Violence and Affection Behavior in Relationships and Interpersonal Communication

Dear Colleagues,

Interpersonal violence, especially when taking place in intimate relationships, is recognized worldwide as a public health issue. It violates human rights and destroys self-determination and personal development, impacting both psychological and physical health. The growing rates of childhood abuse, peer aggression, and intimate partner violence (IPV) are alarming, and they are experienced by many different generations of victims, from young people to adults. Every year, some 4–16% of children are physically abused, and one in 10 are neglected or psychologically abused. Sexual abuse is experienced by 15-30% of girls and 5-15% of boys, and IPV is experienced by 35% of women. The maltreatment of children is more likely to occur in families afflicted by violent and conflictual dynamics, and is associated with re-victimization or re-enactment of violent behaviors. In recent years, statistics about youth deviance, dating violence, and bullying have displayed an increasing trend.

Furthermore, in such circumstances, communication, and especially interpersonal communication, plays a pivotal role: verbal violence, for example, is a fundamental component of IPV since abusers often consciously target key issues in a way that is painful, humiliating, and threatening to the victim. How can we understand what is happening, and what can we, as researchers, do? This Special Issue examines the causes, dynamics, consequences, assessment tools, and resolution attempts pertaining to aggressive behavior in relationships and in interpersonal communication from youth to adulthood to provide insights into this macrophenomenon. We welcome studies from the behavioral, cognitive, affective, social, clinical, and forensic sciences, and authors are invited to submit original research articles, systematic reviews with or without meta-analyses, research protocols, and case reports.

Dr. Fabio Ferretti
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• violence
• aggression
• interpersonal dynamics
• intimate relationships