Domestic Violence and Control provides important longitudinal data on violent relationships and addresses the problem of violence from the perspective of both the perpetrator and the victim. The issue of control emerges as a central theme. Control plays a keyrole, firstly, in organizing the victim's thoughts with regard to the batterer, and, secondly, in cases of repeated acts of violence over a length of time. The study shows acts of violence to be both "impulsive" and "instrumental" and thereby refutes competing explanations in the literature that violence is either "impulsive" or "instrumental."

1 Understanding Domestic Violence.- A Brief Historical Look.- Domestic Violence in Review.- The Focus of This Study.- Summary.- 2 The Research Study.- Recruitment.- Protection and Consent of Respondents.- Interview Procedure.- Transcription and Coding Procedure.- Analysis.- This Research and the Male Batterers Program.- 3 Participants.- Demography of Respondents.- Participants.- 4 Emotions as Out of Control and Behavior as In and Out of Control.- Emotions as Out of Control.- Discussion on Emotions.- Behavior as In and Out of Control.- Discussion on Behavior.- Summary.- 5 Explaining Violence in Terms of Control.- An Interactionist Perspective.- Summary.- 6 Control as Object: Evidence for the Symbolic Interactionist Model.- Clarifying the Model.- Shortcomings to the Data.- Identifying the Subset of Data.- Evidence of the Symbolic Interactionist Model from the Findings.- Summary.- 7 Control as Object: An Analysis of Violence Over Time.- Phase One: The Emergence of Violence in Terms of Instrumentality.- Phase Two: Instrumental Violence to Nonviolence Through Control.- Summary.- 8 Conclusions.- Summary of Research Findings.- The Men's and Women's Perspectives.- Implications of Research Regarding Control and Violence.- Future Concerns for Symbolic Interactionists.- Summary.- Appendix 1 Data on Couples Over Time (1985).- Appendix 2A Letter to Male Participants.- Appendix 2B Informed Consent Form to Male Participants.- Appendix 3A Letter to Female Participants.- Appendix 3B Informed Consent Form to Female Participants.- Appendix 4 Interview Approach.- Appendix 5 Interview Guide.- Appendix 6 Interview Guide Over Time.- Appendix 7 Coding Procedure.- Appendix 8A Demographic Characteristics of Respondents.- Appendix 9 Treatment Methods for Respondents Over Time (1985).-Appendix 10 The Absence of Control.- Appendix 11 Applying the Model to Violence Toward Men.- References.- Author Index.