Table of Contents

Introduction: "Understanding Controversies on Family Violence"
SECTION I: CONTROVERSIES IN CONCEPTUALIZATION
Introduction to Section
Issue 1: Family Violence: What Type of a Problem is it?
1. Through a Psychological Lens: "Personality Disorder and Spouse Assault" - Donald G. Dutton and Mark Bodnarchuk
2. Through a Feminist Lens: "Gender, Diversity, and Violence: Extending the Feminist Framework" - Kersti A. Yllö
3. Through a Sociological Lens: "The Complexities of Family Violence" - Donileen R. Loseke
SECTION II: CONTROVERSIES IN DEFINITION AND MEASUREMENT
Issue 2: Women′s Violence Toward Men: A Serious Social Problem?
4. Women′s Violence Towrad Men is a Serious Social Problem - Murray A. Straus
5. "Men′s Violence Toward Women is the Serious Social Problem" - Donileen R. Loseke and Demie Kurz
Issue 3: Date and Acquaintance Rape: Exaggerated Problems?
6. "More Data Have Accumulated Supporting Date and Acquaintance Rape as Significant Problems" - Mary P. Koss and Sarah L. Cook
7. "Advocacy Research Overstates the Incidence of Date and Acquaintance Rape" - Neil Gilbert
Issue 4: Spanking: Necessary and Effective?
8. "Proper Socialization Requires Powerful Love and Equally Powerful Discipline" - John Rosemond
9. "Children Should Never, Ever, Be Spanked No Matter What the Circumstances" - Murray A. Straus
SECTION III: CONTROVERSIES IN CAUSE
Introduction to Section
Issue 5: Alcohol and Addictive Drugs: The Causes of Violence?
10. "Alcohol and Other Drugs are Key Causal Agents of Violence" - Jerry R. Flanzer
11. "Association is not Causation: Alcohol and Other Drugs Do Not Cause Violence" - Richard J. Gelles and Mary M. Cavanaugh
Issue 6: Abused Elderly and Their Abusive Offspring: Who is Dependent?
12. "Elder Abuse is Caused by the Perception of Stress Associated with Providing Care" - Suzanne K. Steinmetz
13. "Elder Abuse is Caused by the Deviance and Dependence of Abusive Caregivers" - Karl Pillemer
SECTION IV: CONTROVERSIES IN SOCIAL INTERVENTION
Introduction to Section
Issue 7: The Battered Woman′s Syndrome: A Sensible Legal Defense? - Sue Osthoff and Holly Maguigan
14. The Self-Defense Claims of Battered Women - Sue Osthoff and Holly Maguigan
15. "Battered Woman′s Syndrome: Tool of Justice or False Hope in Self-Defense Cases?"
14 - Donald A. Downs and James Fisher
Issue 8: Child Sexual Abuse Education: Good Prevention?
16. "Child Sexual Abuse Prevention is Appropriate and Successful" - Carol A. Plummer
17. "Problems with Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs" - N. Dickon Reppucci, Jeffrey J. Haugaard, Jill Antonishak
Issue 9: Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting: Too Much or Too Little?

Issue 9: Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting: Too Much or Too Little?
18. Overreporting and Underreporting Child Abuse and Neglect are Twin Problems - Douglas J. Besharov
19. "The Main Problem is Underreporting Child Abuse and Neglect" - David Finkelhor
Issue 10: Family Preservation: An Important Goal in Child Abuse Intervention?
20. "Family Preservation is the Safest Way to Protect Most Children" - Richard Wexler
21. "Protecting Children is More Important than Preserving Families" - Richard J. Gelles
Conclusion: "Social Problems, Social Policies, and Controversies on Family Violence"
Index
Editor′s Bio′s
Contributing Author Bios

About the Author

Donileen R. Loseke is a professor in the department of sociology at the University of South Florida. She received her BA and MA in psychology (California State University, Dominguez Hills) and her PhD in sociology (University of California, Santa Barbara). Her books include The Battered Woman and Shelters, which won the Charles Horton Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, and Thinking About Social Problems. She also is the editor of Current Controversies on Family Violence (with Richard Gelles) and Social Problems: Constructionist Readings (with Joel Best). Numerous journal articles and book chapters report the findings of her empirical research projects, which have been on a variety of topics including evaluation research, social problems, criminal justice, social service provision, occupations, emotion, identity, and narrative and have used a variety of data generation techniques including field experiment, written survey, in-depth interview, ethnography, and document analysis. Among her editorial positions include editor of the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, advisory editor for Social Problems and Deputy Editor for Social Psychology Quarterly. She received the Mead Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction and will be the 2017 President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Richard J. Gelles received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of New Hampshire. He is the Dean of The School of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania and holds The Joanne and Raymond Welsh Chair of Child Welfare and Family Violence in the School of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the Director of the Center for the Study of Youth Policy and Co-Director of the Center for Children's Policy, Practice, and Research. His book, The Violent Home was the first systematic empirical investigation of family violence and continues to be highly influential. He is the author or coauthor of 23 books and more than 100 articles and chapters on family violence. His latest books are, The Book of David: How Preserving Families Can Cost Children's Lives (Basic Books, 1996) and Intimate Violence in Families, Third Edition (Sage Publications, 1997). Mary M. Cavanaugh, MFT, M.S. is currently a doctoral candidate in both Social Welfare and Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been involved with numerous research projects on intimate violence that have been submitted to the National Institute of Justice and the National Institute of Mental Health. She is a practitioner in the field of domestic violence facilitating batterer intervention service programs in cooperation with adult probation and parole departments and victim service agencies. She has served as a consultant and trainer on offender risk assessment and treatment services to state and local victim service agencies and youth and family service departments. Ms. Cavanaugh has recently completed a project for the U.S. Army on "The Evaluation of Domestic Violence Prevention and Intervention Strategies". She also serves as a consultant to the Violence Against Women and Family Violence Research and Evaluation Program for the National Institute of Justice.