Introduction
The issue of family violence has captured the attention of a broad range of professional, political, and social organizations. Media reports of various types of family violence—parental beatings of young children, spousal attacks that result in severe physical or emotional injuries, and children who abuse their elderly parents —fill the evening news and morning papers. In response, federal, state, and local officials in the health, social services, legal, and educational sectors have developed programs and policies to address concerns about family or intimate violence. A broad range of initiatives has begun in diverse settings to respond to different forms of violence: between parents and children; between spouses; and in other intimate settings, such as gay, lesbian, and nonmarital cohabiting relationships. At the same time, opportunities for the exchange of research findings and for integrating research insights with program experience have been limited. As a result, research has not been effective in guiding policy and program formulation in the area of family violence.
The purpose of the Workshop on Violence and the American Family was to consider the nexus between research and policy initiatives: to identify key issues that need to be addressed in responding to the problem of family violence and to determine the state of research in the field.
The participants were asked to consider key similarities and differences among the various forms of family violence; to identify lessons learned in understanding the causes and consequences of family violence; to highlight some promising approaches in addressing the problems of child abuse, spousal
abuse, elder abuse, and adolescent violence; to consider the implications of family violence for future governmental policies and programs in the areas of health, social services, and criminal justice; and to clarify issues related to family violence that would be appropriate for empirical analysis and policy or research recommendations.
The workshop program was organized so that the discussions would converge on the identification of important dimensions of the problem of family violence. In the opening plenary session, each participant was invited to describe one particular issue or promising development in this field that deserves attention. The participant statements were then examined by three separate working groups, who were asked to determine the areas of greatest opportunity, and need, to be considered in structuring the study of family violence. The participants were also asked to consider the level of empirical research available in these selected areas and to determine whether a scientific review of the available literature was feasible.
The first working group sessions were organized by institutional sector: health, social services, and criminal justice. These groups reviewed interventions and problems identified in the opening plenary session and then identified three items that deserve the most attention in dealing with family violence. Following the presentation of the working group reports in plenary discussion, new groups—each of which included representation from all three institutional sectors—considered all the items and their relative importance. Finally, the plenary group considered the reports of these groups, and their points of convergence and disagreement and summarized the consensus of the workshop participants.
