Research and Action on Intimate Partner Violence: Interdisciplinary Convergence of Cultural Community Psychology and Cross-Cultural Psychology

An analysis of the respective organizational histories, missions, and scholarly activity of the International Association for Cross-cultural Psychology (IACCP) and the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) indicates many points of shared values and actions, as well as some important differences. Both scholarly organizations developed out of a similar historical and cultural zeitgeist in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Our missions emphasize the role of culture/diversity in psychological phenomena, adopting an interdisciplinary orientation, the value of collaboration, the importance of research methods and ethics, and the value of action research. However, community psychology generally lacks an adequate treatment of cultural phenomena, while cross-cultural psychology often fails to draw on community and participatory methods useful for understanding culture in context. In this chapter, we examine these common roots and differences and then briefly present a study of intimate partner violence (IPV) in a community of Latinos in the United States that illustrates the benefits of an interdisciplinary, cultural community psychology. Finally, we propose several actions to develop further an interdisciplinary collaboration between the two fields.

[1]  Douglas D. Perkins,et al.  Community Psychology at the Crossroads: Prospects for Interdisciplinary Research , 2006, American journal of community psychology.

[2]  Douglas D. Perkins,et al.  Community-Based Interdisciplinary Research: Introduction to the Special Issue , 2006, American journal of community psychology.

[3]  C. O’Donnell Beyond Diversity: Toward a Cultural Community Psychology , 2006, American journal of community psychology.

[4]  Pamela P. Martin,et al.  AJCP as a Vehicle for Improving Community Life: An Historic–Analytic Review of the Journal’s Contents , 2004, American journal of community psychology.

[5]  S. Riger,et al.  The Impact of Culture and Minority Status on Women’s Experience of Domestic Violence , 2004, Trauma, violence & abuse.

[6]  E. Trickett,et al.  Collaboration and Social Inquiry: Multiple Meanings of a Construct and Its Role in Creating Useful and Valid Knowledge , 2004, American journal of community psychology.

[7]  F. V. D. van de Vijver,et al.  A Historical Analysis of Empirical Studies Published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 1970-2004 , 2004 .

[8]  W. Lonner JCCP at 35 , 2004 .

[9]  I. Serrano-García,et al.  Subverting Culture: Promoting HIV/AIDS Prevention Among Puerto Rican and Dominican Women , 2000, American journal of community psychology.

[10]  S Riger,et al.  Measuring Interference With Employment and Education Reported by Women With Abusive Partners: Preliminary Data , 2000, Violence and Victims.

[11]  J. Berry,et al.  Cross-cultural psychology as a scholarly discipline: On the flowering of culture in behavioral research. , 1998 .

[12]  E. Trickett A future for community psychology: The contexts of diversity and the diversity of contexts , 1996 .

[13]  E. Trickett,et al.  Human Diversity: Perspectives on People in Context , 1994 .

[14]  Murray Levine,et al.  Principles of Community Psychology: Perspectives and Applications , 1987 .

[15]  C. Bennett Community psychology: impressions of the Boston Conference on the Education of Psychologists for Community Mental Health. , 1965, The American psychologist.

[16]  R. Watts Paradigms of diversity. , 1994 .

[17]  R. Tolman,et al.  Intervention for men who batter : an ecological approach , 1992 .

[18]  J. Rappaport Community Psychology: Values, Research, and Action , 1977 .