Predicting unpredictability: a model of women's processes of predicting battering men's violence

This paper proposes a theoretical model of how women predict men's violence within the context of battering. The model was developed from a grounded theory study of 30 women. Participants were recruited using advertisements in free neighborhood newspapers. Interviews were conducted in small groups or individually. The analysis revealed that battered women developed sophisticated knowledge about and response patterns to their partners' violent behaviors. They identified specific changes in their partners' eyes, speech, and tone of voice and described specific situations that served as warning signs of potential violence. Once able to identify warning signs, women responded with strategies of avoidance, engagement, fleeing, and enlisting the help of others to avert or delay violent incidences. These strategies provided temporary relief but did not usually result in the cessation of violence.