..
..
..
..

Interdisciplinary Research Program on Violence Across the Lifespan
A Research Program at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender

Millions of Americans are affected by family violence and abuse each year despite over twenty years of intervention work aimed at stopping it. Family violence cuts across the life span - from infancy, through adulthood, to old age. It is a leading cause of death, injury and psychological problems. Women, children, and poor families are disproportionately affected. In addition to the personal tragedies, society bears the enormous cost of medical and criminal justice expenses. Although the home is the first training ground in violent conflict resloution and the use of power, violence is often transferred outside the home when children become violent in our schools, in dating relationships, or on our streets when they reach adulthood. The effects of intrafamilial violence are also exacerbated by violence in the community and other stresses such as poverty.

While the problem of family violence is not new, rigorous scholarship in the area is quite recent. Progress in bringing new scholarship to bear on ending family violence has been impeded for three major reasons. First, each form of abuse in the family - child, sibling, partner ( dating, cohabiting, and marital), and elder - has spawned its own field, each having its own advocacy groups, service delivery systems, and research endeavors. Second, each scholarly discipline has had a tendency to maintain a somewhat narrow focus on the problem. There has been little integration, for example, between sociological and psychological perspectivess on family violence. Third, research and practice have often been divorced from one another. Thus, there exists a need to develop greater collaboration between academic and practice domains.

The Interdisciplinary Research Program on Violence Across the Lifespan is designed to alleviate the above problems. This unique program will advance research in the emerging field of family violence and lead to the creation of a research center of international stature. Our goals include:

  1. To increase the collaboration efforts of scholars who specialize in various forms of family abuse and maltreatment directed toward children, siblings and partners.

  2. To develop new forms of collaboration among a variety of academic disciplines and professions wiith the expectation that new forms of basic and applied knowledge will develop.

  3. To educate undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students through interdisciplinary research and coursework. Students will learn about family violence, the research methods used in the field, and the Program's methods of interdisciplinary and inter-field collaboration.

  4. To increase interest among faculty and students in research and training opportunities in the area of family violence.

The program is co-directed by Sandra Graham-Bermann (Psychology, Women's Studies) and Daniel Saunders (Social Work). For more information contact Daniel Saunders at 763-6415 or via email at saunddan@umich.edu

This Program has an NIMH Research Training Program on Violence and Mental Health and sponsors a Distinguished Lecture Series.

Questions? Comments? E-mail irwg@umich.edu.
Copyright ©2006, the Regents of the University of Michigan
Last updated Thursday, May 24, 2007 .