Department of
Psychological and Brain Sciences

• Clinical Science

• Intimate partner violence (particularly husband to wife violence)
• Interventions for separating or divorcing couples
• Relationship distress and therapy

Professor Holtzworth-Munroe received her Ph.D., in clinical psychology, from the University of Washington, in 1988. She has been on the Indiana University faculty since Fall 1988, where she currently is a Professor and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. She has conducted research on intimate partner violence (IPV) since the mid-1980s. Her research team initially compared the social information processing skills of violent and nonviolent husbands and the interaction and communication behaviors of violent and nonviolent couples. They then developed and tested a typology of male batterers, highlighting both descriptive and theoretical dimensions that differentiate various types of IPV.

Since 2006, and in collaboration with others, Holtzworth-Munroe has conducted research on family law issues, focusing on families experiencing parental divorce or separation. Their research team has developed and tested methods of screening for a history of IPV with parents seeking family mediation. They also conduct randomized controlled trials testing the effectiveness of family law interventions, including online parent education programs, mediation approaches designed to help parents focus on their children’s needs, and mediation approaches designed to be safer for parties with a history of high levels of IPV.

Holtzworth-Munroe has co-authored numerous research publications, encyclopedia entries, and book chapters. She has served as a grant reviewer and on journal editorial boards. She has been a member of Association of Family and Conciliation Court (AFCC) national taskforces writing policy on family law issues, such as AFCC guidelines for child custody evaluators to use when assessing IPV. She is a Fellow in the Association for Psychological Science, and a recipient of the Stanley Cohen Distinguished Research Award from the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. In 2017, Holtzworth-Munroe and her attorney/mediator collaborator, Applegate, were awarded the Indiana University Outstanding Research Collaboration Award.

• Clinical Science