Violence in Families
Families in a Violent Society
U.S. violence rates
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Compared to other developed nations, the U.S. has much higher rates of violence.
• Greater poverty
• Less government support
• Greater economic inequality & racial discrimination
Institutionally sanctioned violence
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Violence is promoted institutionally in a number of ways.
• Historically, violence between family members has been legitimized by law & supported by
religion. (ex. corporal punishment)
Violence in the media
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Television, movies, music, video games desensitize people; contribute to climate where violence
is often viewed as legitimate
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Literature & folklore
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Media violence is not the cause of real-world violence; high levels of poverty, un- &
underemployment, inequality, racial discrimination are the primary causes
Customs and beliefs
• Males are socialized to be dominant & aggressive
• Physical punishment in the family is viewed as “normal violence”
Violence & the social organization of the family
• The organization of family as a power system encourages conflict.
• Power is unequally distributed between spouses & between parents & children: the greater the
inequality, the greater the risk of violence.
• Greater range of family interaction & intensity of feelings increases potential for conflict
• Family privacy insulates members from social protection & prevents victims from seeking outside
help
Intimate Partner Violence
National Violence Against Women (NVAW) Survey
• 33 million Americans have been victims of intimate partner violence at some point in their lifetime
• 1.3 million women, 800,000 men assaulted by intimate partner each year (many repeatedly)
• Women assaulted more frequently and more likely to be injured than men
Violence Against Women
• Extent of abuse is difficult to determine
• Takes place in private, failure of medical professionals to inquire deeply about cause,
victims lie about cause, victims do not go to public agencies for help
• 22% of all women report that they have been assaulted by an intimate partner
• highest rates among Native American women, lowest rates among Asian American women
Contexts for Intimate Partner Violence
• Social Class
• Spousal violence more likely to occur in low income, low socioeconomic status families
• Outcome of the stresses of poverty or lack of resources
• Correlation with men’s unemployment
• Abuse is not the only or worst problem
• Poverty limits victim’s range of responses
• Race & Ethnicity
• Except for Asian Americans, people of color are more prone to domestic violence than
Whites
• Higher rates for minorities are primarily the result of disproportionately lower
socioeconomic status (not race itself)
• Distortion of actual incidence based differences in reporting & labeling
Individual and Relational Characteristics
• Alcohol abuse
• Although excessive use of alcohol is commonly associated with wife abuse it is a
contributory factor (not the cause).
• Occupation
• Domestic violence in police families 4x national average
• Domestic violence in military families 5x national average
• Aggressive & controlling personalities in high stress jobs socialized to solve problems
with physical aggression
• Inadequacy of male partners
• Underachievers when compared to their wives (education, income, occupational status)
• Interpersonal marital interaction patterns
• Verbal aggression
• Family history of abuse
• Research indicates only a weak relationship between growing up in abusive family &
becoming involved in violent marital relationship
Types of Partner Violence
Situational Couple Violence (aka Mutual Violence)
• Intimate partner violence that is not embedded in a general pattern of controlling behaviors, but
occurs when specific conflict situations escalate to violence.
• Perpetuated roughly equally by men and women
Intimate Terrorism (aka Patriarchal Terrorism)
• The attempt to dominate one’s partner and to exert general control over the relationship,
domination that includes a wide range of power and control tactics, including violence.
• intimidation, threats, emotional abuse, isolation, blaming, using children, using male
privilege, using economic abuse
• Perpetuated almost exclusively by men
• Victims experience more frequent violence and more severe injuries
• Power and control based on traditions of patriarchal family
• Low economic status + traditional gender role expectations = violence as acceptable
way to be dominant and powerful
Why Does She Stay?
This question misplaces the responsibility on the victim rather than on the perpetrator. Victims do not
bring the violence on themselves by not leaving. More than 1/2 do leave their homes or successfully
negotiate an end to the violence.
• Fear
• Leaving increases the danger to the victim & her children
• Hope
• Belief that husband will change or that it is best for children if parents stay together
• Self Blame
• Reflects a context of emotional abuse
• Acceptance of traditional gender role expectations which assume women are the primary
caretakers of relationships (if the relationship fails, it’s her fault)
• Economic Dependency
• Lack of marketable job skills and/or jobs with decent pay & benefits
• Health care, child care expenses
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Domestic Violence in Same-Sex Relationships
The rate of violence is approximately the same in same-sex relationships as in heterosexual
unions.
Victims of abuse in same-sex unions are more isolated than victims in heterosexual unions.
