Causes and Effects of Domestic Violence

Causes of Domestic Violence

Generation Cycle

“81% of men who batter had fathers who abused their mother.”¹

When children are beaten by a family member (especially a parent) they have self-doubts and they have a strong sense of inferiority because they think they are doing something wrong. They are frustrated and want to prove their power and worthiness. Therefore children who were victims of domestic violence have a very high chance to become abusers. Children who see their parents battering other family members learn that violence is a way to solve problems. They take their parents as role models and become abusers too. Domestic violence is for this reason a vicious circle.

Substance Abuse

“Women whose partners abused alcohol were 3.6 times more likely than other women to be assaulted by their partners.”³

Drug and alcohol are no direct causes of domestic violence even though abusers often use substance abuse as an excuse for their behaviour. Due to alcohol and drugs however abusers often lack of self-control and are very short-tempered and so they release their aggression.

Masculine Authority

Due to traditions men feel inferior to women and so they think can do what they want to their wife as she is their property. Some men feel that if they do not have absolute control over their family they are not real men and their honour is hurt. Men therefore batter their wives and children.

Unemployment

“An extensive 2004 report by the National Institute of Justice found that the rate of violence against women increases as male unemployment increases. When a woman's male partner is employed, the rate of violence is 4.7%. It's 7.5%when the male experiences one period of unemployment. It's 12.3% when the male experiences two or more periods of unemployment.”²
While unemployment may not be a primary cause of domestic violence it adds to anger and dissatisfaction in families. This aggression is then released to a family member by emotional or physical violence.

Unawareness
Victims often do not report domestic violence and even deny actions because they are scared of the consequences of the abusers. Many women also do not know who to contact and are afraid they will not be understood and supported by their family and friends.

Mental Illness

Domestic violence is not linked to mental illness because most abusers only abuse their victims when nobody sees them. This proves that they are very well aware of what they are doing and do not suffer from some kind of illness. Some abusers however have psychological issues because they once were assaulted.

Effects of Domestic Violence

When I researched the internet on the ‘Effects of Domestic violence’ I crossed a very informative document from UNICEF (“Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls”; especially pages 8-9 deal with this topic. The effects are both physical and psychological at various levels.

http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/digest6e.pdf

Causes and Effects of Domestic Violence on a National and Personal Level

Domestic violence is an issue of great importance in Turkey, because many women and children are affected by it. Men abuse their women physically, emotionally and sexually mainly because relatives pressure them to prove their masculinity and authority. Particularly in rural areas men and women do not have an equal position in society therefore men believe they have the right to abuse their women. When families have financial strains the husbands/fathers may also become violent because they cannot bear the pressure. Despite the high number of abused many Turkish women try to hide their situation because they are scared of their families’ punishment. Many Turks also believe that a certain amount of fierceness - especially towards children - is necessary to raise children in a disciplined manner. The most common outcome of these actions is physical injuries. However, much graver is the fact that hatred and aggressiveness is passed to the next generation.

Personally, I think that domestic violence is mainly caused by ignorance of both the victims and the society, a childhood of violence and the pressure exerted on men to prove their power.

Especially in rural areas, due to the lack of education and tolerance the unequal position of both sexes causes tension. However, domestic violence is not only an issue in rural areas. As a matter of fact I think people around me could also be victims of domestic violence, even though my classmates come from rich well-educated families that are well respected members of our society like doctors politicians, authors, professors, engineers, lawyers etc. Despite the fact that education is not an issue in this case; the role of women is dictated by long-lasting traditions. For example in the upper class there is the constant pressure on the parents to make sure their children are doing well in school, have the correct behavior and are dressed according to the newest fashion. This can lead to aggressiveness or rejection towards the children or wives. The consequence is that some parents try to buy their children’s love to make up for the lack of time and care. The violence women or children face in higher social classes can be as bad as in the lower social classes. Therefore I believe domestic violence is not linked to social class.

I do not think domestic violence is largely caused by unemployment, mental illness or substance abuse, even though they may encourage it, because many families face these issues without violence.

Even though the causes of domestic violence may be very different I think the effects are similar. Victims often cannot bear domestic violence for a long period without having some serious mental and/or physical damage. The consequences may become worse if there is no awareness of the issue in the community. If victims do not openly speak about domestic violence the problem will stay secret and become worse because the abusers are not stopped. Many victims -especially if they come from higher social classes- are very worried about their reputation therefore they hesitate to express their problems.

Bibliography:

For the text above I the following sources:

1. A PDF from the National Coalition against domestic violence (NCADV). This document had very interesting facts but concentrated more on numbers than on explanations. http://www.ncadv.org/files/DomesticViolenceFactSheet%28National%29.pdf
2. This page summarised and explained the main causes of domestic violence. Therefore it was useful for the start.
http://www.allaboutlifechallenges.org/causes-of-domestic-violence-faq.htm
3. The PDF from www.womensaid.org.uk answered many questions about domestic violence and its causes. It however mainly concentrated on domestic violence against women. (Since this was a PDF I cannot give a link. The PDF was titled: "Domestic Violence: Frequently Asked Questions Factsheet 2009"
4. The last source I used was from UNICEF. It explained the causes of domestic violence in great detail but also had summarising tables. The document gave information about domestic violence against different groups but concentrated on domestic violence against children and women.
http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/digest6e.pdf

Pictures from: http://www.erkline.com/sign-in-domestic-violence.html , www.peterhorstneumann.de

1: quote from "The Effects of Domestic Violence on Children" N.J. Department of Community of Community Affairs, Division of Women

2: quote from http://womenslawreports.blogspot.com/2008/10/domestic-violence-increases-with.html

3: "Risk factors for injury to women from domestic violence". Demetrios N. Kyriacou, Deirdre Anglin, Ellen Taliaferro, Susan Stone, Toni Tubb, Judith A. Linden, Robert Muelleman, Erik Barton, and Jess F. Kraus. The New England Journal of Medicine 341:1892-98। December 16, 1999.