Making Connections across 30 Years of Family Violence Research: an Introductory Editorial

Over thirty years ago, Drs. Vincent B. Van Hasselt and Michel Hersen launched the Journal of Family Violence (JOFV) to promote research on the significant, pernicious, and widespread problem of violence within the family (Van Hasselt and Hersen 1986). At that time, scholarly attention to family violence was just beginning, and these scholars recognized the need “for a central publication” to disseminate research “on all aspects of family violence” (Van Hasselt and Hersen 1986, p. 2). Accordingly, Drs. Van Hasselt and Hersen were among the first to provide a forum for studies on family violence including child abuse and maltreatment, dating and intimate partner violence (IPV), elder abuse, and others. With notable foresight when establishing JOFV, Drs. Van Hasselt and Hersen acknowledged the connections among the various forms of family violence. Likewise, these scholars asserted the value of bringing to bear various disciplinary and professional perspectives when investigating, preventing, addressing, and understanding family violence in all its varied forms.After 30 years, the need for such a scholarly forum continues. For example, statistics from the United States found there were 683,000 victims of reported child abuse and neglect in 2015, with 1670 children dying from abuse and neglect in that same year (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS] 2017). National IPV research shows than more than one-third (35.6%) of women experience lifetime rape, sexual assault, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner (Breiding et al. 2014). Moreover, estimates of the twelve-month prevalence of elder abuse in the United States are about 10% (Lachs and Pillemer 2015). Such research findings show that family violence remains a significant problem in the United States.