Family Abuse and Violence

JoAnn Miller is associate professor of sociology and an affiliated member of the Women's Studies faculty at Purdue University.Dean D. Knudsen received his PhD in sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is associate professor at Purdue University.

In Family Abuse and Violence: A Social Problems Perspective, Miller and Knudsen combine a remarkably encyclopedic analysis of existing findings and original research to skillfully present an empirically grounded conceptual framework for understanding the causes, manifestations, and consequences of intragenerational and intergenerational family abuse. Not content to stop there, with lucid prose they put this framework-what they call a "Family Abuse and Violence (FAV) Episode" perspective-to work in innovative ways. The result is clear: the value of this book for academics, advocates, and policymakers is beyond question, precisely because it is readable without betraying the complexity of the problem. In the process of addressing two extremely important questions-what do we know and what should we do-Miller and Knudsen present their ideas in a clear, reasoned, and evidenced-based way, which leaves the reader with keen insight about the social context in which family abuse and violence occurs as well as compelling ideas for social change.

• Part 1 A Family Abuse and Violence Episode FrameworkChapter 2 Family Abuse and Violence Episodes: A Case Study and a Conceptual FrameworkChapter 3 Measuring and Estimating the Cases: Agency, Government, and Social Survey DataPart 4 A History of Family Abuse and Violence in the United StatesChapter 5 Interpreting the PastChapter 6 From Violence to Abuse: Defining a Social ProblemPart 7 Intergenerational Forms of Family Abuse and ViolenceChapter 8 Physical Abuse of ChildrenChapter 9 Sexual Abuse of ChildrenPart 10 Changing Definitions and Perceptions of a Social ProblemChapter 11 Implications of Family Abuse and Violence DefinitionsChapter 12 General Population Perceptions of Family Abuse and ViolencePart 13 Intragenerational Forms of Family Abuse and ViolenceChapter 14 Dating and Intimate Partner Abuse and ViolenceChapter 15 Consequences of Intragenerational Family Abuse and ViolencePart 16 DependentsChapter 17 Neglect: The Failure to Act on Behalf of DependentsPart 18 Assessing the SituationChapter 19 Persistent Controversies and Emerging IssuesChapter 20 What Do We Know? What Should We Do?