Across developed world governments, the last two decades have seen an increasing interest in the measurement of levels of poverty, and close assessment of policies intended to reduce those levels. However, the way that governments have developed national poverty measures means that the poverty of mothers is often hidden. This article highlights the methodological reasons for maternal poverty being underestimated in current measures by considering problems at three different levels: for the whole population, for women, and for mothers. The implications of these problems are then considered and some potential remedies suggested. Although it seems impossible to develop one “perfect” measure that will capture the full extent of maternal poverty, a number of improvements on current methods are proposed. The author goes on to argue that different researchers need to develop different measures in different contexts if maternal poverty is to be properly explored, and some ways of developing such measures are put forward. The article concludes by highlighting the paucity of research into maternal poverty and arguing that much more work is needed if it is to be understood and measured correctly.

This paper explores the relationship between religious behavior, religious belief and intimate partner violence. Survey data were gathered from a sample of undergraduates (N = 626). Our dependent variables were derived from conflict tactics scales and Strauss's Personal and Relationships Profile, measuring violence approval, psychological aggression, and intimate partner violence. Our two substantive independent variables were, first, religiosity as a scale containing questions from the General Social Survey, and second, Christian fundamentalism as a scale used in previously published research. General religiosity, measured as belief in God, strength of religious faith, church attendance, and frequency of prayer; was not associated with violence approval, psychological aggression, or intimate partner violence. However; Christian fundamentalism was positively associated with both violence approval and acts of intimate partner violence, but not psychological aggression.

This study examined the role that Mexican ethnicity, acculturation into Anglo American society, and social integration play in intimate partner violence among a sample of 348 college students. The results indicated that Mexican American ethnicity and acculturation into Anglo American society by Mexican American college students had no relation to intimate partner violence. However, integration into society was associated with a decreased probability of severely assaulting a partner among both Mexican Americans and Non-Mexican Whites. The results support a control theory perspective (social integration) on intimate partner violence.

The paper reports results from analyses of the physical aggression against dating partners by four samples of university students in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Mexican Americans and Non-Mexican Whites in El Paso and Lubbock Texas, and New Hampshire (N=1,544). The percent reporting partner violence (PV) was high in all samples, but also differed significantly between samples. The lowest rate was in New Hampshire (29.7%), followed by Texas, Non-Mexican Whites (30.9%), Texas Mexican American (34.2%), and the highest rate was in Juarez (46.1%). When only severe assaults were compared, the differences between samples was similar, i.e., lowest in New Hampshire and highest in Juarez. In all four samples, there was no significant difference between males and females in either the overall prevalence of physical aggression or the prevalence of severe attacks. Among the 553 couples where one or both of the partners were violent, in almost three quarters of the cases (71.2%) there was gender symmetry in the sense that both partners engaged in this type of behavior. When only one partner was violent, this was twice as likely to be the female partner (19.0%) as the male partner (9.8%). Among the 205 couples where there was an act of severe aggression, symmetry was less prevalent (56.6%), but when only one partner was violent, it was again twice as likely to be the female partner (29.8% female only versus 13.7 male partner only). These results are consistent with the gender symmetry in PV found in many studies. They extend those results by showing that gender symmetry prevails in four different cultural contexts. The presence of gender symmetry in these different cultural contexts, combined with studies showing that women are injured more often and more seriously by partner-assaults, and studies showing that women initiate PV as often as men, suggests that programs and policies aimed at primary prevention of PV by women are crucial to ending PV and for reducing the victimization of men and women.

Two plausible but contradictory approaches to question order in research on sensitive or criminal behavior are (1) that presenting the questions in a sequence corresponding to a culturally recognized behavior pattern will facilitate disclosure, and (2) that presenting questions in random order will result in more disclosure because random order disrupts response sets. The question order of the original Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS1) used the culturally recognized sequence approach, and the revised CTS (CTS2) used a modified random order. This experiment was designed to determine which of these two question orders results in more disclosure of physical and sexual assault of a dating partner. The standard version of the CTS2, which has the questions from each of the 5 scales interspersed in a slightly modified random order, was administered to every second student in a sample of 417 university students. The other half of the sample were given the same instrument but with the questions in the culturally recognized sequential order used in the CTS1. The cultural sequence order begins with the socially approved behaviors in the Negotiation scale and ends with scales measuring antisocial and the criminal behavior such as the Physical Assault scale. The results indicate that the CTS2 random order produced significantly higher disclosure rates for the scales that measure criminal behavior (Physical Assault, Injury, and Sexual Coercion) and made no difference for the other CTS2 scales (Negotiation and Psychological Aggression). Although these results suggest that the CTS2 random order is the preferred approach, reasons to treat that conclusion with caution are presented.

This study analyzed a sample of 348 college students to examine the role that criminal history and Mexican ethnicity play in predicting intimate partner violence. Respondents who committed crimes in the past (before the age of 15) had a higher probability of severely physically assaulting a partner than those respondents who had committed crime later in life (after the age of 15). A history of property crime was found to be a better predictor of severe partner assault than a history of violent crime. The results support a generalist perspective on crime, which states that most individuals typically do not commit one type of crime solely but commit a variety of different crimes (property and violent). This study also found differences between Mexican American and non-Mexican White students in reference to minor assaults on a partner.

This paper examines the level of suspicion by death certifiers when ruling infant deaths as accidents. Data were gathered on economic factors, amount of training in death investigation received, and personal characteristics for 1995 from 776 medical examiners or coroners. Findings indicate that personal and social factors such as age, education, and population have negligible or no effects on the level of suspicion held by death certifiers in manner of death rulings for infants. The findings from this study do suggest there is potential for inaccurate rulings of infant death due to lack of training, education, and economic resources depending on the events surrounding an infant's death and whether the death certifier is a coroner or medical examiner.

Studies that have compared intimate partner violence among Mexican Americans and Non-Mexican Whites have found conflicting results. The results can be grouped into three categories, those that found Mexican Americans have higher assault rates, those that found Mexican Americans have lower assault rates, and those that found no differences between both ethnic groups. This study analyzed a sample of 348 college students to examine the role that Mexican ethnicity and acculturation into Anglo American society by Mexican Americans plays in predicting intimate partner violence. Additionally, the role of criminal history and integration into society were analyzed to understand their unique effects on intimate partner violence. Furthermore, differences between Mexican Americans and Non-Mexicans in the relation of criminal history and social integration to intimate partner violence were investigated. The results indicated that Mexican American ethnicity and acculturation into Anglo American society by Mexican Americans had no effect on intimate partner violence. Respondents who committed crimes in the past (before the age of 15) had a higher probability of severely physically assaulting a partner than those respondents who had committed crime later in life (after the age of 15). A history of property crime was found to be a better predictor of severe partner assault than a history of violent crime. One of the most consistent findings in this study was that integration into society decreased the probability of severely assaulting a partner among both Mexican Americans and Non-Mexicans. This research found that there is no difference between Mexican Americans and Non-Mexicans in the rate of intimate partner violence, and no difference in two etiological factors: criminal history and social integration. The results support a generalist perspective on crime, which states that individuals do not solely commit one type of crime but commit a variety of different crimes (property and violent). Furthermore, the results found support for a control theory perspective on intimate partner violence.