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Reducing Situational Violence in Low‐Income Couples by Fostering Healthy Relationships
Author(s) -
Cleary Bradley Renay P.,
Gottman John M.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2012.00288.x
Subject(s) - situational ethics , low income , psychology , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , demographic economics , economics
This work evaluated a psycho‐educational intervention designed to reduce intimate partner violence (IPV) in low‐income situationally violent couples. The primary objective was to evaluate the mechanism through which violence was reduced. It was hypothesized that IPV would be reduced via use of therapeutic skills taught during the intervention (i.e., friendship, sex/romance/passion, shared meaning, and conflict management skills). One‐hundred‐fifteen couples were randomly assigned to a treatment or no‐treatment control group. Couples self‐reported attitudes reflecting healthy relationship skills and IPV at multiple time points (baseline, post‐intervention, and long‐term post‐intervention). Results support the notion that violence was reduced via an increase in intervention‐based skills. Findings suggest that IPV can be safely reduced in low‐income situationally violent couples via conjoint treatment focused on building healthy relationship skills.