THERAPISTS' PROTOTYPICAL ASSESSMENT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SITUATIONS

Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Apr 2007 by Blasko, Kelly A, Winek, Jon L, Bieschke, Kathleen J

Prototypical perceptions by therapists have the potential to influence the therapeutic process of assessment. The purpose of this study is to begin to develop an understanding of how prototypes might affect marriage and family therapists' assessments of domestic violence situations. Participants evaluated one of three domestic violence scenarios that were identical in dynamics but different in terms of sexual orientation of the couple (i.e., heterosexual, gay, or lesbian). The most significant finding was that initial assessments of victim and perpetrator identification and power attribution differed depending on the sexual orientation of the couple. The "man as perpetrator, woman as victim" prototypical paradigm for heterosexual domestic violence emerged. In the same-sex scenarios, often "both" partners were perceived to be indicated both as victim and perpetrator.

Determining the factors influencing the perceptions of prejudice has recently been the focus of a number of social psychology research investigations (Baron, Burgess, & Kao, 1991; Inman & Baron, 1996; Marti, Bobier, & Baron, 2000). The results of Inman and Baron's research on racial and gender discrimination suggest that one's perceptions are biased by specific expectations regarding prototypical perpetrators and victims of prejudice. A prototypical view refers to our experiences of bias based on our most typical images of whom we are most likely to identify as perpetrators and victims (e.g., in regard to sexism, a man discriminating against a woman). In cases of high prototypicality, Stereotypie effects in cognition are likely to occur (Inman & Baron, 1996). If we extend this theory to the context of family therapy, the prototypical perceptions of therapists could have an effect on the therapeutic process with clients in terms of assessment and intervention. To date research has not been focused specifically on investigating how therapists' perceptions of prototypes influence therapists' perceptions of particular issues or for different populations. The purpose of this study is to begin to develop an understanding of how prototypes could affect therapists' assessments of a clinical issue. Specifically, the influences of prototypes on marriage and family therapists' (MFTs) assessments of domestic violence situations are examined.

Domestic violence is one therapeutic issue MFTs commonly encounter when working with individuals, couples, and families (Doherty & Simmons, 1996; Stith, Rosen, & McCollum, 2003). Assessment strategies used by MFTs must consider the potential for the presence of violence in the couples they see. Interview measures (e.g., Domestic Violence Interview; Fruzzetti, Saedi, Wilson, & Rubio, 1998) and self-report measures (e.g., Revised Conflict Tactic Scales; Straus, Hamby, Boney-McCoy, & Sugarman, 1996) are behavioral mechanisms for assessing partner violence. The two most common questions in partner violence assessment are: who is the perpetrator and who is the victim in the partner violence (Rathus & Feindler, 2004)? Any preconceived notions of who might be a perpetrator or victim may influence the treatment recommendations.

We believe that domestic violence represents a clinical situation in which prototypical conceptions and stereotypes are likely to be found and that these relate to beliefs of gender symmetry held by therapists during assessment. Gender symmetry refers to the extent to which one believes that there are equal numbers of women compared with men who are victimized in domestic violence situations (Kimmel, 2002). The actual likelihood of gender symmetry in heterosexual domestic violence situations is questioned in the family literature (Johnson & Ferraro, 2000; Kimmel, 2002).

In the National Violence Against Women (NVAW) Survey, data were collected that helped describe and explore the possible differences in prevalence of intimate partner violence between same-sex and opposite-sex cohabiting partners. In a study based on the NVAW data, Tjaden, Thoennes, and Allison (1999) found that the intimate partner violence prevalence rates were greater for same-sex cohabitants than opposite-sex cohabitants. For example, 21.5% of samesex cohabiting men reported a history of physically assaulted by a male and/or female partner compared with 7.7% of opposite-sex cohabiting men. Likewise, 35.4% of same-sex cohabiting women reported a history of physical assault by male and/or female partners compared with 18.3% of opposite-sex cohabiting women. Looking specifically at prevalence among same-sex couples, a lower rate of women living with female partners (11.4%) reported physical assault by their partner compared with men living with male partners (13.8%). Based on this data, we assume that identification of a woman as victim and a man as perpetrator in a domestic violence situation is one prototypical paradigm influencing therapists during clinical assessment. The differing discourses on domestic violence and gender symmetry are described next to establish a context for defining this prototypical paradigm.