Family Violence

1
Family Violence

• Article by Patrick Tolan, Debrorah
  Gorman-Smith, and David Henry
• Presented by Megan Bartoszewski

2
Purpose and Take-Home Message

• Review of Family Violence (FV) Literature
• Current knowledge related to controversies in FV
• Integrative steps to advance knowledge of FV
• Appreciation of FV as a complex problem
• Challenging set of scientific and practical
  issues
• Need to be managed to reduce public health threat
• Integration of research across forms of FV
• Approach theory and practice through an
  ecological perspective
• What is meant by an ecological perspective?

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Problems with current approach to FV research and
policy

• Focus on separate forms vs. an overall
  understanding of violence in families
• Preoccupation with controversies
• Conceptualization
• Definition
• Measurement
• Negative Implications Segregated understanding
  and policy direction for types of FV
• Impedes advancement of scientific study
  ?integration of knowledge and policy about FV
• Studies are not able to address alternative
  explanations
• Advocacy efforts are oversimplified or ignore
  other forms of FV or complex issues in affecting
  change in violence rates
• Example provided by article

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Why should we focus on FV?

• Family Violence is the most prevalent form of
  violence in the US.
• 7 of you said TRUE
• In younger populations, violence between
  acquaintances or strangers is more common than
  Family Violence.
• 6 of you said FALSE
• In older populations, violence between
  acquaintances or strangers is more common than
  Family Violence.
• 5 of you said FALSE

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Why should we focus on FV?

• Most prevalent form of violence in the US
• Consequences of FV
• Physical injuries and deaths
• Psychological impact
• Detrimental functioning/Decreased productivity
  major health and social problem
• Great costs to health care, criminal justice
• Presupposes a relationship between those
  involved.
• Presents a paradox
• Harm by those who are supposed to Care
• Antithetical to value of the family
• Relationships exist prior to, during, and after
  violent incidents or periods
• Violence among family members has a legal meaning
  that is different from other forms of violence

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Valuable, but what is FV?

• Controversy about defining FV and its forms
• Behaviors included in the definition of FV
  contribute to differences in
• Rates
• Meanings
• Implications drawn
• Disputed Elements
• Political ramifications of terminology
• The value of studying violence apart
  from presumption of effects or
  implications
• The extent to which violent acts are seen as part
  of a broader set of problematic behaviors and
  relationship characteristics
• Presented Challenge
• Attempt to forge conceptual consensus about how
  to define forms of FV
• Simultaneously trying to relate these areas of
  study

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Controversies in Defining FV

• Central Controversy
• Should FV be synonymous with abuse or substantial
  mistreatment of family members?
• Should the definition encompass all acts of
  violence, or only serious or ongoing patterns of
  violence?
• Controversy 2
• What if FV is equated to abuse, including
  nonviolent abuse.
• Pro This type of abuse is more relevant in
  forming policy.
• Con Serious violence only makes up a small
  portion of the measure of
• violence.
• Controversy 3
• How to incorporate gender inequities and
  dependency differences related to power within
  family relationships.
• Suggested Relationship perspective
• Controversy 4
• Extent to which common or socially sanctioned
  violent behavior in family relationships should
  be considered problematic.
• Inconsistent results regarding negative effects
  of corporal punishment
• Possible undercutting of credibility of findings

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So again, What is FV??

• Currently Some reviews attempt to signify why
  one view should prevail and/or suggest
  operational definitions that promote one
  connotation
• Suggested Relating these components and views
  in order to understand the ecology of family
  violence
• Leaning towards
• Considering threatening verbal behavior and
  intimidation
• Violence in family relationships may have
  different meanings because of dependency among
  family members
• Multiple influences on family violence
  individual, relationship, context

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Prevalence-Domestic Violence

• Community and representative samples report
  higher rates of violent domestic or partner acts
  for men versus women.
• 6 of you said TRUE
• Women initiate violent acts against their partner
  at higher rates than do men.
• 7 of you said FALSE 
• Negative effects on individuals are greater when
  they are only the victim (and not also the
  perpetrator) of violent acts in their
  relationship with their partner.
• 4 of you said FALSE 
• Within young couples, males have shown higher
  aggression than females.
• 6 of you said TRUE
• Within older couples, males have shown higher
  aggression than females.
• 6 of you said TRUE

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Prevalence of Domestic Violence

• Gender Differences
• National Family Violence Survey and assault
  results
• Young couples (14-22) higher aggression in
  females
• Older couples (23-49) higher aggression in men
  (Archer 2002)
• Directionality of Violence Between Partners
• Violence between partners is often BIDIRECTIONAL
• Arrest Practices
• Question Why are men arrested at a higher rate?
• Actual seriousness
• Differential relation of behavior to
• reporting violence to police
• Police reaction depending
• on the gender of the victim
• Example
• Results reported for 2003-Still true today?
• Up to Date Information

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Prevalence-Child Abuse

• Children under the age of 3 suffer the highest
  rates of child abuse.
• 7 of you said FALSE
• Unmarried partners of parents are responsible for
  a larger proportion of child deaths due to child
  abuse or neglect than are the childrens own
  parents.
• 5 of you said FALSE 

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Child Abuse What is it?

