This study will examine the causes, incidence, and solutions involved in preventing and analyzing domestic violence. By observing data from across America, one can realize the growing problem of domestic violence, which has involves great majority of males victimizing women. By realizing the causes of poverty and a lack of education, the issue of domestic violence can be dissected in this sociological phenomenon. By observing a great reliance on educating men and women in psychological and therapeutic strategies, as well as learning how to eradicate poverty, domestic violence can be diminished within the United States.
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The problem of domestic violence is a serious issue within American society, which has staggering affects on the economy and the well being of spousal relationships. In this regard, many studies have been done to discover the reality of domestic violence, such as the one’s committed between a man and a woman. The American Institute of Domestic Violence states these facts in a study done in 2004:
1.85-95% of all domestic violence victims are female.
2.Over 500,00 women are stalked by an intimate partner each year.
3.5.3 million women are abused each year.
4.1,232 women are killed each year by an intimate partner.
5. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women.
6.Women are more likely to be attacked by someone they know rather than by a stranger
(The Human Factor, 2005, para.3).
The fact that nearly 90% of women are the victims of domestic violence tells us a great deal about the role of male aggression in these violent acts. The problem of female victimization is extensive through the statistics, as 5 million women suffer from male violence, and are targeted by a male that has been romantically involved with them. These incidental numbers rand percentages reveal a staggering population of women that are being attacked and sometimes killed by men. In this manner, one can realize the numbers and the problematic role of patriarchal aggression within American society in domestic violence.
The causal psychology of domestic violence between men and women involved in marital or non-marital relationships relies on the victim’s ignorance. As the aggressive male tends to feel that he has the right to abuse the woman, so does the women feel that she does not deserve any better treatment from her abuser. This form of pathology involves a conditioning element, which psychologists explain as possible causes for this form of domestic abuse. The most abundant issues involving this form of abusive relationship is explained through economics and education levels:
1.Both males and females with disabilities are at increased risk of abuse due to reliance on their caregiver.
2.Many victims are pregnant.
3.Women from families with annual incomes below $10,000 are at increased risk for intimate violence.
4.Conversely, wives whose educational or occupational level is high relative to their husbands are at greater risk for abuse than those in marriages without such differences.
5.The abuser is typically an underachiever who has obtained lower occupational status than expected given the abuser’s education
(Burnett, 2006, para.45).
In this regard, the causal factors indicate that the psychological pathology of domestic abuse relies on the income level and educational capacity of the abuser and the victim. This tells some of the facts that relate to many of the couples involved in these relationships, and why depression from poverty and the inability to get a decent education helps add to stress levels. Furthermore, the pressure of being pregnant and the difficulties of having low incomes may also be a factor in why these types of women are targeted. Also, the theory of adult attachment may be a viable explanation to help describes the causes that economic and psychological stress place on the abuser and victim:
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Adult attachment theory describes the ways romantic partners respond during times of distress, separation, or interpersonal conflict (see Pietromonaco & Barrett, 2000). Attachment-related cognitive schema provide default reactions to difficult situations (Bowlby, 1982) and predict whether adults prefer to cope independently, seek support from romantic partners, or combine these approaches. In unhealthy attachment styles, coping responses may include misperceptions of relational cues and difficulties regulating affect (Gormley, 2005, para.6).
This provides some of the psychological factors that poverty and stress have within the background of the domestic abuse that may be occurring within male/female relationships. The result of the habitual tolerance and the ignorance that is partaken by both men and women should be understood within this format. A lack of education in relationships and the tendency of both parties in the relationship rely on dysfunctional approaches to stress and communication, resulting in the violence that relies on the aggression of the male.
Solutions to this problem would clearly indicate that education and poverty are serious factors in regards to how people handle stress. In many ways, it is the psychological education of both men and women that must be addressed when dealing with social issues of this gravity. The use of therapy for abused women has become a priority for many state and private counselors that have used the law and psychological training to help women defend against abuse:
Advocates that empower and assist victims to well-being are concerned above all for the safety of the victim and her children. Safety is a basic human need, and a fundamental right in any human relationship. Domestic and sexual violence are violations of that primary need for safety and security. Because a victim’s greatest risk for harm occurs at the point in which she takes steps to end the abuse, every interaction and intervention must consider her safety and her assessment of the situation (Koch, 2001, p.102).
This solution helps to promote the education needed by the victim, since she is most likely to the be the brunt of the violence. By taking an approach to the female component of the abuse, the woman can learn to see the signs of abuse and learn to empower herself through education. With psychological tools given by an occupational therapist, one can realize how prevention can help the woman the erroneous judgments that she may have been taught by her own parents or past abusive spouse. This can help the woman to make the right choice with an informed opinion as to how she may want to proceed with the relationship. In some cases, resolutions can be found by learning to educate both the abusive male and the woman in educating themselves in coping skills in their relationship. However, it is the woman that gets precedence under law in regards to the abuse, since she is usually the physically or mentality abused person in the conflict.
One solution for men may be the same education afforded to women. In the case of understanding familial backgrounds and behavioral patterns in psychology, the research indicates that abuse is taught though generational standards of aggression and even alcoholism that underlie many of the domestic violence issues in today’s society:
These findings provide new information regarding the relative impact and interrelationship between previously separately identified risk factors for the development of problems with alcohol and aggression. Moreover, the multigenerational span of time encompassed by this only partially retrospective study offers a life course perspective on the transmission of risk that has been only segmentally examined in prior work. The model indicates how early childhood experiences of the parents, involving grandparental aggression against the parents as children, as well as the grandparents’ own alcoholism and marital aggression, affected the development of the parents’ antisocial behavior, which in turn was linked to their adulthood outcomes of alcoholism and marital aggression, as well as their aggression toward their own offspring (Fuller, 2003, para.27).
These important factors in research make it extremely liable that men may also use psychology to help better educate (through coping skills) in breaking patterns of aggression. The instances of being taught violence toward women is a familial and generational problem that is instilled within boys at a young age. The use of a therapist can help to alleviate some of the issues of coping with anger and rage, which they have also been made a victim of in their understanding of spousal relationships. These psychological factors, in collusion with discovering effective modes of gaining employment, can help the abusive male recover and learn to change old habits that were vented upon the victimized partner in the relationship.
In conclusion, the incidental statistics, causal, and solution based research on domestic violence has been evaluated in this study. The increasing number of women being killed and victimized by men must be taken seriously in an effort to dissolve rising rates of abuse. By realizing the damaging cycles of multi-generational violence that occurs in both the female victim and the male abuser, the premise of psychology can help to bring about greater educational modes of healing in preventing future abuse. In this manner both men and women can learn to use newer and healthier coping skills that affect them due to economic disparity or a lack of education. In this manner, domestic violence is a problematic issue in American society, and it must be understood and researched to help prevent further abuse.
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