What are the Factors Associated with Family Violence essay
The theme of family violence is closely linked to the conjugal relationship. Family violence is illegal. Marriage certificate this is not a license for violence. Moreover, criminal law is applicable to a family member in the same way as to any person who commits violent acts. Thus, the paper explores the factors associated with family violence and other characteristics of family violence because in this age of emancipation, feminization, democratization and other revolutionary achievements, we still meet with the hard facts as family violence in our society.
Violence in the domestic sphere can take many forms and there exist specific factors associated with family violence. Boys are often victims of sexual and physical aggression. Weak and elderly family members are equally vulnerable to domestic violence. It happens that husbands suffer from coercive actions of their wives. However, according to Abrams, Belknap & Melton (2001), the vast majority (over 70%) of victims of violence occurring in the context of family or intimate relationships are women and girls. Such a pronounced gender character of violence in the family, according to the staff of crisis centers and human rights organizations, is based one the fact that women of the whole world are experiencing violence because of the fact that they are women. Unfortunately, family violence exists in all social groups, regardless of income, education and status in society. Thus, the main aim of the assignment is to explore the factors associated with family violence.
Unfortunately, the issue of equality between men and women has not lost its relevance still. Therefore, an important cause of family violence is based on social factors, social norms and values. Very often one spouse holds the position of a head of the family, and it is important to this person to “properly” realize the own power and establish control in the family. For instance, one way to create dominance in the family – is to create conditions for the dependence of one partner from another. These conditions are economic (funds contributed to the family income) and psychological (e.g., wife thinks that in the case of divorce, she will suffer the most, and sometimes a woman just does not want to leave her husband “alone” and endure constant humiliation out of pity for her husband).
One of the main features of domestic violence is that it is systematically repeated actions; this factor of frequency distinguishes domestic violence from the conflict or quarrel. Conflict usually is based on some specific problem that can be solved. Domestic violence occurs with the purpose of gaining full power and control over the victim. In addition, the second fundamental difference between family violence, compounding to the ordinary violence is that the offender and the victim are close people. This distinguishes family violence from other crimes because family violence comes from a spouse or partner, former spouse, parents, children, other relatives, groom, etc. The third feature of family violence is a gender-based character. Most often the victims of family violence are women.
Family violence occurs throughout the world, in different cultures, regardless of ethnicity and religion, and affects people regardless of economic status and position in society. Dutton and Kropp (2000) demonstrated the research on the basic factors associated with family violence and mentioned “some key factors that are the part of many risk factor lists: factors related to the history of assaultive behavior; generally antisocial behaviors and attitudes; stability of relationships; stability of employment; mental health and personality disorder; childhood abuse; motivation for treatment; attitudes toward women”. The experience of the crisis centers shows that the first stage of violence is conditioned by psychological violence in the family, and than it can be complemented by various severity, physical actions, and in some time it can escalate into physical or sexual abuse.
It is important to say that from a legal point of view, such forms as psychological and economic violence are not considered. However, these forms of family violence are paid much attention in psychology. All forms of violence can be combined with each other and over time abuse can become more violent and perverted. For instance, such a factor as a lack of social support from both the state and non-governmental organizations leaves the family alone with their problems. Chronic stressful situations cause the parent frustration and helplessness, affecting the psychological climate of the family. As a child depends on the parents, then it is a high risk for a child to become a victim of family violence.
Violence is always accompanied by a deterioration of women’s health (mental and physical). According to Davies, Lyon & Monti-Catania (1998), sharp deterioration in health is accompanied by the need to withdraw immediately from the husband. However, the woman can not leave her husband because of several reasons, which strengthens the internal psychological discomfort. Experience of working with abused women and recent studies show that family violence should be treated as a set of separate acts of violence in the dynamics. This dynamic is similar to the situation with the use of imprisonment, torture, threats, or situation of a terrorist act or the taking of hostages. The difference lies in the fact that such a situation occurring in the family is not always properly interpreted by society. So, many women consider that even if the door is not locked, escape is impossible.
To conclude, we have explored the main factors associated with family violence and used some examples to illustrate the presented facts. Moreover, we have also mentioned that psychological abuse is present in almost all cases of family violence. The more the victim is psychologically dependent on the aggressor, the more likely that in the future a person will be the object of physical violence. In addition, psychological abuse is often underestimated, and the offender is rarely brought to justice. But the consequences of such violence can be expressed in serious psychological and emotional trauma, psychosomatic disorders, social isolation, exacerbation of chronic diseases, stress, and depression. Thus, violence is always violence, regardless of its degree of cruelty and regardless of whether it is legalized in a certain way (as in the case of corporal punishment) or illegal (as in the case of cruelty to children or wife intimidation).
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