Ernest Jouriles, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Ph.D., SUNY at Stony Brook

SMU Family Research Center

Research interests

• Children's' responses to marital conflict/violence
• Interventions to prevent violence and assist victims of violence
• Violence in adolescent romantic relationships
 

Children's' responses to marital conflict/violence

My research on children’s responses to marital conflict focused initially on understanding why certain types of marital conflict are more detrimental to children than others. This research has always been conducted with an eye toward intervention. That is, to best help children in families characterized by marital conflict, I felt it was necessary to better understand why marital conflict sometimes leads to child problems -- and why sometimes it does not. I have continued my research on this topic over the past 15 years, with an emphasis on children living in homes characterized by frequent and severe violence.

Recent Publications

McDonald, R., Jouriles, E. N., Ramisetty-Mikler, S., Caetano, R., & Green, C. (2006). Estimating the number of American children living in partner-violent families. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 137-142.

Skopp, N. A., McDonald, R., Manke, B., Jouriles, E. N. (2005). Siblings in domestically violent families: Experiences of interparent conflict and adjustment problems. Journal of Family Psychology, 18, 324-333.

Jouriles, E. N., McDonald, R., Norwood, W. D., Ware, H. S., Spiller, L. C., & Swank, P. R. (1998). Knives, guns and interparent violence: Relations with child behavior problems. Journal of Family Psychology, 12, 178-194.

Interventions to prevent violence and assist victims of violence

With Dr. Renee McDonald (also on SMU’s faculty), I have begun to develop and evaluate intervention programs to assist children exposed to frequent and severe interparent violence. The intervention programs are based on the scientific literature, including my own research, examining how exposure to violence influences child adjustment. Preliminary evidence suggests that these programs are very effective in helping children in families characterized by frequent and severe interparent violence.

Recent Publications

McDonald, R., Jouriles, E. N., & Skopp, N. A. (2006). Reducing conduct problems among children brought to women’s shelters: Intervention effects 24 months following termination of services. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 127-136.

Jouriles, E. N., McDonald, R., Spiller, L., Norwood, W. D., Swank, P. R., Stephens, N., Ware, H., & Buzy, W. (2001). Reducing conduct problems among children of battered women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69, 774-785.

Violence in adolescent romantic relationships

My research on violence in adolescent romantic relationships focuses on developing new methods for assessing incidents of relationship violence, understanding risk factors for relationship violence, and using the scientific literature to develop and evaluate intervention strategies for preventing such violence.

Recent Publications

Jouriles, E. N., McDonald, R., Garrido, E., Rosenfield, D., & Brown, A. S. (2005). Assessing aggression in adolescent romantic relationships: Can we do it better? Psychological Assessment, 17, 469-475.

Buzy, W. M., McDonald, R., Jouriles, E. N., Swank, P., Rosenfield, D., Shimek, J., & Corbitt-Shindler, D. (2004). Adolescent girls’ alcohol use as a risk factor for relationship violence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 14, 449-470.