• Child abuse or maltreatment constitutes all
  forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment,
  sexual abuse, or neglect or negligent treatment
  or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in
  actual or potential harm to the childs health,
  survival, development or dignity in the context
  of a relationship of responsibility, trust or
  power (World Health Organization 2002).
• Problems with definition or obtaining rates?

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Child Abuse Prevalence

• National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect
  Information (2004)
• 906,000 children victims of abuse or neglect 12.4
  per 1000
• Children under the age of 3 had the highest rates
  of victimization
• Girls slightly more than boys
• Differed by ethnic group
• 1500 Children died as the result of abuse or
  neglect
• 80 parents,
• 6 other relatives
• 4 unmarried partners of parents
• 79 were younger than 4 years
• Community surveys suggest much higher rates of
  all forms of child abuse and maltreatment

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Prevalence-Elder Abuse

• The most common characteristics of a victim of
  elder abuse includes being between the ages of
  70 and 80, being female, and being African
  American.
• 5 of you said TRUE

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Elder Abuse Prevalence

• Intro to Elder Abuse
• Abuse divided into categories
• Physical abuse
• Psychological or emotional abuse
• Financial or material abuse
• Sexual abuse
• Neglect
• Findings
• 4-6 of the population WHO 2002
• Characteristics of Victims of Elder Abuse
• Over 80 years of age
• Females
• 80 white

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Risk Factors of Family Violence A Focus on
Poverty as a Stressor

• Those living in poverty display
  disproportionately higher rates of Domestic
  Violence.
• 4 of you said TRUE
•  Domestic Violence increases the likelihood of
  violence toward children.
• 7 of you said TRUE
• A parent with low self-esteem and/or mental
  health problems is more likely to commit acts of
  Child Abuse.
• 6 of you said TRUE
• Physical Child Abuse is related to marital status
  and parental education.
• 4 of you said TRUE
• Those who commit Elder Abuse tend to show a
  history of aggression or violence, current
  substance abuse, or have a mental illness.
• 6 of you said TRUE
• The characteristics of children who suffer from
  Child Abuse include being male, being a younger
  versus older child, and having medical
  complications or disabilities.
• 4 of you said FALSE

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Poverty as a Risk Factor

• Discussed in DV and CB sections
• Introduced in DV
• Occurs across all socioeconomic levels
• BUT those living in poverty are
  disproportionately affectedWhy?
• Suggestions
• Greater stress
• Hopelessness
• Financial constraints
• Reiterated in CB
• Interpret poverty effects as reflecting STRESS
  and RESOURCE ISSUES
• Example-Factors treated as a mediators or
  moderators of poverty CB relationship?

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Mediators of Poverty and CA

• A1Crime level A2Concentrated Poverty
• B1Family Factors B2interactions with
  individual and neighborhood factors
• CRisk of Child Abuse
• A1?C and A2?C
• A1?B1 and B2 A2?B1 and B2
• A1B1B2?C A2B1B2?C
• B1 and B2 all the sig/predict child abuse
• A1 and A2 no longer significant/do not predict
  child abuse

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Poverty as a Risk Factor

• Similar to Social Selection or Social Causation?
• May reflect limited resources and support
• Children of the Recession
• Recession and Dating Violence
• Family Violence Prevention Fund
• Liz Claiborne Inc. Study of the Relationship
  between Recession and Dating Violence

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Poverty and StressRisk Factors of Elder Abuse

• Elder Abuse
• Not the dependence of the elder on the caregiver
  that matter
• But rather is the dependence of the caregiver on
  the elder financially
• Stress and Elder Abuse Example

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Promising Interventions

• The presence of one form of family violence is a
  risk factor for the presence of another form.
• 7 of you said TRUE
• Most interventions of Family Violence consider
  multiple forms of the phenomenon.
• 6 of you said TRUE
• Many interventions take into consideration that
  perpetrators of Family Violence were often
  victims once themselves.
• 6 of you said TRUE
• Dating Violence is often a precursor to Family
  Violence.
• 6 of you said TRUE

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Interventions-DV

• Shelters for Victims
• Mandatory Prosecution of Perpetrators
• Treatment of Perpetrators
• Reducing Dating Violence
• The Youth Relationship Project
• The Safe Dates Program

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Interventions-CA

• Court-mandated treatment for offender
• Parenting Practices and Family Interventions
• Potential positive effects on mediators of of
  child abuse
• Home Visitation for At-Risk Mothers
• Critical Aspects of Effective Child Abuse
  Interventions
• Proactive programs
• Home visitation
• Multi-component
• Reactive Programs
• Parent-training interventions
• Multi-component

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Interventions-EA

• Ways to Reduce Elder Abuse
• Reduce stress
• Providing respite to the caregiver
• Reduce depression
• Economic hardship

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Conclusion

• Recap
• Forms of FV share many risk
• factors/effective interventions
• Relation of policy advocacy to
• research has been limited
• Personal responsibility vs.
• Multiple determinates
• Broader consideration Assist families with
  one type of violence to help affect and even
  prevent another form
• Ecological Model as challenging but a (better?)
  alternative to the research and policies of FV