Citation

Blasko KA, Winek JL, Bieschke KJ. J. Marital Fam. Ther. 2007; 33(2): 258-269.

Affiliation

Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1752-0606.2007.00020.x

PMID

17437463

Abstract

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.

Language: en