Review articleTypological approaches to violence in couples: A critique and alternative conceptual approach
Section snippets
Principal batterer and violence typologies
On the basis of a thorough review of previous literature, Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart (1994) have suggested that men who are maritally violent show heterogeneity in individual characteristics and vary along three dimensions; severity and frequency of violence, generality of violence (confined to family or including nonfamily), and the man's psychopathology. Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart identified three subtypes of male batterers; namely, generally violent/antisocial, dysphoric/borderline, and
Rethinking conceptual approaches to understanding the etiology and course of violence
In this section, we discuss a number of issues that need further consideration within the field. These issues include the extent to which the identified typologies may be on the basis of differences of degree more than type; conceptualization of change in aggression; difficulties with the distinction between instrumental and expressive motivations for violence; and the primary focus on individual characteristics rather than the dyadic context and interaction processes.
A dynamic developmental systems approach to understanding violence toward a partner
We have conceptualized behavior in couples as a dynamic developmental system in which behavior in the dyad is inherently interactive and also responsive to developmental characteristics of each of the partners and to both broader and more proximal contextual factors. We have built and tested aspects of such an early life-span model in a series of studies over the past decade, predominantly using the Oregon Youth Study sample. A summary of the model is depicted in Fig. 2 and is described in more
Clinical utility of batterer typologies
The idea that batterers typologies would help develop and match specific treatments to specific subgroups of individuals has been emphasized by a number of researchers (e.g., Cavanaugh and Gelles, 2005, Stith et al., 2004). In fact, Saunders (1996) found evidence that feminist–cognitive–behavioral treatment (FCBT) tended to result in more positive treatment outcomes (i.e., lower rates of recidivism) for individuals with antisocial personality characteristics, whereas individuals with dependent
Implications for future research and clinical interventions
We recommend that future research on the violence in couples be based on conceptual models that account for the body of evidence that has emerged in the past 20 years. In particular, recently there has been a growing number of prospective developmental studies of couples' aggression. Such work indicates the need for a dynamic approach that conceptualizes the behavior as involving the process of social interaction of two individuals, each with influence on the others behavior, that is embedded
Conclusion
Perhaps one of the most troubling aspects of typological approaches is an unintended side effect. Typologies easily tend to become reified; they are an abstraction — a heuristic device, but tend to become considered to be concrete in clinical and even research applications. Many typology studies focus on identifying the hypothesized subgroups, but their efforts often stop short of extending the work beyond that. Typology studies often apply relatively limited measures to obtain the typologies
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Jane Wilson, Rhody Hinks, and the data collection staff for their commitment to high quality data, Sally Schwader for editorial assistance with manuscript preparation, and Sharon Foster for comments on an earlier draft of this article.
The Cognitive, Social, and Affective Development Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National
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