Summary
The journal-based article by Wolfe titled ‘Preventing Violence in Relationships: Psychological Science Addressing Complex Social Issues’ highlights how violence can be prevented and managed in relationships. The article highlights the current laws and public sentiment which is against violence in families and relationships. The article depicts how the psychological literature on the subject has been incorporated with public sentiment and case-based practical studies to depict how certain factors can induce family violence while others can aid in reducing them.
Strengths
The strength of the article by Wolfe is mostly due to the dual approach taken by the author to conduct his research. The author has pursued clinical studies that explore the various issues and problems faced regarding domestic violence in families and the abuse of children as a result of domestic violence. The article depicts the early signs of domestic violence in history, which led to the formation of shelter homes for children & women. The strength of the article is made more sturdy by the author through the combination of the clinical concepts, theories, and researches with practical research undertaken by the other academic researchers as well as this undertaken by the author himself. The article explores the violence prevention initiatives that can be applied to the youth and incorporates the research to highlight how the abuse can be predicted in adolescent dating relationships. The article also highlights an intervention taken by the author to reduce the violence in an adolescent by reducing the identified risk factors at the school level. This provides tremendous insight into how the governing bodies, the state, families as well as schools, colleges, and even family therapists can use the identified violence leading risk factors in a relationship that encourages violence to eliminate them through intervention to reduce different forms of family violence.
Weaknesses
The weakness of the article, however, rests in the challenges that the author/ researcher faced while conducting research for the article. These challenges pertained to the research which needed to be conducted on the high-risk families to determine the violence leading risk factors. The availability of these families, their cooperation, and the availability of other families for comparison was difficult and caused some irregularities in the research in terms of data gathering and analysis. The author, however, has stated that he overcame these challenges with the progress that has been made in the field of research and information technology which enabled him to conduct more thorough and comprehensive research. Aside from this, no significant weaknesses are present in the article.
Degree of Generalization
The research conducted by the author Wolfe and its conclusion and findings can be generalized to the general populations to a certain extent. The risk factors which lead to violence in relationship and families, as well as the experience of children with violence in their childhood manifesting into violent adult roles, is all subjective. The culmination of their experiences of domestic violence as children into aggressive behavior is dependant on where they reside, their company, their spouses and partners, and their peers. The study has potential for generalization to the western population in North America and Europe, where the family lifestyles, culture, and family characteristics are similar. However, the study cannot be generalized to the populations of Asia and South Pacific as these populations have different lifestyles, family priorities, and cultures.