Manipulation checks should be used in psychotherapy trials to confirm that therapists followed the treatment manuals and performed the therapy competently. This article is a review of some strategies that have been used to document treatment integrity; also, their limitations are discussed here. Recommendations for improving these checks are presented. Specific guidelines are offered regarding when and how to assess both therapist adherence to treatment protocols and competence.

This study hypothesized that power discrepancies in the marital relationship, where the husband is subordinate, serve as risk factors for husband-to-wife violence. The construct of marital power was assessed from 3 power domains operationalized by discrepancies in economic status, decision-making power, communication patterns, and communication skill. Three groups of married couples (N = 95) were compared: domestically violent (DV), maritally distressed/nonviolent (DNV), and maritally happy/nonviolent (HNV). DV couples were more likely than the 2 nonviolent groups to engage in husband demand/wife withdraw interactions. Within the DV group, husbands who had less power were more physically abusive toward their wives. Thus, violence may be compensatory behavior to make up for husbands' lack of power in other arenas of marriage. Difficulties in assessing marital power and future direction for the study of power and violence are discussed.

A. Holtzworth-Munroe and G. L. Stuart (1994) proposed a tripartite typology of men who batter their female partners based on the severity of violence, extent of violence, and personality disorder characteristics. The current study attempts to empirically validate this typology using data from 75 domestically violent (DV) men and their partners, and 32 maritally distressed, nonviolent (DNV) comparison couples. Mixture analysis results generally supported the model, although 2 types were not distinguishable on personality disorder characteristics as predicted. Generally violent batterers were significantly more violent within and outside the relationship. The pathological group was moderately violent within and outside the relationship and endorsed numerous psychological symptoms. Family-only batterers endorsed fewer symptoms and were less violent. Violence in the family of origin, attachment, and communication skills also differentiated the 3 types and DNV men.

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The purpose of this investigation was to study the affect, psychophysiology, and verbal content of arguments in couples with a violent husband. On the basis of self-reports of violent arguments, there were no wife behaviors that successfully suppressed husband violence once it began; moreover, husband violence escalated in response to nonviolent as well as violent wife behaviors, whereas wife violence escalated only in reaction to husband violence or emotional abuse. Only wives were fearful during violent and nonviolent arguments. The observational coding of nonviolent arguments in the laboratory revealed that both battering husbands and their wives (DV) were angrier than their maritally distressed but nonviolent (DNV) counterparts. As predicted, on the more provocative anger codes, only DV men differed from their DNV counterparts. However, DV wives were as verbally aggressive toward their husbands as DV husbands were toward their wives.