Abuse and Victimization across the Life Span

Martha B. Straus has served as director of Advocacy from Women and Kids in Emergencies (AWAKE), a project providing services to battered women with abused children, at Children's Hospital in Boston. An instructor at the Harvard Medical School, she specializes in evaluating and treating cases of family violence.

• AcknowledgmentsList of ContributorsIntroduction: Family Violence across the Life SpanPart I. InfancyChapter 1. The Mother-INfant Tie: Of Bonding and AbusChapter 2. The Maltreatment of InfantsPart II. Childhood and AdolescenceChapter 3. The Interpersonal Legacy of Physical Abuse of ChildrenChapter 4. Sexual Abuse in the LIves of ChildrenChapter 5. Abused AdolescentsPart III. AdulthoodChapter 6. How Normal Is Normal Development? Some Connections between Adult Development and the Roots of Abuse and VictimizationChapter 7. Rape in MarriageChapter 8. Sruviving: Women's Strength through ConnectionChapter 9. Trauma in Men: Effects on Family LifeChapter 10. Elder AbusePart IV. Special TopicsChapter 11. Physical Victimization across the Life Span: Recognition, Ethnicity, and DeterrenceChapter 12. Special Groups at Risk of AbuseChapter 13. A Framework for Understanding and Empowering Battered WomenChapter 14. The Treatment and Criminal Prosecution of Family ViolenceIndex

A conspicuously readable, interesting, and well-written account of the field of abuse and victimization with emphasis on specific problems as they develop. This book would be of assistance..to anyone dealing with abuse and victimization in a society where such behaviors are no longer unusual. American Journal of Psychiatry A state-of-the-art, well-referenced, and highly research-oriented collection of critical information written from a life span perspective. This is a text that delivers exactly what its title suggests, discussing, reviewing, describing, and proscribing abuse and victimization in terms of the life span. It examines the effects of family violence from infancy to late adulthood and explains the various critical considerations (psychological, physical, intellectual, and moral) that are developmentally important. Straus can be credited with excellent editorial skills as well as discrimination in her fine choice of exceptionally literate authors. Contemporary Psychology Contains a broad spectrum of information on abuse and victimization, and its excellent bibliography will provide readers interested in the subject with sources of further reading and research. Nursing Standard