Rupal Arora_Family Violence

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Family Violence Causes and Prevention: A psychological Perspective

Rupal Arora University of Delhi, South Campus Forensic Psychology Dr. Gopal Chandra Mahakud December 1, 2021

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Family Violence Causes and Prevention: Psychological Perspective

According to the Merriem-Webster dictionary definition, domestic violence is- the inflicting of physical in"ury by one family or household member on another (also repeated) habitual pattern of such behavior. The family is a basic unit of the society. It should be a source of stability, where love and peace is fostered: where values are nurtured and where support towards one another is unending. The family is the most loving and supportive human group or institution, yet it is also by far the most violent except for the police or the military during wars.” (Sandra Stencel). Violence within families is not a new phenomenon. It has existed since the beginning of time. Whenever one person has power over another, there is a risk of violence when risk factors overwhelm protective factors. Family violence is the use of violence, threats, force or intimidation to control or manipulate a family member, partner or former partner. In such a relationship, there is an imbalance of power where abusive behaviour or violence is used to control other and it causes the family member to be fearful. It can include many forms of abuse including spouse abuse and neglect, child abuse and neglect, child sexual abuse, parent abuse and witnessing abuse of others in the family. Family violence includes many different forms of abuse that adults or children may experience in their intimate, dependent relationships. Family violence also includes being mistreated or being neglected by these members. As we gain more understanding about the "inds and amount of violence in close relationships and in dealings with other family members, the definition of family violence will continue to change. There Are many ways to describe family violence. In a simple way - family violence is the manifestation in any close interpersonal relationship where the power dynamic between family members becomes temporarily or

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permanently fixed in favor of one person over another as an consequence of the periodic or continuous use of physical violence, threats and intimidation, non-physical abuse or any controlling behavior, and which results in physical hurt, fear of harm, inability to engage equally with the other, loss of control and the inability to access resources and the inability to exercise autonomy by the other. MensLine Australia believes the use of physical, emotional, sexual, psychological or economic abuse in family and intimate relationships is always unacceptable and in somecases is against the law. Family violence is an act by a member of a family or household against another member of the family or household that is: 1. intended to result in physical harm, bodily injury or assault 2. threat that reasonably places the members in fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury or assault, but does not include defensive measures to protect oneself or 3.

intended to inflict emotional harm, including an act of emotional abuse..

When the relationship between a family member and his/her partner and/or other family members can be described as a “power over relationship”, rather than a “power with relationship” means abnormal behavior in that family that ultimately focuses on family violence.In such a situation following behaviors usually take placea.engaging in physical andor sexual assault grabbing, pushing, slapping, punching, rape b.making threats to harm - yelling, screaming, punching walls, standing over, preventing the other from leaving, making threats c.engaging in emotional and psychological abuse name calling, belittling remarks, put downs, continuous criticisms, making fun of the other, threatening to harm oneself

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d.putting limits on what the other can do going everywhere with them, quizzing them on where they go and what they do, ringing up all the time, stalking, isolate them from family and friends e.preventing other from making choices making most of the decisions, expect the other to as" permission, control the money in the household. Types of Family Violence Many people believe that family violence is only physical abuse. However, family violence takes many different forms. It may also be psychological, sexual, financial or spiritual. Physical Abuse includes hitting, pinching, slapping, pushing, punching, kickiing, burning, stabbing or shooting. It may also include threats to cause harm. Psychological Abuse is sometimes referred to as emotional or verbal abuse3 includes put%downs, namecalling, jealousy, isolation from family and friends, and threats to leave the relationshipor to commit suicide if the victim does not cooperate. Sexual Abuse includes unwantedtouching or sexual activity. It may include control over birth control, forced pregnanciesor abortions and transmission of /exually Transmitted Diseases (STD). Financial Abuse occurs when an individual uses finances to control another individual. This could include forcing a person to hand over all or part of their salary or by denying someone access to their own finances. Research has shown multiple factors are associated with family violence. Types of family violence include spouse abuse, elder abuse and neglect, child abuse and neglect, parent abuse, and sibling abuse. There are three types of spouse abuse- physical abuse, sexualviolence, and psychological emotional abuse. These often occur in combination, and although either partner may be the victim, most victims are women. Among the many factors that may contribute to the occurrence of spouse abuse are learned behavior, trial and error learning, and substance abuse. Abused and neglected elderly persons are among the most isolated victims of family violence.

