Marriages and Families: Changes, Choices, and Constraints Seventh Edition

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Marriages and FamiliesChanges, Choices, and
ConstraintsSeventh Edition Nijole V.
Benokraitis Chapter Fourteen Family Abuse,
Violence, and Other Health Issues
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Family

• Families can be warm, nurturing, and loving, but
  unfortunately for some families the picture is a
  bit different.
• We are more likely to be injured by a family
  member than a stranger at any time during our
  lives.

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Intimate Partner Abuseand Violence

• Intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs between
  two people in a close relationship. The term
  intimate partner refers to current and former
  spouses, couples who live together, and current
  and former boyfriends and girlfriends.
• Social scientists use the terms intimate partner
  violence and domestic violence interchangeably.

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Types of Intimate Partner Abuse and Violence

• Includes three types of behavior
• Physical abusea person hurts or tries to hurt a
  partner by using physical force.
• Sexual abuseforcing a partner to take part in a
  sex act when she or he doesnt consent (most
  commonly rape).
• Emotional abusethreatening a partner or his or
  her loved ones or possessions or harming a
  partners sense of self- worth.

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The Prevalenceand Severity of IPV

• Women are five times more likely to be abused by
  a partner than a man is. Almost 75 of all
  attacks by intimate partners are against women.
• Each year, IPV results in an estimated 1200
  deaths and 2 million injuries among women and 330
  deaths and nearly 600,000 injuries against men.

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The Prevalenceand Severity of IPV

• Women are more likely to report serious
  psychological impacts as a result of IPV after an
  attack.
• IPV is a leading cause of death for women ages
  15-44 in the U.S. It seems that pregnancy is an
  especially dangerous time for womenwhy do you
  think this is?

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Characteristics of Abusive Households

• There are several characteristics that make it
  more likely that a household will experience
  domestic violence, such as unemployment and other
  more personal things such as drug abuse.
• Women are much more likely to experience IPV then
  men. Men are more likely to use a deadly weapon
  in an attack on their significant other.

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Age

• In general, younger rather than older people are
  more likely to be the victims and perpetrators of
  IPV, and the victims tend to get younger over
  time.
• Teen mothers are especially venerable for several
  years after the childs birth.

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Race and Ethnicity

• IPV occurs across all racial and ethnic groups,
  although multiracial and American Indian women
  report the highest rates overall.
• Social classagain IPV is common across all class
  statuses, but it is most commonly reported in
  lower socioeconomic classes.

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Marital Rape

• Marital rape is an abusive act in which a man
  forces his wife to have unwanted sexual
  intercourse. Marital rape has been a crime in
  all states since 1993.
• An estimated 25 of women nationwide have been
  raped by their spouses, yet they dont often
  report it.

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The Cycleof Domestic Violence

• Women who have killed their abusers have been
  pardoned based on the battered-woman syndrome
  defense.
• There is a cycle of battering incidents that
  causes women not to leave their abusers.

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The Cycleof Domestic Violence

• Phase 1the tension-building phase The woman
  tries to reduce her partners anger by catering
  to him or consoling him in some way. At the same
  time, she believes her partners abuse is
  justified in some way.

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The Cycleof Domestic Violence

• Phase 2the acute battering incident This is
  when the actual physical or other abuse occurs.
  Some women anticipate this phase and actually
  trigger the violent incident to get it over with.

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The Cycleof Domestic Violence

• Phase 3the calm or honeymoon phase The
  abuser is calm and promises never to abuse again.
  As the cycle progresses over time, the first two
  phases get longer and the third phase can be left
  out altogether.

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Why Do Women Stay?

• Walker theorized the cycle of violence results in
  learned helplessnessthe woman becomes depressed,
  loses her self-esteem, and feels incapable of
  seeking help for herself.
• Some women stay out of hope that the abuser will
  change. It is hope that keeps many women tied to
  abusive men.
• The women may have low self-esteem and feel
  incapable of helping herself and even her
  children.
• However, some women find the courage to leave
  when the violence spills over into the lives of
  their children.

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Why Do Women Stay?

• Economic hardship and homelessnessmany abused
  women do not work outside the home and may have
  nowhere to turn when her husband is abusive.
  There are more animal shelters in the U.S. than
  there are shelters for battered women and
  children.
• It has been estimated that perhaps as much as
  half of homeless women and children are running
  from abusive situations.

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Why Do Women Stay?

• Need for child supportleaving her husband and
  filing for divorce may leave the woman and her
  children in poverty.
• Shame or guiltthat they should be able to make
  the relationship work.
• Blaming themselvesbattered women often believe
  it is their faultthat they have brought on the
  violence in some way.

