Family Violence Across the Lifespan : An Introduction

"Locating current material to use in my family violence class each year that is engaging without sensationalizing, scientific without dryness, and comprehensive without tedium is always the most challenging and time-consuming aspect of class preparation. When I found Family Violence Across the Lifespan, I was exhilarated: Here, under one cover, is everything I wish for--but can′t always obtain--for the classpacks that I pull together. Congratulations, Ola W. Barnett and colleagues! Well done! You′ve done a great service!" --Lila Rucker, University of South Dakota "This text by Ola W. Barnett and her colleagues is simply the finest text I′ve seen during my 23 years of teaching courses in domestic violence." --John M. Johnson, Arizona State University "Violence has no age barrier. As Family Violence Across the Lifespan so clearly reveals, victims and perpetrators may be of any age. From interviews with experts in all phases of family violence, Ola W. Barnett and colleagues have compiled a compelling account of this serious societal problem, its causes, consequences, treatment, and prevention." --Rosalie Wolf, Institute on Aging, The Medical Center of Central Massachusetts Covering all different types of abuse, Family Violence Across the Lifespan offers a comprehensive and accessibly written introduction ideal for use in upper-division and master′s-level coursework. State-of-the-art information helps students achieve a deeper understanding of methodology, etiology, prevalence, treatment, and prevention of family violence. Research from experts in the fields of psychology, sociology, criminology, and social welfare is woven together to provide broad coverage of current viewpoints and debates within the field. While maintaining a strong scientific footing, the authors enliven research discussions with passion and humor to make the text provocative and engaging for students. In addition, informal interviews with leading authorities in the field of violence add depth and interest to the topics. Organized chronologically, chapters cover child physical, sexual, and emotional abuse; courtship violence and date rape; spouse abuse, battered women, and batterers; and elder abuse. This cutting-edge textbook concludes with an excellent chapter on future directions for research as well as appendixes with a thorough guide to resources. Special features of Family Violence Across the Lifespan include: * boxed inserts * case studies * intermediary and chapter summaries * interviews with experts, including photos * instructor′s manual Combining expertise and a thorough step-wise approach, Family Violence Across the Lifespan is a much-needed text for courses in this area of study.

Ola W. Barnett is a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Psychology at Pepperdine University, Malibu, California.  She earned her undergraduate and doctoral degrees in Psychology at UCLA, specializing in Learning.  Her initial research centered on batterers, and she later studied battered women and dating violence.  She has coauthored two best-selling Sage books (with Alyce D. LaViolette) on why battered women stay with abusive partners.  These books provide a scientific explanation, grounded in learning theory, for understanding the obstacles battered women face in trying to break free.  She remains active in the field of family violence by reviewing articles for a large number of journals and performing as an external grant reviewer for a few organizations.  She serves on the editorial board of the new journal, Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice.  She also continues research on the impact of transitional housing on the lives of battered women.

Robin D. Perrin is currently Professor of Sociology at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. His research interests and publications are in the areas of interpersonal violence, deviance theory, the social construction of social problems, and the sociology of religion. He is the coauthor of three books: Social Deviance: Being, Behaving, and Branding (with D. Ward & T. Carter, 1991), Child Maltreatment: An Introduction (with C. Miller-Perrin, Sage, 1999; 2007), and Family Violence Across the Lifespan (with O. Barnett & C. Miller-Perrin, Sage, 1997, 2005; 2011). He is the author or coauthor of numerous articles on a variety of topics related to religion, deviance, and interpersonal violence. He is the recipient of the 2004 Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence. He received his doctorate in sociology from Washington State University in 1989. Following his doctoral studies he was Assistant Professor of Sociology at Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Washington.