Family Violence

Contributors engage the communication issues associated with violence in families, including interspousal violence and violent parents and children.

Although the United States has a high level of affluence and education compared to much of the rest of the world, neither wealth nor schooling ensures personal safety, particularly within the family and home. Every ten seconds, a child is beaten, neglected, or molested by his or her own family members, and many couples and children can be violent, abusive, and aggressive towards other family members as well. Family Violence focuses on the communication processes that occur before, during, and after these episodes. Contributors to the volume include both established scholars and newcomers to the communication field who use quantitative and qualitative approaches to unravel the complexities of the communication processes that are at the center of violence in families. Essays cover a range of topics, focusing separately on couples violence and violence between parents and children, and through the lens of communication research shed new light on the significant problem of domestic violence in the United States.