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They are maltreated by their spouses, adult children, or other relatives. There are four types of elder abuse- physical, psychological, emotional,material exploitation, and violation of rights. 0auses of elder abuse range from seemingly deliberate abuse of older persons by spouses and adult children, to unintentional cases of neglect related to the frailty of the older person, to the pressures that can result from caregiving. There are four types of child maltreatment- physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, andmental injury. Although any of the types of child maltreatment may be found alone, one often finds them occurring in combination. Parent and sibling abuse, the effects of family violence and federal, state, and local response to family violence are discussed. Family violence occurs in many forms the most prominent are domestic violence, child abuse, and elder abuse. Family violence affects many persons at some point in their life and constitutes the majority of violent acts in our society. Although there has been considerable study of the patterns, risk factors, and interventions for each form of family violence, great controversy still exists within each area. There is growing recognition of an overlap in the patterns, causes, and effective interventions across types of family violence.There is also an increasing awareness of the value of greater integration of theory and research across areas into a family violence approach through an ecological perspective. The Cycle of Family Violence: Family violence falls into a common pattern, or cycle of violence: Abuse- the abusive partner lashes out with aggressive, belittling or violent behaviour. The Abuse is a power play designed to show “who is boss”

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Guilt- After abusing, the abuser feels guilt, but never what s/he’s done. S/he is more worried worried about the possibility of being caught and facing consequences for his/her consequences for his/her abusive behaviour. Normal Behaviour- The abuser does everything s/he can to regain control and keep in the relationship. S/he may act as if nothing has happened, or s/he may turn on the charm. This peaceful honeymoon phase may give hope that the abusive partner has really changed this time. Fantasy and planning: Abuser begins to fantasise about abusing the victim again. S/he spends a lot of time thinking about what they have done wrong and how s/he will make pay. Then s/he makes a plan for turning the fantasy of abuse into reality. Set up - The abuser sets up and puts his/her plan in motion, creating a situation where s/he can justify abusing the victim.

Causes of Family Violence: 1. Inter-Family Conflict: Family conflict arises in a number of different situations: between spouses, sibling rivalry, succession issues, between siblings regarding care taking responsibilities of parents etc. 2. Male Dominance in family and society: in patriarchal societies males have primary power. It affects many aspects of life, from political leadership, business management, religious institutions, economic systems and property ownership right down to the family home where men are considered to be the head of the household. 3. Cultural Norms permitting family violence: Rules or expectations of behaviour norms within a cultural or social group can encourage violence. Interventions that

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challenge cultural and social norms supportive of violence can prevent acts of violence and have been widely used. 4. Family socialization in Violence: In the families where parents are violent with each other or other violent incidents occur, it effects their children and they follow the same behaviour of violence in their own families when they grow up. 5. Pervasiveness of Violence in society: all forms of violence have damaging short and long term effects on mental, physical and spiritual well being. TV shows, movies edited for television and video games expose young children to a level of violence.

FORMS OF FAMILY ABUSE AND VIOLENCE: All forms of domestic abuse have one purpose: to gain and maintain control over the victim. Abusers use many tactics to exert power over their spouse or partner: dominance, humiliation, isolation, threats, intimidation, denial, and blame. 1. Child Abuse & Violence: For infantsand younger children, violence mainly involves child maltreatment (i.e. physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect) at the hands of parents and other authority figures. Boys and girls are at equal risk of physical and emotional abuse and neglect, and girls are at greater risk of sexual abuse. There are many things that can cause child abuse. The reasons are often complex, and there's no single or simple explanation. Causes of child abuse can include: isolation and lack of support no family members, friends, partners or community, support to help with the demands of parenting stress, financial pressures, job worries, medical problems or caring for a family, member with a disability, unrealistic

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expectations, a lack of understanding about a child's developmental stages and behaviour, intellectual disability or mental illness, parents may be unable to adequately care for their child, lack of parenting skills, parents may not know how to care for their child or may believe it is acceptable to use excessive physical force to discipline or punish a child, drug, alcohol or gambling problems, addiction or substance abuse may affect a parent's, ability to meet their child's needs. find it hard asking for help, past childhood experiences parents may have experienced abuse as a child in their own families, which could have caused them to develop an insecure attachment style mental health problems. Parents Abuse & Violence: Abuse of parents by their children, also known as child-to-parent violence is a form of domestic violence, and is one of the most under-reported and underresearched subject areas in the field of psychology. Parents are quite often subject to levels of childhood aggression in excess of normal childhood aggressive outbursts, typically in the form of verbal or physical abuse. Parents feel a sense of shame and humiliation to have that problem. so they rarely seek help. *Parent abuse' has been defined as 'any harmful act of a teenage child intended to gain power and control over a parent. The abuse can be physical, psychological, or financial.' Though this type of abuse often takes places during the teen years (often from 12 to 17), it can happen earlier than that. There have been some reports of children younger than 10 years old. 'The effects of experiencing abuse from one's child can be profound. In the short term, ongoing parent abuse has been found to impact on a parent's and other family members' physical and psychological health, with specific negative emotions such as fear, shame, guilt and despair commonly reported.

