DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04571.v1
title: National Evaluation of the LEAA Family Violence Demonstration Program in Five Sites in the United States, 1980-1981
title: Version 1

description: This study focused on the actuarial and situational
 correlates of domestic violence and the variables that differentiate
 those who batter their partners from those who are "generally"
 violent. The study defined violence as physical violence and excluded
 both psychological abuse and verbal threats. Domestic violence was
 defined as a man battering his spouse or partner, while extradomestic
 violence referred to the batterer's involvement in violence outside
 the home, as reported by the victim of the domestic incident. The data
 are victim reports concerning batterers collected through face-to-face
 interviews with 270 former clients of Law Enforcement Assistance
 Administration (LEAA)-funded family violence programs conducted
 approximately three months following final contact with the program.
 The data include demographic variables on both the LEAA-funded program
 client and her partner, variables detailing the partner's domestic and
 extradomestic violence, and variables on any services received by the
client.
description: This study focused on the following questions:
 what are the major actuarial correlates of domestic violence (e.g.,
 background factors, childhood precursors, etc.), what are the
 environmental or situational correlates of domestic violence (e.g.,
 characteristics of the relationship, history of violence in the
 relationship, and reinforcing properties of the environment), are
 there "degrees" or indices of violence that are useful in the study of
 domestic violence, and what are the situational and background
 variables that differentiate those who batter their partners from
those who are "generally" violent?
description: This study consists of information obtained from
 270 face-to-face interviews with domestic violence victims throughout
 the country. Respondents were former clients of Law Enforcement
 Assistance Administration (LEAA)-funded family violence programs,
 drawn from five projects in four cities, offering counseling or
 shelter services, or both. The interviews took place in two waves over
 a one-year period: March through June of 1980 and November 1980
 through February 1981. The interviews were conducted approximately
 three months following the client's final contact with one of the
 LEAA-funded programs. The study defined violence as physical violence
 and excluded both psychological abuse and verbal threats. Domestic
 violence was defined as a man battering his spouse or partner, while
 extradomestic violence referred to the batterer's involvement in
 violence outside the home, as reported by the victim of the domestic
incident.
description: This dataset contains demographic variables for
 both the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA)-funded
 family violence program client and her partner. The demographic
 variables include age, race, education level, employment status,
 length of relationship, length of abuse in the relationship, if there
 were children in the home, and ages of the children. Abuse-specific
 variables include the nature of the assault, the most serious injury,
 frequency of abuse, if drug use or drinking accompanied the abuse
 incidents, if there were incidents of abuse during pregnancy, if
 either the respondent or her partner were abused by their parents as
 children, and if there was physical violence between the parents of
 either the client or her partner. Variables pertaining to the
 partner's violent, but not domestic violence, incidents such as the
 use of weapons are included. Other variables detail services received
 by the client, including having received counseling, civil or criminal
 legal services, diversion or mediation services, children's services,
 having stayed at a shelter, and having received a protective or
 restraining order as a result of the incident, as well as satisfaction
 with the services received. Variables on the prosecution of the
 partner include reason why the partner was not prosecuted (e.g.,
 dropped because of victim reconciliation or diversion into a counseling
 program) or the outcome of the prosecution (acquittal, sentenced to
 prison, fine, or probation). Other variables ask if children were
 involved in or witnessed the instant incident, if the children tried
 to stop violent fights between the client and her partner, any
 problems the child might have experienced since the battering incident
 such as frequent illness, bed wetting, academic, sleeping, or eating
 problems, excessive fearfulness, nervousness or withdrawal, whether
 the children exhibited self-destructive behaviors, had run away, had
 been violent towards parents or others, had made threats, or had
destroyed property.
description: None
description: Response Rates: Not available.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert-type scales were used.
description: The interview samples were drawn from clients of five Law
 Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA)-funded projects, in four
 cities, offering counseling or shelter services, or both. Clients of
 domestic violence projects did not necessarily represent the
 population of domestic violence victims. Clients who could be reached
 and who consented to an interview did not necessarily represent the
population of domestic violence project clients.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: National Evaluation of the LEAA Family Violence Demonstration Program in Five Sites in the United States, 1980-1981
description: Any client of one of the five Law Enforcement Assistance
 Administration (LEAA)-funded projects in the four selected cities in
the United States. Smallest Geographic Unit: None
description: This collection contains only data collected from a
 subset of 270 domestic violence victims who were interviewed
 approximately three months after contact with a Law Enforcement
 Assistance Administration (LEAA)-funded family violence program. Other
 data collected through this grant, such as site visit data or any
other data, are not available.