Emily M. Douglas | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Education | PhD |
Alma mater | Clark University, University of Massachusetts, Boston |
Known for | Domestic violence, Filicide, Public policy, Political Science, Social Work |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | Montclair State University |
Thesis | The Influence of Public Policy on Human Behavior: Is there an Effect of a New Hampshire Law Stating a Presumption for Joint Legal Custody on Father Involvement in Divorced Families? (2002) |
Emily M. Douglas is a political scientist conducting research on child and family well-being, the child welfare system, fatal child maltreatment, domestic violence and divorced families, and corporal punishment. She is a full professor and the chair of the Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy at Montclair State University.[1]
Douglas studied at the University of Southern Maine and the Cleveland Institute of Music before graduating in 1995 with B.A. degree in psychology from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 2002 she obtained her PhD in public policy from University of Massachusetts, Boston, with a dissertation on The Influence of Public Policy on Human Behavior: Is there an Effect of a New Hampshire Law Stating a Presumption for Joint Legal Custody on Father Involvement in Divorced Families?. After graduate school, she did a post-doc with Murray A. Straus at the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire.[2]
Douglas has done extensive studies on child abuse leading to death[3] and she has developed recommendation for social workers to better identify children at risk.[4] Douglas has also studied the difficulty of distinguishing fatal child maltreatment from sudden infant death syndrome.[5]
In an international research investigation that used an ecological study design, Douglas compared the rate of dating violence among university students in different countries and its relationship to receiving corporal punishment. She found that the rate of dating violence and injury was higher in the universities where more students had experienced corporal punishment as a child.[6]
Together with Denise Hines, Douglas has published a series of papers on male victims of domestic violence, including its prevalence and severity,[7][8] and men's post-violence helpseeking behavior and experiences.[9]
With Murray A. Straus, Douglas has developed a widely used short form questionnaire to evaluate intimate partner violence. To be used in time limited situation, it is based on the longer Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2), the most commonly used survey instrument for domestic violence.[10]
Douglas EM, Hines DA, As I see it: Acting on risk factors to keep children safe. Worcester Telegram, 2015.