Ronet Bachman – författare

Is life in the United States becoming more stressful? Are levels of stress related to residence in a particular state or region? Is stress in a society associated with aggression?In this important book the authors report on a major research project that establishes a link between stress and aggression in the United States. They first update the standard State Stress Index, which evaluates statistics on business failure, unemployment, divorce, abortion, illegitimate birth, disaster assistance, welfare, and school dropout rate for the fifty states. Using these current indexes, they are able to compare differences among states in the stressfulness of life. They then present new data on violence—both violence directed at others (homicide, intrafamily assault, and rape) and self-destructive violence (suicide and substance abuse). The authors make a compelling case that stress leads to widespread and often lethal aggression. In addition, they consider cultural norms of various groups within states relating to drinking, the use of violence for socially legitimate purposes, the status of women, and readership of pornography, in an effort to explain geographic differences in the manifestations of violence. Linsky, Bachman, and Straus conclude by outlining the policy implications of their findings.

This volume is the first major attempt to systematically examine the etiology of violence in American Indian communities. Using fieldwork as well as quantitative and qualitative research, Bachman first presents an overview of American Indians from historical and contemporary perspectives, before she focuses specifically on violence and its causes. Homicide, suicide, and family violence are analyzed in depth, and the destructive impacts of alcohol and other addictive substances are documented.Dr. Bachman effectively uses personal stories and narratives given by American Indians to illustrate the living reality behind the statistics she presents. She concludes with a variety of policy recommendations that will be of interest not only to policymakers, but also to academic researchers and students in criminology, ethnic relations, sociology, and anthropology.