Wife & Female Partner Abuse & Violence: Lifetime prevalence of domestic violence against

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women by husband or intimate partner among 10 studies ranged from 20 to 78 %.It takes a number of forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic, religious, reproductive, and sexual abuse, which can range from subtle, coercive forms to marital rape and to violent physical abuse such as choking, beating, female genital mutilation, and acid throwing that results in disfigurement or death. Violence can negatively affect women's physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health, and may increase the risk of acquiring HIV in some settings. Men are more likely to perpetrate violence if they have low education. a history of child maltreatment, exposure to domestic violence against their mothers, harmful use of alcohol, unequal gender norms including attitudes accepting of violence, and a sense of entitlement over women. Women are more likely to experience intimate partner violence if they have low education, exposure to mothers being abused by a partner, abuse during childhood, and attitudes accepting violence, male privilege, and women's subordinate status. Husband & Male Partner Abuse: Abuse of men by their partners happens when the partner uses emotional, physical, sexual or intimidation tactics. She does it to control the man, get her own way and prevent him from leaving the relationship. Women may use weapons including knives, glass, boiling water and various household objects. While men may be held back from defending themselves by cultural taboos against harming women. The abused man is always adapting his behaviour to do what his partner wants, in the hopes of preventing further abuse. The primary motive for abuse is to establish and maintain power and control over a partner. The an abused partner may resist the attempts to control him. In tum, the abusive woman takes additional steps to regain control over her partner. Our society is beginning to recognize and study the abuse of men by their partners. Society's beliefs and attitudes about men have kept this

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kind of abuse hidden. Because of these beliefs, men who are abused by female partners may not admit it. They may not want to tell anyone. Additionally, sometimes police and other professionals may not take the abuse seriously. Sibling Abuse & Violence: Sibling abuse includes the physical, psychological, or sexual abuse of one sibling by another. Almost all siblings fight. Abuse occurs when one sibling consistently intimidates, terrorizes or controls another.Sibling abuse occurs most often in dysfunctional, neglectful or abusive homes when parents fail to set boundaries or discipline abusive children. A 1982 study found that 60 per cent of children who witnessed abuse between their parents later acted out the scene with their siblings. They also are more likely to abuse others when they grow up. As a rule, parents and society expect fights and aggression among siblings. Because of this, parents often don't see sibling abuse as a problem until serious harm occurs. Potential effects of sibling violence include severe symptoms of trauma, anxiety, and depression including sleeplessness, suicidal ideation, and fear of the dark, loneliness and psychological difficulties and aggression and delinquency. Elderly Abuse & Violence: Elder abuse (also called elder mistreatment. senior abuse, abuse in later life, abuse of older adults, abuse of older women and abuse of older men) is a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action. occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an person This type of violence constitutes constitutes a violation of human rights and includes physical, sexual. psychological, and emotional abuse; financial and material abuse; abandonment; neglect; and serious loss of dignity and respect. It includes harms by people the older person knows, or has a relationship with, such as a spouse, partner, or family member; a friend or neighbor; or people that the older person relies on for services.

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There are several types of abuse of older people that are generally recognized as being elder abuse, including: Physical: e.g. hitting, punching, slapping, burning, pushing, kicking, restraining, false imprisonment/confinement or giving excessive or improper medication as well as withholding treatment and medication.

Primary prevention is action to stop family violence from occurring in the first place. It is aimed at the community as a whole, and also at particular groups within the community. To prevent family violence we must change the attitudes and social conditions that allow it to happen. That means we need to: -

design strategies to change harmful attitudes towards women, promote gender equality and encourage respectful relationships

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challenge the condoning of violence against women

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use a variety of complementary approaches

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make a long term investment – cultural change takes decades.

Early intervention is action to identify and support people experiencing family violence, with the aim of stopping early signs of violence from escalating, preventing a recurrence of violence, or reducing harm in the longer term. Wherever those affected by family violence come into contact with people who might be able to help them. This can happen in: -

health care settings such as GPs, maternal and child health nurses, community health centres, and hospitals

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schools and pre‐school settings including childcare

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family services, housing, employment, mental health, and drug and alcohol services

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local community groups, such as sports clubs.

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Hospital staff, health workers, teachers, hairdressers, early childhood workers, vets, family members, neighbours and bystanders can all be trained to recognise the signs of family violence and offer assistance in a sensitive and supportive way. When victim-survivors need support to stay safe from someone using family violence against them. This may be when they are still in the relationship, planning to leave, or have already left the family requires crisis response. Why is it important? The risks to victims of family violence are high and can be fatal. In the first instance, a crisis response is important because it prevents harm and saves lives. As well as that, with the right support, victim-survivors can recover and thrive after family violence.

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References Stencel, Sandra “Violence In TheFamily,” Editorial Research Reports (April 27, 1979), p. 308.) Dotsenko E. L. (1996): Psychology of manipulation. M.: Moscow State University. (Russian Edition). Eidemiller E.G., Dobryakov I.V., Nicholskaya I.M. (2006): Family diagnosis and family therapy. 2nd edition, St. Petersburg.: Rech. (Russian Edition). Dear, G. Blaming the victim: Domestic violence and the codependency model. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology 1996. Denollet, J. Type D personality: a potential risk factor. Journal of psychosomatic research. 2000, 49, 255-266. Doerner, W. G & Lab, S.P. Victimology. Third Edition. Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing 2002. Downs, D., A.: Battered Woman Syndrome. In. Loseke, D. – Gelles,R. J.-Gavanaugh, M. M.: Current controversies of domestic violence. UK: Sage Publications 2004. Department of women studies, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, 1st edition, Canada Mallet Morrison, “international perspectives on Family Violence and abuse: a cognitive ecological approach” edition: 1st. Thomas, P (1999) “Violence in Homes and Communities Prevention, Intervention and Treatment.” Child and Family Agency

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