Across the period studied, quantitative articles and articles on child sexual abuse increased and theoretical articles and articles on physical abuse decreased. Articles examining child neglect or emotional abuse remained consistently low. Participant recruitment from universities and outpatient facilities increased. (Contains references.) (CR)

Examines the relationships of sexual, physical and emotional abuse to emotional and behavioral problems among incarcerated girls and boys. Analyses indicated that girls were more likely than boys to internalize their problems. The only abuse variable that was positively and significantly associated with emotional problems was emotional abuse. Different types of abuse appear to have different effects on adolescent behavior. (Contains 46 references and 3 tables.) (GCP)