Why does family maltreatment occur?  What do its victims experience?  How do they recover?  What can we do to help them?  How can we understand the perpetrators?  How might we reduce or prevent family abuse?

The class will examine the widespread social problem of family maltreatment.  By examining the complex relationships that exit on multiple levels, the student will be better prepared to answer the above questions.

• Two proctored exams are required for this course.  Each exam is worth 100 points and will consist of multiple choice, true/false, and short essay answer questions.  The exams are “closed tests”- no books, study guides, or notes. The first exam is scheduled after the student has completed Chapters 1 through 4 of the textbook.  The student will be tested only over material in the first half of the textbook. The second exam is scheduled after the student has completed Chapters 5 through 8.  The student will be tested only over material in the second half of the textbook.

• Article review essays:  To increase the awareness of supplemental material in family violence areas, the student will be required to complete 8 article review essays.  One essay will be completed after each chapter.  The specific topic of each essay will be chosen by the student, and will center on an appropriate family maltreatment topic discussed in the related chapter (i.e. Chapter 2 is “Child Physical Abuse.”  The essay will relate to some aspect or issue about physical abuse, etc.)

• Each essay will be 2 pages in length (typed, double-spaced, 1 inch margins, 12 point font).  The issues may be taken from newspapers, magazines, television, news shows, the Internet, or any other credible academic source.  However, scholarly articles or journals are always the better choice over articles written for the mainstream public.  (A “scholarly” article is written by an expert in the area; the article is reviewed by other experts; and the focus of the article is for academic purposes, etc.)

• For the student who does not have the research resources (or who simply wants a variety in the written assignments), the instructor will provide a specific essay topic for each chapter.  See the Study Guide for details or contact the instructor for more details.