Includes bibliographical references (p. 441-510) and indexes.

Why are families violent? -- Discovering family violence: how social conditions become social problems -- Discovering child maltreatment: the historical context -- Discovering child physical abuse -- Discovering child sexual abuse -- Discovering child neglect and child psychological maltreatment -- Discovering adult victimization: the historical context -- Discovering battered women -- Discovering battered men? -- Discovering marital rape -- Discovering dating violence -- Discovering elder abuse -- International issues in the discovery of family violence -- New and emerging issues -- Gay and lesbian violence -- Cross-cultural factors -- Defining family violence: understanding the social construction of deviance definitions -- What is a family? -- What is violence? -- A definition of family violence -- Family violence and the law -- Introducing issues in practice, policy and prevention -- Prevention of family violence -- Family support and training programs -- School-based programs -- Community awareness campaigns -- Intervention strategies -- Mandatory reporting laws -- Family preservation, foster care, and adoption -- Criminal justice issues -- Shelters and hotlines -- Treating offenders and victims -- Coordinated community responses -- Summary -- Goals of the book -- Discussion questions -- Recommended readings -- Boxed insert 1.1: distinguishing maltreatment from abuse -- Boxed insert 1.2: common myths about family violence -- Boxed insert 1.3: personalizing family violence research -- Research methodology, assessment, and theories: investigating the problem of family violence -- Introduction -- Case history #2a: juanita's broken heart and broken body -- Studying family violence: a multidisciplinary effort -- Box #2a: conflicting goals of researchers and practitioners: need for collaboration -- Sociological research -- Social work research -- Criminological research -- Psychological and psychiatric research -- Medical, nursing, and public health research -- Legal research -- Expansion of federal government research -- Section summary -- Theoretical explanations of family violence -- Macrotheory: explaining patterns of family violence -- Cultural explanations -- Interview 2a: kersti yllo - must update -- Social-structural factors -- Deterrence: low cost of family violence -- Microtheory: explaining the behavior of violent family members -- Socialization and learning theories -- Table 1: expansion of learning theories -- Individual (intrapersonal) difference theories -- Interpersonal interaction theories -- Multidimensional theories -- Section summary -- Methodology: how researchers try to answer questions about family violence -- Box #2b: issues related to family violence research -- Methodological issues in family violence -- Sources of data -- Assessment and research design issues -- Lack of theoretical foundation -- Definitional disagreements -- Populations sampled -- Comparison groups -- Longitudinal (outcome) studies -- Diversity awareness - inclusion of minority groups -- Family violence scales and measurement issues -- Interview #2b: k. daniel o'leary -- Conflict tactics scales (cts1) -- Revised conflict tactics scales (cts2) -- Box #2c: types of questions on the cts2 -- Box #2d: types of questions on the cts-pc -- Estimating rates of family violence -- Growing recognition of psychological abuse -- Need for multiple measurements -- Cultural competence in assessment -- Statistical and evaluation matters -- Researcher training -- Univariate and multivariate designs -- Case histories and qualitative studies -- Ethical issues -- Section summary -- Practice, policy, and prevention issues -- Practice issues -- Policy implications -- Summary -- Discussion questions -- Suggested readings.