Interdisciplinary Psychology and Law Training in Family and Child Mediation: An Empirical Study of the Effects on Law Student Mediators

There is growing interest in interdisciplinary training programs for law students. The goal of these programs is to prepare law students for the real world interdisciplinary settings they will face in their careers. However, there exists little research to provide evidence of the utility of such training. This study examined the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary psychology and law training program on law students using a multi-method approach (i.e., knowledge tests and focus group discussion). Findings suggest that interdisciplinary training of law students increased law students’ knowledge of law and psychology, was enjoyed by law students, and had a beneficial impact on law students’ educational experience

New Services for Families in the DC Superior Court

Until recently, because of concerns about safety and parties’ abilities to make good decisions in cases with a history of high intimate partner violence or abuse (IPV/A), in the District of Columbia’s Superior Court such cases were screened out of mediation and sent back to the family court. But two big program additions — videoconferencing and shuttle mediation — have allowed parties in these cases to consider mediation. The Multi-Door Dispute Resolution Division of the DC Superior Court (Multi-Door) implemented this change after several years of preparation: its administrators added safety measures, provided in-depth training for staff and mediators, and consulted with experts to design a research study to compare videoconference, shuttle mediation, and the prior practice of returning these cases to court

Classes of Intimate Partner Violence from Late Adolescence to Young Adulthood

Researchers do not agree on how intimate partner violence (IPV) emerges and changes from adolescence to young adulthood. This may be because change in these behaviors varies across individuals. The present study uses a longitudinal, person-centered approach to examine whether there are multiple classes or patterns of change in the perpetration of IPV during the transitional period from adolescence (age 18) to young adulthood (age 25) using data collected annually from a community sample of 484 participants. Latent class analysis was the analytic approach used. Results revealed three patterns for psychological IPV (Little-to-None, Minor/Increasing, and Extensive/Increasing) and two patterns for physical IPV (Little-to-None and Extensive). Patterns varied greatly in number of representatives, although they were more balanced in size for psychological than physical IPV. Variations in IPV behaviors were also revealed across classes, although as expected in a community sample, minor forms of IPV were more common than severe forms. In addition, classes differed in demographic and relationship status variables. These findings suggest that IPV may occur in multiple distinct patterns as opposed to one average pattern across a population. This suggests that interventions for IPV may need to be geared to differences in patterns to enhance their efficacy

Predicting Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration from Late Adolescence to Young Adulthood

Saint-Eloi Cadely et al. (2017) found longitudinal patterns for the perpetration of both psychological and physical intimate partner violence (IPV), including actively and minimally aggressive patterns. The current study builds on these findings by examining four theory-derived variables (interparental aggression, social-information processing (SIP) biases, relationship insecurities (preoccupied and fearful), and discontinuity in relationship partner over time) as predictors of membership within these patterns using multinomial logistic regression. The analysis sample consisted of 484 participants who were romantically involved at least once during the 8 waves of data collection from the ages of 18-25. In predicting psychological IPV, more SIP biases, higher levels of a preoccupied insecurity, and less discontinuity in relationship partners over time differentiated the actively aggressive patterns from the minimally aggressive pattern. Additionally, two actively aggressive patterns of psychological IPV differed in terms of SIP biases and discontinuity in romantic partners. Specifically, more SIP biases and less discontinuity in romantic partnerships distinguished the extensively aggressive pattern from the pattern that mainly consisted of minor types of aggression. In predicting physical IPV, the aggressive pattern differed from the non-aggressive pattern in terms of more interparental aggression, more SIP biases and more relationship insecurities. The findings that developmental patterns of IPV can be predicted by social and psychological factors may aid both developmental theory and practice

Temporal Associations between Psychological and Physical Intimate Partner Violence: A Cross-Lag Analysis

The present study examined the relationship between psychological and physical forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) across four waves of data during the developmental period of young adulthood. The links from early psychological aggression to later physical aggression and from early physical aggression to later psychological aggression across waves were tested while controlling for their cross-time stabilities and concurrent associations. IPV data were collected annually from 434 young adult respondents involved in a romantic relationship at least once during the respective years from the ages of 22-25. On average, participants provided IPV data for three out of the four years covered by the study (M = 2.82; SD = 1.14). Results of a cross-lagged SEM model indicated significant cross-time stabilities as well as significant, positive concurrent associations for both forms of aggression. Most important to this study were the findings that, controlling for these stabilities and concurrent associations, early psychological aggression was a consistent positive predictor of later physical aggression across waves whereas the opposite direction from early physical aggression to later psychological aggression was either non-significant or significant and negative

Vol 9#4

Abstract Although much research on men who are violent toward their wives has involved comparisons of groups of violent and nonviolent men, there i