Desistance from intimate partner violence: the role of legal cynicism, collective efficacy, and social disorganization in Chicago neighborhoods

Am J Community Psychol. 2011 Dec;48(3-4):373-83. doi: 10.1007/s10464-010-9362-5.

Abstract

This paper examined the relationship between reported Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) desistance and neighborhood concentrated disadvantage, ethnic heterogeneity, residential instability, collective efficacy and legal cynicism. Data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) Longitudinal survey were used to identify 599 cases of IPV in Wave 1 eligible for reported desistance in Wave 2. A Generalized Boosting Model was used to determine the best proximal predictors of IPV desistance from the longitudinal data. Controlling for these predictors, logistic regression of neighborhood characteristics from the PHDCN community survey was used to predict reported IPV desistance in Wave 2. The paper finds that participants living in neighborhoods high in legal cynicism have lower odds of reporting IPV desistance, controlling for other variables in the logistic regression model. Analyses did not find that IPV desistance was related to neighborhood concentrated disadvantage, ethnic heterogeneity, residential instability and collective efficacy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Anomie*
  • Caregivers / psychology
  • Chicago
  • Child
  • Family Health*
  • Female
  • Human Development
  • Humans
  • Law Enforcement*
  • Logistic Models
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Poverty
  • Residence Characteristics*
  • Social Control, Informal*
  • Social Environment
  • Spouse Abuse / prevention & control*
  • Spouse Abuse / rehabilitation