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Why Do Women Stay?

• Fearis a MAJOR reason that women stay in these
  relationships. Some men threaten to kill the
  woman, her relatives, or the children to get the
  woman to stay.
• The home becomes a prisonboth emotional and
  physical abuse trap the woman and her children.

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Women Who Abuse Men

• In situational couple violence both the woman and
  the man are perpetratorsperhaps not fighting for
  control, but the violence is the result of
  conflict that turns into physical violence.
• Women arent always the only victims of IPVit
  has negative effects for men, women, and children.

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Child Maltreatment

• Abuse and/or killing of ones children is not a
  new phenomenon. However, child abuse didnt
  become a household word until the 1980s.
• Child maltreatment includes a broad range of
  behaviors that place a child at serious risk of
  physical harm. Physical abuse, sexual abuse,
  emotional abuse, and neglect can all play a role
  in child abuse.

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Child Maltreatment

• Sexual abuse is a type of maltreatment that
  involves the child in sexual activity to provide
  sexual gratification or financial beneficial to
  the perpetrator in some way.
• Neglect is failure by a parent or other caregiver
  to provide child with lifes basic necessities.
  In cases of medical neglect, the caregiver
  doesnt give the appropriate health care that
  will ensure the childs development.

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Child Maltreatment

• Although not visible, emotional abuse could very
  well be the cruelest form of abuse. It conveys
  to children that they are of no consequencethat
  they dont matter.

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Prevalence and Characteristics of Child
Maltreatment

• Child maltreatment rates have dropped in the last
  decade, but there were still 794,000 confirmed
  cases in 2007.
• Victimsalthough a child is often the victim of
  more than one kind of abuse, the most common form
  is neglect. Girls are slightly more likely than
  boys to be neglected.

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Perpetrators

• About 80 of people who abuse children are
  parents and more than half of them are mothers.
  An additional 8 are relatives of the parents.
  Most states dont have data on the relatives of
  the victims, so some data is incomplete.
• Fatalitieshomicide is the leading cause of death
  among infants, and the rates have doubled since
  1970. Of the 1,760 children who died of abuse in
  2007, 42 were younger than 1 year old and 76
  were younger than 4 years old.
• About 70 of child deaths are caused by one or
  both of the parents.

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Sexual Abuse and Incest

• While the sexual abuse of children by strangers
  gets much media attention, sexual abuse is
  usually perpetrated by someone the child
  knows90 are family members, friends of the
  family, and other people children know.
• Generally, children are too frightened to tell
  anyone, especially if the person who is abusing
  them is a family member.

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Why Do Adults Abuse Children?

• There are many reasons for child
  maltreatmentsome are
• substance abuse
• stress
• poverty
• partner abuse
• divorce
• a combination of factors

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How Abuse Affects Children

• Children often suffer a variety of physiological,
  social, and emotional problems stemming from
  abuse of any kind, whether it be physical,
  sexual, emotional, or psychological.
• Some other effects are
• Children are more aggressive.
• It increases the likelihood of arrest as a
  juvenile.
• It increases the risk of early, unplanned
  pregnancy.

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Hidden VictimsSiblings and Adolescents

• Violence between siblings and abuse of
  adolescents are less visible, primarily because
  the authorities are rarely notified. Such abuse
  can be extremely devastating.
• Sibling abusephysical, emotional, and sexual
  abuse of siblings can leave lasting scars just as
  abuse from other sources.

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Sibling Abuse

• Physical and emotional abusea national study
  found that almost 30 percent of children ages 2
  to 17 had been physically assaulted by a sister
  or brother at least once during the proceeding
  year. In 24 of all cases, the assault was
  serious enough to call the police.

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Some Common Formsof Sibling Abuse

• name calling and ridicule
• degradation
• intimidation
• torturing or killing a pet
• destroying personal possessions
• Parents rarely take abuse between siblings
  seriously.

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Sexual Abuse by a Sibling

• Perhaps the most insidious form of incest is the
  sexual abuse of a sibling. It is rarely an
  isolated event, it often goes on for years
  without being reported to any authority.
• Often the sibling being abused is afraid of not
  being believed by parents or of being blamed.

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Adolescent Abuse

• Victimization of teens is the root of many
  problems later in life.
• Prevalencemany parents are physically and
  verbally abusive toward their children throughout
  their teen years.
• Of all child victims, an astounding 27 are
  between the ages of 12-17.

