Abstract
We conducted two studies to test the utility of a new strategy for recruiting couples experiencing intimate partner violence. This new strategy, Targeted Neighborhood Sampling, involves utilizing police reports of family fight calls to target particular areas within a city for recruitment efforts. Study I compared the efficacy of using this method to recruit a random versus a convenience sample. Results demonstrated that Targeted Neighborhood Sampling was most effective when recruiting a convenience sample of participants who responded to flyers left at their residences. Study II used a convenience sample and replicated the findings from Study I. Across the two studies, 40.4% of those who called after receiving a flyer experienced male-to-female partner violence within the past year. In addition, we combined data across studies and correlated types of violence the couples experienced with variables commonly associated with abuse. Psychological aggression, physical assault, and injury were all positively associated with reports of demand-withdrawal and mutual avoidance during conflict, as well as depression and symptoms of post traumatic disorder syndrome. Sexual coercion was associated with drug abuse. These results demonstrate the utility and validity of Targeted Neighborhood Sampling.
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Notes
All materials we used in the project that were in Spanish were translated by an individual fluent in Spanish, and then back translated by a native Spanish speaker from Mexico.
An acceptable alpha did not emerge for the sexual coercion measures for the women in the sample.
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Acknowledgement
This project was supported by a grant from the Institute of Social Science Research, Arizona State University. The authors would like to thank Mary Anders, Bridget Granville, Melissa Hutton, Ashley Irvin, Casey Sechler, and Anita Shelbrack, for their contributions to this project.
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A version of this paper was presented at the annual conference of the National Council on Family Relations, November 2006.
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Christopher, F.S., Pflieger, J.C., Canary, D.J. et al. Targeted Neighborhood Sampling: A New Approach for Recruiting Abusive Couples. J Fam Viol 23, 89–100 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-007-9130-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-007-9130-y