Women's Use of Violence: An Ecological Systems Model

Women’s use of violence within intimate relationships is an important area of which both researchers and clinicians can benefit from gaining a better understanding. In the current literature on women’s use of violence, two main perspectives dominate, including the family violence perspective and the feminist perspective. The main goal of the present study was to gain a better understanding of women’s use of violence. Specifically, qualitative methodology was utilized to explore the possibility that typologies may exist within women’s use of violence that may help to explain the discrepant findings within the literature. Twelve women completed an online questionnaire that included interview-style questions developed utilizing Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model, the Conflict Tactics Scale-2, and a measure created by the main researcher called the Contextual Relationship Measure. Key findings included (a) development of four typologies, (b) identification of characteristics associated with women who have used violence in their relationship, and (c) development of a grounded theory on women’s use of violence. Limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed, including (a) issues related to the methodology utilized, (b) issues related to the population being studied, and (c) suggestions on how to build from the current findings.Sara ByczekMacDonald,Christine.DLeggett, DebraSchriver, JenniferDoctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Communication Disorders, Counseling, School, and Educational PsychologyCunningham Memorial library, Terre Haute, Indiana State University.201205-04DoctoralTitle from document subtitle page. Document formatted into pages: contains 152p. : ill. Includes appendix and bibliography