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Domestic Violence and its Relationship with Women
A Proposal to Research Domestic Violence and its Relationship with Women
Tolu Akinola, Elisabeth Drewry, Ja’Michael Hunter, Thomas Miers, Christine Platt
Old Dominion University
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Domestic Violence and its Relationship with Women
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Abstract:
Every year according to the CDC, 4.8 million women experience domestic
violence or intimate partner violence. This paper examines Domestic violence and its
relationship with women in the context of various cultures. After providing a functional
definition of Domestic violence, the causes, treatment, and prevention techniques will be
discussed.
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Topic Proposal:
The purpose of this literary review is to examine the relationship between
domestic violence and women. This review will focus on the causes, treatment and
prevention of domestic violence in various cultures and situations. Domestic violence is
a pattern of violent and abusive behavior in a relationship, in which one partner is gaining
or maintaining power and control over another partner. The abuser establishes control in
the relationship through violence and other forms of abuse. Domestic violence occurs in
multiple forms including: physical assault, psychological abuse, social abuse, financial
abuse or sexual assault. Examples of abuse are name calling, isolation from friends and
family, threatened harm, stalking, intimidation, shoving and unwanted sexual activity.
According to the CDC every year, 4.8 million women experience domestic
violence or intimate partner violence. The World Health Organization reports that
globally 29% to 62% of women have experienced physical or sexual violence by an
intimate partner (Kaur & Garg, p.242). Young women, ages 20-24, are at the highest risk
to experience non-fatal domestic violence. The frequency, rate, and social acceptance of
domestic violence vary among cultures and ethnic backgrounds. Thus this literary review
attempts to examine how women experience domestic abuse across multiple cultures and
with varying social factors. There is no set list of causes for why domestic abuse occurs,
however a man’s act of violence against a woman may result from his individual
psychological problems, sexual frustration, childhood abuse, unbearable life pressures,
drug or alcohol abuse, or an innate urge towards being aggressive (The Boston Women's
Health Book Collective, p. 120 ). According to a study conducted by Kaur & Garg in
2009 most women believed that alcohol, family factors such as the in-laws, and societies
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interwoven acceptance of the behavior led to the domesitc violence they experienced.
Some of the typical reactions of an indivudal after experiencing the trama of
domestic abuse are self-blame, feelings of guilt, PTSD, fear, terror, self-harm,
dissociation, changes in sexualiy and intimacy, substance abuse, loss of control and
isolation. Unfortunaltely this behavior has become so accepted in society across all
cultures, that many women feel vicitimized and feel that they are at fault or to blame for
the domestic abuse (The Boston Women's Health Book Collective, p.119 ). There are
many ways for women to seek help such as hotlines and shelters, but often times these
methods of help are just as emotionally trumatic as the abuse itself. Many of the options
that women seek are ill prepared to fully handle the situation. In most cases the woman is
the care taker of the family, thus trying to leave a domestic violence situation along with
children can seem nearly impossible.
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Relevance to Class:
This literary review is relevant to the Psychology of Women because domestic
violence is an epidemic that affects most women at some point in their lifetime. It affects
women across all cultures, races, and socioeconomic statues. Although this is a widely
spread issues it is important to note that women in poorer households are more likely to
experience domestic violence versus women in a higher income category. In a 2009 study
conducted by Kaur, R., & Garg, S. most of the women aggred that wife beating was a
deeply ingrained behavior and most of the husbands believed it was their right to beat
their wives.
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In Class Sources:
The first article we summarized was, “Improving the health care of women”. The
authors’ goal for this article was to explain the findings of their study. The study’s goal is
the exploration of the healthcare experience of women in the primary care setting. The
method was a qualitative study in Scotland. The study had semi-structured interviews
with 17 women. These women had experienced domestic abuse. The data was analyzed
using a thematic framework. The study’s findings were that the women’s healthcare
experience is broken down into three areas. The first is Systems-based. This area had to
do with the transferring of doctor’s notes to a new doctor. Since the women in this study
relocated to a new area to escape their abusive partner, they needed a new doctor. The
transferring of notes was delayed and became a source of frustration. The second area
was psychological issue. Women that blamed themselves and had low self-esteem
thought they were wasting the nurses’ time. Non-judgmental nurses helped absolve the
victims of guilt and helped foster a positive relationship. The findings show that this
positive relationship is important in women’s experience with primary care services. The
third area is interpersonal issues. This has mainly to do with the relationships between the
abused and healthcare professionals. The type of relationship can help or hinder the
women from using the healthcare services. Understanding how the healthcare services
treat abused women is very important to helping recovery.
The second article was, “ Hazardous Alcohol Use and Intimate Partner Violence
in the Military: Understanding Protective Factors.” In this article the author discussed the
risk factors that put men in a situation to commit intimate partner violence (IPV), an issue
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in which many previous studies had demonstrated a direct association. The article set out
to extend the understanding of this by looking at the factors that show this association in
a more broader and systematic way than in previous studies. They used factors of family,
(relationship satisfaction, years of marriage and parent-child satisfaction), workplace
(years in military and family income/pay grade), and community safety as moderators for
their experiment with alcohol use and intimate partner violence. The article concludes
that not all individuals who drink are aggressive. But it identified a set of variables that
helped moderate the alcohol- aggression associated with men, which were the family
variables, community variables, years in the military, marital length and family
income/pay grade. The article did also cover women’s IPV but found no significant
moderator affects. Causality cannot be inferred with cross-sectional data, however the
results suggested that developmental and relationship factors are important to
understanding alcohol-related IPV and may be a beneficial area for future experimental
and theoretical work.
