Domestic Violence and Maternal and Child Health : New Patterns of Trauma, Treatment, and Criminal Justice Responses

This book is the winner of the 2004 Society for the Study of Social Problems, Crime and Delinquency Division Outstanding Scholar Book Award! "Domestic Violence and Maternal and Child Health" evaluates the impact of intimate partner abuse on maternal and child health.

The main focus is on the conditions that increase pregnant women's vulnerability to abuse, the factors that reduce the impact of partner violence, and how professionals and the criminal justice and social services systems can effectively respond to violence.

Stephen J. Morewitz questions the relevance of pregnancy-related stressors, such as financial pressures, reorganization of familial roles and reduction of intimacy, as catalysts of domestic abuse.

The social and psychological impacts of domestic violence on mother and child development are also examined.

This book is appropriate for professionals in many fields from Health Care to Education.