Candidate: Suzanne VanWeelde

Degree of: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Sociology

Title: Intergenerational Power Exchange Model: Meta-Analysis of a Batterers' Intervention Program

Committee:
Dr. Douglas Davidson, Chair
Dr. Charles Crawford
Dr. Donald Cooney
Dr. James Petersen

Date: Monday, November 17, 2003 1:00 - 3:00 pm
2526 Sangren Hall

Abstract: Domestic violence is an ongoing social problem. Many women have suffered from the abuse of spouses and boyfriends. A number of children have been victims, or witnesses of, the particular form of violence. The consequences of this abuse are preventable crimes, victims and witnesses becoming abusers themselves, and escalating health and mental costs. Domestic violence has touched every community within the United States. It is not a social problem that sociological researchers can afford to minimize.

Sociological literature has documented the growth of the social problem of domestic violence. As a result of the awareness of domestic violence as a serious social problem, various communities have created intervention projects and assisted those affected by this type of violence. Women have received assistance to empower themselves against abusers. Victims have been assisted, law enforcement has been educated, agencies have been informed, and various programs for the abuser have been initiated. The focus, currently, is to assess the worthiness of programs designed to prevent and intervene in cases of abuse. Some programs are designed to treat the abusers as out-patients. Some are designed to assess their problem within correctional facilities. Numerous researchers have analyzed the merits of such programs for domestic abusers. This dissertation is an attempt to apply a meta-theoretical analysis to a research project completed by the author of this dissertation.

This dissertation is also an attempt to identify and define applied knowledge to the appropriate master theoretical base within the sociological literature. Theory, is itself, a cure for social ills when application is utilized. The focus of this dissertation is to identify the applicable theory and create a model to illustrate this working knowledge base.

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