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Consequencesof Adolescent Abuse

• Some teens strike back physically and verbally.
• Others rebel or run away, withdraw, use drugs, or
  become involved in juvenile prostitution.

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Elder Abuse

• Elder abuse is another form of family violence
  that is rarely talked about. It can include
• physical abuse
• negligence
• financial exploitation
• psychological abuse
• deprivation of basic necessities
• isolation from family and friends
• not administering needed medical care

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The Victims

• Researchers estimate that 1 to 2 million
  Americans age 65 or older have been injured,
  exploited, or otherwise mistreated by a family
  member or caretaker.
• About 66 are women and 43 of both sexes are
  over age 80. Older women are more likely than
  older men to be abused because they live longer
  than men and may not be able to care for
  themselves.

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The Abusers

• Adult children make up 53 of abusers, 19 of
  abusers are the victims spouse. 90 of abusers
  are family members.

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The Abusers

• Reasons
• Shared living arrangements can be stressful.
• Social Isolation of the elderly is common.
• Alcohol abusethe abusers tend to abuse alcohol
  as well.
• Impairment of the caregiver or the care
  recipientthey are often unable to care for
  themselves as well.
• Dependence of the elderly person.
• Medical costs and financial stress.
• Personality.

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Violence amongSame-Sex Couples

• There has been considerably less research on
  domestic violence between same-sex couples, still
  the presence of battering in gay and lesbian
  couples is about the same as for heterosexual
  couples.

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Racial and Ethnic Groups

• Domestic violence cuts across all races, sexes,
  and ethnicities.
• Immigrant women generally experience more
  domestic violence than American-born women. They
  may not report marital violence because of their
  poor language skills.

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Explaining Family Abuseand Violence

• Why are families abusive?
• There have been several theories proposed as to
  why violence happens within families.

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Explaining Family Abuseand Violence
Patriarchy or Male Dominance Theorymaintains
that mens authority creates and condones
violence against women and children. Social
Learning Theoryposits that we learn by observing
the actions of others, so if people have
experienced abuse between their parents growing
up they are more likely to be in abusive
relationships when they are adults.
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Explaining Family Abuseand Violence

• Resource Theoryaccording to this theory, men
  usually have greater financial, educational, and
  social resources than women do, so they have more
  power. The presence of abuse is based on the
  power in the relationship.
• Exchange Theoryboth assailants and victims
  tolerate or engage in violent behavior because
  they believe that the benefits outweigh the costs.

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Explaining Family Abuseand Violence

• Ecological Systems Theoryexplains domestic
  violence by analyzing the relationships between
  individuals and larger systems such as the
  economy, education, state agencies, and the
  community.
• Using Several Theoriesresearchers rarely rely on
  one theory, but use all theories to explain
  violence in relationships.

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Other Family Health Issues

• Substance abuseThe use and abuse of illegal
  drugs, alcohol, or pharmaceuticals can result in
  health risks or death.
• Depression and suicidedepression is a mental
  disorder characterized by pervasive sadness and
  other negative emotions. Depression may lead to
  suicide.

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Suicide

• Is the 11th leading cause of death in the U.S.
• More than 33,000 Americans kill themselves each
  year.
• Males take their lives at nearly 4 times the rate
  of females.
• Suicide rates are highest among males 75 and
  older.

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Eating Disorders

• Overweight and obesityrefer to ranges of weight
  that are greater than what is generally
  considered normal and are measured by body mass
  index scales.
• Among children ages 6 to 17, the percentage of
  overweight increased from only 6 in 1976 to 15
  in 2006.
• Obesity is a concern because it has negative
  health risks including diabetes, heart disease,
  stroke, and early death.

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Eating Disorders

• binge eatingconsuming an unusually large amount
  of food and feeling that the eating is out of
  control. Binge eating is one of the most common
  eating disorders in the U.S.
• Anorexia nervosa and bulimiathese are very
  dangerous eating disorders and are common among
  teens in the U.S., perhaps due to the medias
  influence on behavior.

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Combating Family Abuseand Violence

• Raising awareness about family violence and
  abuseuntil we raise awareness about the problem,
  the abuser continues to have control of the
  victim.
• Victim-advocate programs are inadequate to handle
  the shear amount of victims that make contact.

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Preventing Family Abuseand Violence

• Numerous organizations offer programs to prevent
  violence and other family crisis. Many schools
  and communities have implemented programs to
  teach youth about violence and its consequences.
• There are limited intervention services for
  victims and even less intervention services for
  abusers who are serious about changing their
  habits.