Factors Impacting Domestic Violence

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Brandi L. Barnes

PSY 325 – Statistics for the Behavioral & Social Sciences

Dr. Deanna Koepke

Factors Impacting Domestic Violence

There are many reasons for why domestic violence occurs in many households. Normally domestic violence is a behavior that is learned from childhood, which later develops in early to mid-adulthood. In the aforesaid state, many factors that can enact how a person’s nature can turn violent towards those that love them the most. These factors can involve, but does not exclude the following: seeing a parent being domestically abused, stressor’s from one’s current occupation, living under extreme circumstances, drug addiction, substance abuse, financial neglect, unemployment, marital affairs, jealousy, lack of spirituality, and negative influences from outside sources. For this assignment, the focus will involve the several quantitative research studies that have been conducted on factors impacting domestic violence.

Domestic violence, in both social and legal conceptualization, can come in any style of abuse. The tern is often directed towards physical assaults between intimate partners that reside in the same household. Most of the time there will be reports on women being victimized by domestic violence, and (on extremely rare occasion) one may hear of a male being subjected to domestic violence by his female counterpart.

It is important to realize one thing about domestic violence; it does not always involve someone physically harming those that are close to them. A person can mentally and emotionally destroy a person from the inside out, and eventually influence him or her to cause harm unto his or herself. A person can possess the characteristics pure humbleness, charm, patience, peace, contentment form life, and basically have their life well put together. There will be many people who will encounter someone who is facing a variation of difficulties within his or her life, while putting on a facade to hide their pain, problems, concerns, or physical exhaustion from the world they face daily. As time begins to lapse, he or she who secretively suffers from depression, anxiety, or other mental disorders, can and will eventually unintentionally satirize others.

Research, studies, and surveys have shown that approximately two to four million women are subjected to abuse by a male partner. Additional statistics demonstrate that domestic violence is ranked as the preeminent cause of afflictions for women who ages range from fifteen to forty-four. In other words, approximately one-third of the American women have been murdered by a current or a former spouse or love interest. Men are also victims, but to a much less severe and common form of domestic abuse. However, when a man is abuse, it is less likely to be reported due to the fear of being ridicule, and concerns of receiving little to no support that can help them to overcome their experience.

Those who exert domestic violence unto others come from all socioeconomic, educational, and cultural background. The issues of poverty, along with the corruption of such substances as alcohol and drugs contribute to the problem. Frequently there is no practicable solution for female who are subjected to domestic violence. For some victims, the unrelenting cycle of violence contributes to the diminishment of self-esteem, helplessness, exaggerated feeling of imprisonment, and what is worst; some victims will begin to believe that they deserve to be abused. Many victims become co-dependent on their abusers. Some become financially dependent on their abuser. Mothers, who are slaved to being abused by their partner, may develop certain fears of being unable to financially and/or materialistically support their children if they finally decide to leave an abusive partner. Some many people who have been abuse, or have been involved in domestic violence are afraid to report the incident to the police out of fear of not receiving the appropriate protection against retaliation. In many situations, when the abuse makes an attempt to leave, statistics show a high probability that he or she will end up murdered. Why is domestic violence so common? What is learned through science, research, and observation about factors impacting domestic violence?

First Case Study

The first case study that will be review implicates in detail how violence exposure during childhood is associated with telomere. Telomere is a part of the DNA that develops on the end of the chromosomes in eukaryotic cells. There are extraordinary concerns that surround telomeres. Psychologists’ curiosity had peaked in hope to gain knowledge on the mechanism which arbitrates the effectiveness of childhood stress on late-life conditions such as morbidity and mortality.

In the first prospective-longitudinal study with repeated telomere measure in children while they experience stress, we tested the hypothesis that childhood violence exposure would accelerate telomere erosion for age five to ten years (Shalev, et al., 2012). During this study, participants were two hundred thirty-six children (49% females; 42% with one or more violent exposure) recruited from the Environment-Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally representative 1994-1995 birth follow-up DNA samples, using the quantitative PCR method for T/S ratio of telomere repeat copy number to single-copy genes numbers (Shalev, et al., 2012). In distinguishing the difference between children and their counterparts, those who has endure at least two or more exposure in regards to various acts of violence, studies show more telomere erosion between the baseline age of five years old, and the follow-measure of ten years of age.

Various studies have been conducted over the years in regards to the impact of domestic violence. Questions such as to what can possibly provoke a person to bring harm unto those that care about them, or they allegedly care about are frequently asked by many. Countless things can happen behind closed doors that others are not aware of, and despite the tragedy of being subjected to violence, those who are victimized have found ways to discretely cover up the physical, mental, and emotional scars that not only reflect, but result from the horrendous act of abuse.

Second Case Study

A research study was conducted in 2003, which involved domestic violence occurring on educated to uneducated women of Turkish decent. Five hundred and eighty-three households were chosen by the method of stratified random sampling. The average age among the women was 28.65 ± 4.64. A total of 45.3% of the women were in the thirty to thirty-four age groups, 76.5% were housewives, and 91.2% were married. The data was gathered by performing face-to face interviews in the participants’ home. Demographic data were obtained by fill-in forms (Kocacik, 2006).