• Threat of “outing”
• Ineffective legal responses
Child Abuse and Neglect
What is child abuse?
• “The distinctive acts of violence and nonviolence and acts of omission and commission that place
children at risk.”
Incidence of child abuse
• The extent of child abuse is impossible to know due to definitional problems, the sensitivity of the
issue for all involved parties, and the source of statistical data.
• Reported rate in 2004 was 11.9 cases per 1000 children (a decline from 12.5 per 1000 in 2001))
Contexts for child abuse
• Personal factors
• Myth: abusers are mentally ill (only about 10% have severe personality disorders)
• Failure to learn parenting skills (demanding, unrealistic expectations for children’s behavior)
• Substance abuse
• Social Class
• Poverty is the single best predictor of child abuse and neglect.
• Parents may lack resources to provide material needs and be charged with child
neglect (child neglect makes up 60% of substantiated cases of maltreatment)
• Abuse likely to be underreported in more affluent families
• unemployment
• Race & ethnicity
• From highest to lowest: African American, Pacific Islander, Native American, White,
Hispanic, Asian American
• Differing rates may actually be explained by social class
• Gender
• Women are more likely to perpetrate child abuse than men
• More time with children, more responsibility for children, pronatalism
• Lack of social support
• Social isolation - parents live in community a short time, belong to few, if any, community
organizations; little contact with friends & relatives
Consequences of child abuse
• Long term negative consequences in health outcomes, cognitive & educational outcomes, social &
behavioral outcomes
Incest
Focus of text book is inappropriate sexual contact between a parent and a child. Incest is considered
child abuse because the victim interprets the experience as coercive and assaultive and is powerless
to stop it.
• Incidence of incest
• 16% of women have been sexually abused by relative by the time they are 18 years old
• Victims of incest are usually female, offenders are usually male
• Median age of 1st encounter is under twelve
• Most cases involve father, step-father, or grandfather
• Interaction lasts an average of 2 years
• Explanations of incest
• Low self-esteem, immaturity, pedophilia, patriarchy
• Incest is not associated with poverty, unemployment, or downward mobility
• Long term consequences of incest
• Low self-esteem, depression, anxiety disorders
• Headaches, gynecological problems, epileptic seizures
• Emotional, sexual problems in adult relationships
Sibling Abuse
There are several characteristics that constitute sibling abuse:
• A pattern of repeatedly hurtful behavior.
• The roles of perpetrator and victim are carried on over time.
• The behavior of the perpetrator reflects a general negative attitude toward the sibling.
• The intent is to harm the victim.
• The behavior is inappropriate for the developmental level of the perpetrator.
• Sibling abuse is most likely to occur in families where there is physical abuse by parents.
• Other factors associated with sibling abuse include: inadequate supervision, financial
problems, parental mental disorder or substance abuse, perpetrator having negative selfimage
Battered Elders
What is elder abuse?
• Categories of elder abuse include: physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse,
financial exploitation, abandonment, neglect
Incidence of elder abuse
• As many as 5 out of 6 cases go unreported
• National Research Council estimates 1 – 2 million Americans 65 and older have experienced
abuse
Characteristics of victims and abusers
• Elderly women more likely than elderly men to be victims of all categories of abuse except
abandonment
• Those over 80 most vulnerable
• Abusers are almost always family members (often adult children or spouse) with men more
likely than women to perpetrate all categories of abuse except neglect
Contexts for elder abuse
• Shared living arrangement (abuser & victim), social isolation of victim, dementia of victim
• Personal characteristics of abusers likely to include depression, hostility, alcohol abuse
• Ageism prevalent in our society: the elderly are devalued, negatively stereotyped, subject to
discrimination
Macro and Micro Linkages
Forms of intimate violence occur within a social context. Social forces create conditions that foster
abuse in intimate relationships.
• Patriarchal ideology
• Media violence
• Economy in which poverty, un- & underemployment, corporate downsizing jeopardizes
millions of families
• Institutional sexism
• Institutional racism
• Institutional heterosexuality
• Increasing social isolation as household units move for better opportunities & kinship
networks are broken up
• This helps us to understand why our rates of domestic violence are so much higher than
other comparable societies.
Agency
Individuals acting singly or with others can and do shape, resist, and challenge the forces affecting
their lives.
• Women’s movement
• Focus on women’s equality and gender subordination
• Battered women’s shelter movement
• Residential sanctuaries for women and children found universally in cities