In a life-course–centered approach, the notion of change plays a key role. Previous studies have shown that changes in social roles, as well as life events, can influence female delinquency. However, the influence of individual factors in the experience associated with life events remains largely unexplored. This study aims to understand the effect of life events on violent behavior. Based on 34 semi-structured interviews with women who have committed physical or sexual violence, the results reveal that these women often experienced a series of stressful events that generated negative feelings in the year preceding their violent acts. While some manage to adapt adequately, the majority respond in maladaptive ways, which increases their vulnerabilities, fosters the emergence of new stressors, and reduces their chances of developing effective coping strategies later on. The coping mechanisms available appear to be influenced by personal vulnerabilities and the state of intoxication at the time of the acts. Thus, violence seems linked to the accumulation of events in the year preceding the offense, where the number of events and the individual responses to them play a more determining role than the nature of the events themselves.
This fifty-second episode features an interview with Marion Desfachelles.
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