Family Stress and Crises

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Family Stress and Crises
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Introduction to Family Violence

• Our homes- risk of emotional and physical harm
• Families in trouble
• Responding, adapting, and coping with tragedy and
  disaster

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Family Stress and Catastrophes

• Family stress
• An imbalance between demands on family and
  familys capacity to meet demands
• Demands exceeding resources
• ABCX Family Crisis Model

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ABCX Family Crisis Model

• A Factors
• New Members or additions
• Family Dismemberment
• Deliberate Change
• Demoralization
• Sudden Change
• Natural Catastrophes

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ABCX Family Crisis Model cont

• B Factors
• Family Crisis-Meeting Resources
• Family Integration-
• Family Adaptability-

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The C Factor

• The Family Definition of Crisis Event
• Overestimation and underestimation of the
  stressor
• Y2K Computer problem
• The 2006 summer storm of North Bay

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Family Crisis etc

• Ability to cope depends on several factors
• Changes in family result in other stressors
• Strongly integrated families
• Weakly integrated families
• Social support

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Abuse Within the Family

• Family as the primary source for social support
  and comfort
• Is this always the case?
• Why is there abuse within the family?
• Feminist Theory
• Patriarchy within society
• Women dominated by men
• The assertion of patriarchy

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Theoretical Perspectives cont

• Gender socialization
• Social Stratification
• Domestic violence is more common among
  lower-income families
• The poor provide an obvious explanation
• Social class socialization
• The norms salient in society and their importance

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Social Exchange Theory

• Will be violent is benefits outweigh the costs
• No negative sanctions for battering spouse
• Social isolation and privacy allows for much of
  the abuse
• Individuals were abused as a child

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Dating and Courtship Violence

• Dating as a fertile ground for dating violence
• New arena to exercise power
• Violent acts as a normal part of the dating
  process
• Dating violence as a predictor
• Date rape
• Gang Rape

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Sources of Dating Violence

• Still heavily debated
• Psychological factors and the omission of macro
  sociological factors
• Social construction of masculinity
• Gender stratification
• Childhood exposure to violence
• Sexual abuse any physical abuse

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Spousal and Partner Physical Abuse

• Interpartner violence and the matter of power.
• Patriarchal ideologies
• Violence as an ego booster
• Batterers as pathological or are they?
• Gottmans experimental laboratory
• Three types of violent men

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Range of Violent Acts

• A Range of acts
• Throwing something at a spouse
• Pushed, grabbed
• Slapped
• Kicked or hit with a fist
• Hit or tried hitting with something
• Beat up
• Choked
• Threatened with a knife or gun
• Used knife or gun

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Acts of Violence Cont

• The percent of women compared to the percent of
  men
• Women who abuse forcefully still the exception
• Less force, less muscular, heavy, tall, strong,
  etc.
• Men are far more lethal
• Rape as part of spousal violence

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Factors Related to Spousal Abuse

• Facilitated by our culture of violence and
  ideologies
• Other factors within the broad cultural context
• Alcohol and drugs
• Cohabiting couples
• Very low-income couples

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Effects of Abuse on Women

• Battered woman syndrome
• ¼ of abused women turn to alcohol and drugs
• Learned helplessness as a learned behaviour
• Some learn it in childhood while others in adults
  relationships

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Learned Helplessness

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vPWpd_nt79OA
• Why do they stay? Why do they take it?
• There is no simple answer
• May involve more fear of leaving and being on
  their own
• Women may be completely controlled

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Cycle of Violence Theory

• 3 distinct phases
• 1. Tension Building
• 2.Uncontrollable Discharge of Aggression
• 3. Loving Contrition
• Lots of data to support this theory

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The Role of Alcohol

• Relationship between alcohol and abuse is well
  established
• Chronic alcohol use causes pharmacological
  effects
• Batterers drank greater amounts and more often
• Alcohol as a disinhibitor

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Alcohol use among women

• Women use alcohol in abusive relationships
• Usually after the abusive occurrence
• Alcohol serves as an excuse

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Husband Abuse

• Husbands are sometimes the victims of abuse
• Wife-to-husband assault is more prevalent and
  greater
• Psychological abuse is also more prevalent
• May be in defence or regaining of power

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Spousal Murder

• Spousal murder is the most common type of murder
  in Canada.

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Francine Hughes

• On March 9, 1977, in Danville Michigan, Francine
  Hughes, aged 30, poured gasoline around the bed
  in which her husband slept and set it on fire.
  Then she went to the office of the County Sheriff
  with her three children and turned herself in.
  she was charged with first-degree murder. But
  during the trial the hury heard about her 12
  years of brutalization by her husband. One the
  day when she finally killed him, he had
  repeatedly beaten Francine, terrorized the
  children, forced her to clean up good and garbage
  he deliberately dumped out, smeared food on her
  face and hair, torn up her college course books,
  threatened to wreck her car to stop her from
  attending classes, and finally raped her before
  falling asleep, half drunk. The jury heard of her
  repeated, unsuccessful attempted to get help from
  welfare agencies and the police- and decided that
  she was not guilty

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Domestic Violence Amongst Homosexuals

• There was a belief that these unions are less
  violent- not the case!
• Estimated between 22 and 46 percent of all unions
• Similar reasons as heterosexual unions
• Stay in the relationships for the same reasons

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Child Neglect and Abuse

• Children are potentially most at risk
• Child neglect involves a broad range of parental
  behaviours
• Interaction is generally withdrawn and
  unpredictable
• Likely to be extremely poor, single-parents,
  young parents, and female.

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Child Neglect

• Alcohol does play a factor in this case
• Children suffer psychologically, socially and
  emotionally
• Physical and verbal abuse the most common type
• Verbal abuse can leave a child scarred for life.

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Physical and Verbal Abuse

• Definition of physical abuse
• Severe physical abuse leaves lasting trauma
• Those who have witness abuse
• Often leads children to become abusive parents
  themselves

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Sexual Abuse

• Different forms of sexual abuse incest, rape,
  touching, fondling
• Distinction between contact and noncontact forms
  of sexual abuse
• Researchers agree on three things

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Short-Term Effects of Abuse

• All have devastating effects on a child
• Short-term effects occur within the first 2 years
  after abuse occurs
• Includes fear, anger, hostility
• Has varying effects on victims and they develop
  coping mechanisms

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Four Destructive Coping Mechanisms

• 1. Traumatic Sexualization- children are rewarded
  with affection for sexual behaviour
• 2. Betrayal- experience betrayal of a loved one
• 3. Powerlessness- Disempowerment
• 4. Stigmatization- incorporated into childs
  self-concept

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Short-Term effects cont

• More symptoms of distorted development
• Significant self-blame and externalizing
  behaviours
• Females more than males

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Long-Term Effects

• Psychosocial adjustment
• Impairment in functioning, depression, anxiety,
  psychiatric disorders
• Lower levels of tolerance
• Difficulty in forming interpersonal relationships
• Internalization of problems