Shontell White
PSY325
Lutricia Jones
August 6, 2012
Domestic violence is an issue that many are concerned about. As defined from domestic violence.org, domestic violence is “behavior used by one person in a relationship to control the other. Partners may be married or not married; heterosexual, gay, or lesbian; living together, separated or dating” (http://www.domesticviolence.org/definition/). Domestic abuse is considered as a criminal act is against the law. It is common for victims of domestic violence to experience other forms of abuse that leads to physical abuse. Some types of domestic abuse are: * name calling * keeping partner’s loved ones or family away * lack of financial support * stalking * physical abuse * sexual abuse * mental intimidation
Many people that fall victim to domestic violence stay in the relationship and continue to live in fear. The victims that do decide to leave most of the time have experienced the abuse multiple times before deciding and to leave and a large percentage of the time the ones that leave eventually return back to the partner that abused them. There is a cycle that has been identified in the relationships that involve domestic abuse described from the website domestic violence.org:
Incident
* Any type of abuse occurs (physical/sexual/emotional)
Tension Building * Abuser starts to get angry * Abuse may begin * There is a breakdown of communication * Victim feels the need to keep the abuser calm * Tension becomes too much * Victim feels like they are 'walking on egg shells'
Making-Up
* Abuser may apologize for abuse * Abuser may promise it will never happen again * Abuser may blame the victim for causing the abuse * Abuser may deny abuse took place or say it was not as bad as the victim claims
Calm
* Abuser acts like the abuse never happened * Physical abuse may not be taking place * Promises made during 'making-up' may be met * Victim may hope that the abuse is over * Abuser may give gifts to victim
((http://www.domesticviolence.org/definition/)
Intimate partners use domestic violence as a tool or method to control their partner. Victims often avoid the signs of domestic violence. Being afraid of your partner is a sign of domestic violence and partners being critical towards their significant other. Placing the blame on the person being abused is also a sign of domestic violence. Many people that experience domestic violence experience their intimate partner being insecure and jealous of family and friends. The partner often denies that there is a problem, and will sometimes deny that the abuse ever occurred.
There are many statistics that provide information showing the most common factors of domestic violence in intimate relationships. Studies show that there are many contributing factors to domestic violence but the question is; Are financial crisis in the home, less healthy lifestyle, alcohol and drug abuse, miscommunication in the relationship the most impacting factors that contribute domestic violence? The most common factors of domestic violence seen were financial stress and insecurity. In a few of the studies various criteria were analyzed. Three different studies were analyzed to see if each would bring about the same conclusions and if the conclusions were different from my two common factors. The first study from Individual Behavior Change Through Economic Shocks Exposure: Empirical Evidence from Romania, addressed economic, terrorism, and public health security crisis. These studies provided information that would help determine factors for various crimes such as murder, domestic violence, and suicide. The social consequence of economic crisis was analyzed in this study. The crisis factors for the groups being analyzed were determined by marital status, health, individual behavior,