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Biomedical subjects

G K Kantor

Publications and source records attributed to G K Kantor.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Pregnancy, stress and wife assault: ethnic differences in prevalence, severity, and onset in a national sample.

Research using primarily hospital-based samples has suggested that pregnancy may put women at increased risk for wife assault, however, this research is largely limited by the lack of a comparison group of women who are not pregnant, and the failure to consider racial or ethnic differences in risk for violent victimization. The present study uses data from the 1992 National Alcohol and Family Violence Survey, a national probability sample of 1,970 individuals, to examine the prevalence, severity, and onset of wife assaults associated with pregnancy among Anglo and Hispanic families. The results indicated that pregnancy was associated with minor assaults among Hispanic women and severe assaults among Anglo women. Multivariate analyses revealed that among both Anglo and Hispanic families, there was no direct effect of pregnancy on risk for violent victimization after controlling for socioeconomic status, stressful life events, and age.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Sociodemographic predictors and cultural barriers to help-seeking behavior by Latina and Anglo American battered women.

Data from a national survey were used to investigate the help-seeking efforts of Latinas (Mexican, Mexican American, Puerto Rican) and Anglo American women who experienced battering by intimate partners. The findings revealed that battered Latinas were significantly younger, less educated, and more impoverished than Anglo women. Additionally, Latinas more often categorized their marriages as male dominated and their husbands as heavy drinkers. Bivariate analyses showed that Latinas who sought help were significantly more acculturated and more likely to have a heavy drinking husband than those who did not seek help. Although battered women were active help seekers, Latinas underutilized both informal and formal resources relative to Anglo women, with Mexican women least likely to seek assistance. When sociodemographic predictors of help seeking were analyzed, being youthful and Anglo significantly increased the odds of help-seeking efforts. Low acculturation, as measured by preference for the Spanish language, was the only significant cultural barrier to help seeking by Latinas. Implications for treatment include improved outreach and advocacy to underserved groups.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1997

Alcohol and spouse abuse ethnic differences.

This chapter examines theoretical and empirical evidence on the interplay between ethnicity, structural and cultural factors, and alcohol-related assaults against wives and considers whether there is a differential vulnerability to such assaults among varying ethnic groups. Our review demonstrated that structural factors emerged as dominant in their influence on alcohol-related wife assaults in varying ethnic groups. The empirical evidence, though limited, showed that the linkages between drinking and wife beating are not just a problem of poor ethnic minorities. Heavy drinking per se is associated similarly in Hispanic-American and Anglo-American families. However, we also identified differences among Hispanic subgroups, as well as cultural variations in drinking patterns that differentially affected wife assaults. Although data on alcohol-wife assault relationships among African Americans are extremely limited, the available evidence indicates little or no effect of drinking by African-American men on wife assaults, after taking other socioeconomic variables into account. Empirical evidence did not support the saliency of particular cultural beliefs favoring violence toward women as intrinsic to any one ethnic group. The major cultural differences in alcohol-related cognitions are consistent with the greater legitimation of alcohol-related misbehavior and the acceptance of "machismo" drinking by Hispanic Americans compared to Anglo-Americans.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1997

When women are under the influence. Does drinking or drug use by women provoke beatings by men?

This chapter examines theoretical and empirical evidence for the existence of "intoxication-victimization" effects. Theories of victimization and theories of alcohol-induced aggression are examined for their relevance to the phenomenon of concern. The results of our examination of theory and research indicates theoretical support for an integrated theory of intoxication-victimization effects. However, we found that the temporal precedence of women's drinking related to their victimizations has not been established by prior investigations. Supporting evidence for intoxication-victimization effects is strongest among studies of rape, homicide, and studies of alcoholic women. Despite the strength of alcohol's association with wife assaults, intoxication's centrality and temporal relationship to specific wife-assault episodes is highly variable. Our review indicates that women's intoxication might be spuriously associated with victimization through its association with husband's intoxication and via the indirect effects of victimization histories in the family of origin of both partners.

Aggression↗
PubMed1994

Sociocultural status and incidence of marital violence in Hispanic families.

It is not clear whether traditional cultural ideology influences wife assaults in Hispanic-American families, or if culture is confounded with the stresses of poverty, unemployment, and immigration status. Our 1992 study of 1,970 families, including a national oversample of Hispanic families, examines the incidence of marital violence in the three major Hispanic-American subgroups and in Anglo-American families, and considers how sociocultural status and attitudes towards violence affect wife assaults differentially. The findings show that Hispanic Americans, as a whole, do not differ significantly from Anglo Americans in their odds of wife assaults when norms regarding violence approval, age, and economic stressors are held constant. At the same time, considerable heterogeneity was apparent among ethnic subgroups on a number of measures. We also found that being born in the United States increases the risk of wife assaults by Mexican- and Puerto Rican- American husbands. However, the presence of norms sanctioning wife assaults within any group, regardless of socioeconomic status, is a risk factor for wife abuse.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1994

Corporal punishment of adolescents by parents: a risk factor in the epidemiology of depression, suicide, alcohol abuse, child abuse, and wife beating.

Over 90% of parents of toddlers spank or use other forms of corporal punishment. Although the rate declines each year from about age five, this study of a large national sample of U.S. adults found that almost half recalled having been corporally punished during their teen years. This high prevalence indicates a need to investigate the possibility that corporal punishment puts adolescents at increased risk of developing mental health and social relationship problems later in life. The analysis, which controlled for a number of possible confounding risk factors such as low socioeconomic status, found that children who experienced corporal punishment in adolescence had an increased risk later in life of depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts, alcohol abuse, physical abuse of children, and wife beating. The consistent association of corporal punishment with major adult problem behavior, together with the fact that at least half of all adolescents are victims of corporal punishment by their parents, indicates a need to replicate the study using longitudinal data. If the findings are confirmed, it suggests that a major step in primary prevention of violence and mental health problems can be achieved by a national effort to reduce or eliminate all use of corporal punishment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Driving while intoxicated: increased deterrence or alternative transportation for the drunk driver.

The current investigation was designed to examine the community impact from introducing free alternative transportation for the drunk/drugged driver in Sacramento, California. Baseline data were obtained from 1,522 bar and nightclub patrons in Sacramento and San Jose, California. The major findings show that drinking and driving is commonplace, as is riding with intoxicated motorists, in spite of the perceived unacceptability of this behavior. The majority of customers also noted they felt confident in their ability to drive safely when "feeling intoxicated." Increased law enforcement patrols are not seen as a deterrence to drunk driving behavior by the majority of respondents. If free alternative transportation was available for the drunk/drugged driver in the area surveyed, however, 85% of respondents said they "might use" to "definitely would use" the service.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1989

Substance abuse as a precipitant of wife abuse victimizations.

This study examines the question of whether drug and alcohol use by victims constitutes a risk factor increasing the chances of their being assaulted by their partners. Data from a subsample of the 1985 National Family Violence Survey consisting of the 2,033 female respondents who were currently married or living in a male-female couple relationship are used as the basis of the analysis. The logistic analysis revealed that, of the ten variables in the model, the most important for distinguishing abused from nonabused women are husband's drug use, a history of paternal violence in womens' family or origin, husband's drunkenness, low income, and wife's drunkenness. Women who abuse alcohol are more likely to be victims of minor marital violence, but female substance abuse of any type is not a significant factor in severe violence.

Alcoholism↗