Our third article was titled, “Domestic Violence Against Women: Understanding
Social Processes and Women’s Experiences”. In this study 12 women from rural and
urban areas in Northern England were interviewed for 1 hour about their experiences of
domestic abuse. The participants’ ages ranged from 21 to 56 and all of their relationships
were heterosexual, except for one woman who was abused in a lesbian relationship. Ten
of the participants had young children and three participants were living in a refuge
during the interview. The interview was designed with open-ended questions about
experiences and consequences of the domestic abuse, the effects of the abuse, and the
resources/strategies used by the participants. Grounded theory was used because it views
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the subjective experience of the subject as a valid source of data. Researchers focused on
the commonalities and contradictions in the experience of abuse, how women lived with
the abuse, the response of systems either reinforced or challenged the abuse, and dealing
with the abuse beyond the relationship. According to the data, the abuse typically began
with increased relationship commitment such as cohabitation or marriage; by this time
the women wanted the relationship to work. Abuse varied from emotional abuse,
intimidation, and isolation from others, exerting financial control and making threats or
acts of violence against participants, their children and even pets. While the women were
living with the abuse they would attempt to stick to the status quo and hide the abuse
until the abuse was seen as intolerable and they then would begin the process of gaining
independence. Some participants started attending classes; others sought help from
family, friends and third party services such as legal agencies and women’s centers. In
many cases the abuse was reinforced because the women were not effectively protected
from the perpetrator, their experience was belittled, they did not have enough financial
support, and many services were not prepared to help remove the children from the
situation as well. The third party services were also responsible for challenging the abuse
when the help was effective and the resources took the victims side, e.g. telling her it was
not her fault. The women also noted that even after they had removed themselves from
the abuse, that abuse was not ended. After leaving, most participants were moved to
isolation, thus their support systems were non-existent and they had increased maternal
hardship, financially supporting their children. This study shows the short term and longterm effects of domestic abuse in hopes that third party systems can enhance their ability
to help support individuals.
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Outside of Class Sources:
Domestic violence is a growing problem and there are many activists and people
passionate about providing solutions to this problem. One particular group that is making
strides in this area is the Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancement and Leadership
Through Alliances. This program is focused at targeting intimate partner violence, mostly
involving partners who abuse one another, which also happens to be a growing public
health problem in the United States. Research indicates that IPV exists on a continuum
from episodic violence—a single or occasional occurrence—to battering (Johnson, 1995).
This program aims at reducing the number of domestic violence cases that happen on a
daily basis.
This program uses a few basic strategies aimed at preventing incidents of IPV.
They include preventing first time perpetration and first time victimization, reducing risk
factors associated with IPV, promoting protective factors that reduce the likelihood of
IPV, implementing evidence-supported strategies that incorporate behavior and social
change theories, and evaluating prevention strategies and using results to form future
plans. These strategies work to gradually steer individuals in the right direction and to
keep people safe for a lifetime. This program also targets different influences in
relationships that may lead to IPV and aims to alleviate these circumstances in people’s
lives. This program currently helps fund many other coalitions against domestic violence
around the country.
Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, or psychological. Domestic abuse by
an intimate partner affect 20-50% of women at some point during their life in most
populations surveyed globally. It increases the risk of physical and mental health
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problems. Review of international literature sows that it is greatest in relationships and
communities where women have lesser status compared to men in society. Poverty
increases that chance of domestic violence by increasing relationship conflict, reducing
women's economic and educational power. Programs can reduce domestic violence, but it
is normally an indirect result of the programs. They try to reduce alcohol consumption or
poverty. Most interventions focus on women and men who have been identified as the
abuser or abused. Most of the programs need evaluation. Many countries focus on legal
redress and secondary prevention. They use protection orders, shelters, counseling
services, specialized police units and courts, and mandatory arrest laws. Fresh medical
graduates should be equipped with knowledge of gender issues in society, the impact of
gender inequality on health, and the dynamics of the problem of domestic violence. That
way they will be more capable of combating domestic abuse.
The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Healthcare defines violence against women as
physical and psychological abuse of women by their male partners, including sexual
abuse and abuse during pregnancy. According to them, Of women who are abused, 25%
suffer episodes of beating, 20% of choking and 20% of sexual assault; 40% suffer injury,
and 15% receive medical care as a result of partner violence. Women who are prone to
partner violence see their risks of injury, a range of physical, emotional, mental problems,
and even death increase.
This article discusses all the different types of violence against women and shares
the efficient ways to detect it so as to help prevent it. It contains ways of detecting
women who might be going through abuse and how to intervene and try to help women
in that situation. One of the ways the article talks about in detecting women going
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through abuse is the screening of all women who seem to be exposed to violence. This
way is not proven though because there is insufficient evidence to recommend for or
against it. There is no one perfect way to detect women in abusive relationships, so
Clinicians are just told to be alert to signs of potential abuse. When a woman is found to
be in an abusive relationship then it can be combated by helping them through counseling
or referral to shelter.
According to the Bureau of justice Statistics, in 2006, over 66% of intimate
partner violence occurred in homes with females being the most victimized by this
violence and in this 43% of those homes has children residing in them. The article
describes a multi-modal pilot intervention with a small group of females who have
experienced domestic violence and have children who were receiving trauma-focused
treatment. The study was designed to help maternal-child processes, which can
sometimes be difficult due to the mother’s personal traumatic experience with the
situation interfering with the child’s treatment. The model allows the women to reflect on
her child’s experiences while viewing videotapes, which allows the mother to decrease
negativity. This study shows that a relationally based, multi method intervention can be
successful in improving negative emotionality, defensive avoidance, reflective process,
maternal psychiatric symptom profiles, in treatment of mothers with older children
exposure to domestic violence. It can also be more cost efficient than individual treatment
models.
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