Researchers in this study had come to learn that annual income, occupational level of women, family type, and educational level in females play a major role in aspect of domestic abuse. Fifty-two percent of women were exposed to at least one type of violence. Verbal violence was the most frequent type violence (53.8%), followed by physical violence (38%). About 45% of women expose to violence were in the thirty to thirty-four age group, 46% completed only primary schools, 73.6% were housewives, 91.7% were married, 71% had been exposed to violence during their childhood, and 45.2%, had been exposed to violence several times in a month.

Economic problems were reported as the most important reason for domestic violence (31.4%) (Kocacik, 2006). This study had shown domestic violence to be more ubiquitous than originally expected. It is obvious that in the spectrum of public health, domestic violence requires a multidisciplinary technique in order to truly realize the cause, and to learn how to take preventive measures.

Third Case Study

The next research and study focuses on men who have been abused. It is very common to hear or read reports on women being subjected to domestic violence. Rarely will one hear of a man being domestically victimized by his female counterpart. For years, women are often views as the victim and/or survivor of domestic violence. Like women, men can be subjected to all forms of abuse by his female partner. They type of abuse that men are most likely to experience involve, but are not limited to biting, being attacked in the groins, and/or being struck with adamant objects. There is a thirty percent rate of domestic violence cases involving men being abused by women (Schwartz, 2008). Most men who have been victimized by those they consider to be their loved ones often feel ashamed, and are embarrassed to come forth about their experience in the situation out of fear that they will be seen as week, or less than a man. The truth is, domestic violence is not an act that discriminates against gender, race, sexual orientation, or age.

Several studies, using the Conflict Tactic Scale (CTS), have indicated that violence by women may be increasing. For example, in a longitudinal study of two hundred seventy-two newlywed couples, O’Leary et al (1989) found the following: before marriage, forty-four percent of women reported that they used physical aggression against their partners; at eighteen months after marriage, thirty-six percent of wives reported that they use aggression against their spouse; and at thirty months after marriage, thirty-two percent of the wives reported that they used aggression against the spouse (Hines, 2001). According to the National Family Violence Survey, over the last four decades, the rate of domestic violence against men has doubled.

The results of these studies are logical, considering the relative size of the average man compared with the average woman. Obviously, in the matter of conflict, men are naturally stronger than women, and can stand a better chance at restraining the partner from causing harm unto them. On the contrary, researchers have shown that at times women may seek revenge by using household items as a weapon to physically hurt their partner. All in all, men are afflicted by domestic violence just as much as women. Psychologically, men who are subjected to physical abuse in relationships experience anger, embarrassment, emotional hurt, depression, suicidal tendencies, and most often themselves.

Programs

People who are involved in domestic violent relationship often find it hard to leave the person or family they are with out of fear of being killed or someone whom they love dearly being killed. On the other hand, there are those who hope that their situation will improve and the violence will stop. Most of the time it does not stop until it is too late for either the victim or the abuser.

People on the outside looking in often wonder what makes a person stay in such a dangerous relationship. Unfortunately it is not that simple for one to do for various reasons. It is difficult for one to not only make the decision to leave, but it is hard to follow through with what they know it is best due the fact that they have been physically threaten, financially controlled, and/or has been isolated from the only family they know. Fortunate for all that has gone through the agony and pains of being abused, there is help available for them; but the fact of the matter is that they will have to want to be helped, and not want to be pitied for the type of life that he or she lives.

Domestic violence is not an act that is isolated only with in the United States, it is a violent crime that happens daily worldwide. Some people are able to escape the dangerous life of abuse, whereas other is not so lucky. Within the United States, there are several different programs available to help those who have experience domestic violence to cope, provide shelter, provide therapy, and to help the individual (as well as their families) to gone on living a healthy and stable life.

One program is called the Comprehensive Shelter-Based Domestic Violence Service Program. This program gives immediate assistance to victims of domestic violence. With the proper funding, they will provide shelter, counseling, food, clothes, emergency transportation, legal assistance, and twenty-four hour hot lines.

Another program that is available is known as the Domestic Violence Assistance Program. The programs give local help to existing domestic violence providers. They do this in order to maintain, as well as to aggrandize the services offered to the victims and their children. The Domestic Violence Assistant Program is primarily focused around local crime statics, cultural factors, race relation, and individual who may not be able to speak the English language. This service will also provide counseling for children who have been exposed to domestic violence.

In conclusion, there are many factors that can lead to acts of domestic violence. Some of the factors include, but are not limited to seeing a parent or caretaker being abused, stressors from one’s place of employment, substance abuse, living under extreme circumstances, infidelity, and financial instability. Studies will always be conducted in order to reach deeper into the minds of those who are victimized, and those who are abusers. Domestic violence is sometimes a hard cycle for many to break, only because of the back ground from which one is accustom to. If taught at an early age to treat others with violent force, then how can they learn how to treat others with respect and dignity? Living a life filled with the acts of domestic violence can and will lead to something so drastic that one will never be able to recover from, in other words, death. There are programs out there to help both men and women to overcome all aspects of domestic violence in his or her life. Ultimately it is up the person on whether or not he or she wants to be saved from their abuser, and to be saved from his or herself. (Smith & & Segal, 2012)