Dating Violence: Young Women in Danger

Levy ( Skills for Violence-Free Relationships ) sets the stage in this effective collection with a concise introduction and 20 brief but powerful first-person accounts from abused teens or their mothers. Contributors in various fields including psychology, social work and criminology offer 20 articles on the social context of dating violence and on intervention and prevention strategies. Judith McFarlane explores the medical impact of physical abuse on teenage mothers and their unborn children (for example, abused women are more likely to have low birth-weight babies). Dee L. R. Graham and Edna I. Rawlings discuss the ``Stockholm Syndrome,'' in which women bond with their abusers as a survival strategy in the same way hostages bond with their captors. Carole Sousa describes the Dating Violence Intervention Project, an education program in the Boston area. Sheila James Kuehl suggests how advocates can help adolescents find remedy through the legal system. Levy and Kerry Lobel reveal that women batter women, despite some lesbians' attempts to ``maintain an image of violence-free feminist and egalitarian relationships.'' (Apr.)