In the last decade there has been heightened clinical and investigative activity in the area of family violence. This, of course, is partly attributable to recent surveys showing a high incidence of family violence in the United States. For example, there are indications that nearly 30% of married women in this country are victims of physical abuse by spouses at some point in their marriage. Further, FBI statistics show that approximately 13% of all homicides are husband-wife killings. Moreover, it has been projected that such figures are likely to increase over the next several years....

During the past decade, a dramatic increase in research and clinical interest has risen in child abuse and neglect. This recent growth in awareness isdue at leastpartly to thealarmingstatisticsdocumentingthe incidence of child maltreatment. Almost one million children are re ported to be abused and neglected each year, and many experts believe that this figure underestimates the true incidence. Indeed, recentsurveys suggest that almost 1. 5 million children are the targets of domestic vio lence every year. A significantproportion of these children die as a func tion of this maltreatment,...

Prior and subsequentto the publication of the third edition of the Diagnos- tic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), we have witnessed a considerable upsurge in the quantity and quality of research concerned with the psychiatric diagnostic process. There are several factors that have contributed to this empirical influx, including improved diagnostic cri- teria for many psychiatric disorders, increased nosological attention to childhood psychopathology, and development and standardization of several structured diagnostic interview schedules for both adult and child...

Introductory texts on psychological testing and evaluation historically are not in short supply. Typically, however, such texts have been relatively superficial in their discussion of clinical material and have focused primarily on the theoretical and psychometric properties of indi- vidual tests. More practical, clinically relevant presentations of psychological instruments have been confined to individual volumes with advanced and often very technical information geared to the more sophisticated user. Professors in introductory graduate courses are often forced to adopt several advanced...

Scarcely a day passes without the media detailing some form of human aggression, whether it be on its grandest scale in the form of war, random bombings and shootings in the streets, torture in a prison camp, murder by gangs, wife abuse resulting in the murder of the husband, or the physical abuse of children, sometimes resulting in their death. Frequently perpetrators of human aggression, when arrested and tried in court, resort to a psychiatric defense. But are all such aggressors indeed appropriately psychiatric patients? And if so, what are their particular diagnoses and how do these...

The past quarter-century has witnessed a dramatic upsurge of violent crime in the United States and abroad. In this country, the rise in violent criminal activity has been consistently documented in such published accounts as the Uniform Crime Reports and the Statistical Handbook on Violence in America, published by the FBI and the Vio- lence Research Group, respectively. Further, social scientists-particularly those working in the fields of sociology and psychology-have provided a convergence of findings attesting to the magnitude of one of today's most significant social problems: domestic...

In our first edition of the Handbook in 1983, we the origins and course(s) of maladaptive behav- ior, whatever the causes, whatever the age of on- noted that child psychopathology should no longer be viewed as a downward extension of set, whatever the transformations in behavioral adult psychopathology. Rather, we suggested expression, and however complex the develop- that children should be viewed as children, not mental pattern may prove to be. It strives to inte- as miniature adults, and that a merger of the dis- grate these two disciplines in an intimate and of- ciplines of clinical child...

It is particularly gratifying to prepare a second edition of a book, because there is the necessary impli- cation that the first edition was well received. Moreover, now an opportunity is provided to correct the problems or limitations that existed in the first edition as well as to address recent developments in the field. Thus, we are grateful to our friends, colleagues, and students, as well as to the reviewers who have expressed their approval of the first edition and who have given us valuable input on how the revision could best be structured. Perhaps the first thing that the reader...

Some years ago we edited a general casebook on behavior therapy that was well received. However, those professors who used the book as an adjunct text in child behavior therapy courses were concerned that only 9 of the 26 chapters dealt with the clinical application of behavioral prin ciples to children. Their contention was that a specific casebook on the topic was very much warranted. In considering their comments we took a closer look at the child behavior therapy area and were struck with how diverse it was, how it had expanded, and how it had matured over the last three decades. Given...

Despite the occasional outcries to the contrary, the field of behavior therapy is still growing, and the asymptote has not been reached yet. The umbrella of behavior therapy continues to enlarge and still is able to encompass new theories, new con cepts, new research, new data, and new clinical techniques. Although the number of new behavioral journals now has stabilized, we still see a proliferation of books on the subject. In the past few years, however, we have seen considerable specialization within behavior therapy. No longer is it possible to be a generalist and remain fully abreast of...