Abstract
Mothers, children and domestic violence and abuse: A tale of poverty and inequality told through survey data by Valeria Skafida is a major contribution to feminism, social work research, and public health policy. The “Growing Up in Scotland” (GUS) study was a longitudinal cohort study, and its results are based on longitudinal cohort data, which allow Skafida to build an empirically sound argument. Poverty is not only a contextual factor that predisposes some communities and families to the emergence of domestic violence and abuse, but also a fundamental structural determinant that shapes prevalent cases of the latter and the responses of mothers and children.
The main thesis of the book challenges the current discourse known as “equal footing vulnerability,” which is a theory circulated widely in policy and service provision of domestic violence. Skafida argues that while domestic violence “can happen to anyone, anywhere,” it does not happen at random (pp. 84–85). Her statistical analyses give shocking social gradients. The expected likelihood of mothers in the lowest income quintile to report domestic violence is almost triple that of mothers in the highest income quintile, and the disparity widens when cases of severe abuse are considered. The findings underscore the relevance of intersectional theoretical frameworks that combine the intersecting dimensions of poverty, age, and gender, thus explaining how the issues interact variously to create vulnerability to abuse.
Skafida's methodological approach merits attention from social work scholars. She shows a high level of expertise in using the survey measurement method. She demonstrates that prevalence estimates are consistently underestimated because of both deliberate non-disclosure on the part of some people while other victims fail to recognize abuse. Her attention to non-responses among the survey items provides valuable information to investigators who are utilizing survey data. The author clearly recognizes the limitations of the dataset, particularly the lack of data on fathers and perpetrators. The author's ethical standards regarding quantitative research are evident in her careful explication of the limitations of the dataset she has relied upon.
One of the most important contributions to the book's academic discussion is its analysis of children's experiences. Skafida records that children who experience parental domestic violence have been faced with increased vulnerability to physical chastisement and high rates of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. However, she disregards very basic causal accounts. Instead, she explores the potential benefits of protective factors, particularly the mother-child relationship, in preventing adverse outcomes in children. Her finding that the mother-child relationship mediates such a significant amount of the effects of domestic violence on children's prosocial behaviors will, hopefully, have a direct impact on the future design of interventions. Yet, at the same time, Skafida challenges the old narrative of the “protective mother,” the assumption that mothers are psychologically, culturally, and morally responsible for the harm done to children by domestic violence perpetrators (p. 168).
The chapter on social worker contact reveals considerable inequalities. Among mothers who disclosed domestic violence, contact was twice as likely for boys versus girls, and the likelihood of contact increased progressively as household income decreased. Skafida's hypothesis suggests that externalized behavior in boys is the catalyst for professional interventions, while the internalized symptoms in girls are less visible. She raises concerns about an unfair level of surveillance inflicted on poorer families, which enhances class bias in child welfare interventions.
The major strength of the book from a critical feminist perspective is that it does not separate domestic violence from the greater socio-economic context where it takes place. Skafida also insists that successful policy measures should include a challenge to structural determinants, especially through poverty reduction and the improvement of women's autonomous sources of income. Her appeal to relationship education in school, where explicit criticism of “gendered attitudes” takes place, correlates personal experiences to the culture of supporting violence (p. 162).
In terms of writing style and readability, Skafida makes complex statistical reports exceptionally clear and engaging. She skillfully interprets technical findings of the regression analysis in understandable prose without losing analytical integrity. The illustrative figures and tables also enhance understanding, and her use of direct quotations from survey respondents gives the quantitative data a humanistic touch.
Despite such significant strengths, the book also has some limitations. The reliance on maternal reports makes fathers and perpetrators almost indistinguishable within the scope of the analysis, as Skafida has admitted. The GUS dataset's binary construction of ethnicity limits the potential of providing a subtle analysis of how race and ethnicity intersect with poverty and gender. Future research would be facilitated by datasets that summarize perpetrators’ characteristics and by the use of a more sophisticated measure of racialized identities.
Mothers, children and domestic violence and abuse: A tale of poverty and inequality told through survey data is a valuable tool for social work students, practitioners, and policy makers in need of evidence-based practices. The study's quantitative analysis is combined with a feminist analytical framework, and the findings have both academic and social implications. For readers committed to eliminating discrimination through social work practice, this volume provides invaluable empirical grounding for advocacy and intervention.
