NRSG210 Mental Health Nursing | Incidence of Domestic Violence

Your essay should address the following:

• domestic violence & socioeconomic factors - a discussion that includes reference to international and Australian sources;

• domestic violence & psychological factors – a discussion that includes factors affecting psychological development in infancy and childhood, psychological trauma and stress, fear and control.

• your discussion may include evaluation of these factors for the perpetrator or victims of domestic violence.

Answer:

Domestic violence most of the time is related to the long term physical violence is especially inflicted in the women population. It is most of the most prevalent forms of violence that is associated with violence which is gender based on a world-wide prospect. Not only it is related to physical violence, but also involved psychological violence (Bugeja et al., 2013). This increasing amount of domestic violence needs to be addressed not only as an issue in terms of human rights but also as serious health issue which increases the risk of public health. This paper aims to illustrate the factors associated with the incidence of domestic violence and the effect it has on the victims. Along with the victims, the paper also discusses domestic violence from the perspective of the perpetuators.  

The socio-economic factors play a pivotal role in the occurrences of domestic violence. Most of the time the women are the victims of domestic violence, one of the major reasons is the low socio-economic status of the women. Factors like poverty, along with unemployment, homelessness and the marital status adds up to the reasons of domestic violence (Phillips&Vandenbroek, 2014). The income gap that exists between the rich and the poor is identified as a risk factor for domestic violence. This income gaps keeps on widening between the rich and the poor, showing that "the average income of the poorest fifth of the population down six percent and the average income of the top fifth up 30 percent over the past 20 years" (Root& Brown, 2014). Several other factors like lack of higher education and employment status adds up to the problems of domestic violence. The factors are often associated with the poor health which can be both physical and mental health in addition to pregnancy in the last 5 years, being under the age of 17 while first time sex and having first child birth under the age of 21 are also identified as being related to the causes of domestic violence in higher rates (Berns, 2017). The duration of the marriage along with worsening of the marital relations and marriage by family decision had an incremental effect on the inflicted domestic violence.Areduced social support network leads to the increase ofsexual violence against women.Most of the identified factors were more or less interconnected with each other. In the rural setting, factors like religious affiliation also play a role in domestic violence along with the other factors (Pallitto et al., 2013).

Psychological factors contribute majorly to the occurrence of domestic violence. A study showed that the individuals especially the men who were involved in inflicting domestic violence on their intimate partners, out of them 54.5% individuals were exposed to psychological violence, about 19.3% were exposed to economic violence in addition to another 6.3% who were exposed to sexual violence (Jahanfar et al., 2013).The study stated that factors like marriage against the consent of the family and the existence of violent history against women in the family history of the partner had increasing effects on domestic violence by an intimate partner. A history of exposure to physical violence during the childhood phase leads to increased incidences of domestic violence.

In terms of the perpetrators of domestic violence, the existence of domestic violence between the intimate partners is often related to the psychological perspectives. The problem emphasises on the personality disorders and the experiences underwent in the early phases or childhood, which increases the risk of violence. According to most of the studies, men tend to display more aggression in comparison to women, including psychological aggression (Tenkorang et al., 2013). These aggressive individuals tend to display increased rates of jealousy and suspicion in addition to the drastic and sudden mood swings, lack of self-control and higher than average rates of approval of violence and aggression. The researchers have identified that most of the antisocial male individuals display aggression in an interpersonal manner especially against the strangers and their intimate female partners (James, Brody & Hamilton, 2013). However in the context of aggressive antisocial women, they are only sometimes aggressive towards their intimate male partners. According to some of the studies, these individuals who are perpetuators of domestic violence suffer from high rates of personality disorders. The study also states that the rates of existing personality disorders incidences are about 80-90 per cent in the case of wife assaulters both in court-referred and self-referred cases. However in terms of estimates in the general population, it is generally from 15-20 per cent. It is seen that only 10 per cent of incidents of violence might be due to the prevalence of mental disorders in the persons primarily, whereas 90 per cent occur to do some incidence that is beyond psychopathological explanations (Guedes et al., 2015). Some of the researchers also argue that most of the wife assaulters suffered from basically three forms of personality disorders which included the antisocial, the borderline and the over-controlled type. In case of borderline personality organization the factors included are shame-based rage, along with the tendency to project blame. It also includes attachment anxiety which is often shown as rage and a rageful outburst which is sustained especially in the primary in intimate relationships.It is often perceived that the perpetrators are generally concerned with their reputation among the community and also their image amongst their neighbours or colleagues and other members of the family or extended family.  Therefore these people tend to use the specific forms of denial in the public that is family honor stricture (Straus, Gelles& Steinmetz, 2017).

The victims of domestic violence are found in all strata of the community; it might be within the lower economic or uneducated classes or might be amongst the wealthy and the educated people. The victims could belong to rural areas or urban cities. It might be the housing projects which are subsidized or in communities which are gated. However, domestic violence is involved in affecting majorly thewomen and also the children of both sexes (Root & Brown, 2014). In some cases men are also victims of rapes and experience domestic violence. A recent study confirmed that the victimscan be the male partner. The data from the same study showed that the women can be equally violent as men or might even display frequent acts of violence toward their partners. It showed that 21.6 per cent victims were male and that women victims accounted for 28.7 per cent. Similarly in cases of bilateral violence were 49 per cent of couples. Researchers through a study also found that the men in comparison tothe female offenders were more likely to get arrested (Lansford et al., 2014). The critical justice was also treated more severely by the criminal justice system. The studies also showed that in most cases where the male partner only was injured, the female partner was accused in 60.2 per cent of the cases. In comparison the cases wherethe female partner was found injured, the male was charged 91.1 per cent of the time. In cases with there was no such injury, the male was seen to be charged 52.5 per cent while the female was charged 13.2 per cent of the time (Guedes et al., 2015). The same study found that the women partners were more likely to use weapons and to cause injuries. They likewise to have more extreme charges and that the individuals who were indicted had a tendency to have caused larger amounts of damage against their casualty than the men and, as with the arrested females, who were more probable than men to have used weapons. In extreme damage cases, 71.4 for every percent of men and 22.2 for each percent of women were found to beliable. The low level of womenfound liable was because of witness issues. The researchers reported that men have more trouble in communicating their hardship in the event that they are casualties of viciousness. The researchers also distinguish a few more reasons which are associated to one another. They are solid, physically and inwardly, to be supplier, particularly women and children. Different reasons where found in women's liberation and sexual orientation related legislative issues. Regardless of whether a man concludes that he is stronger, they frequently do not have such an interpersonal organizationas a woman and can't so effortlessly attain, what is transpiring (Lansford et al., 2014).

In conclusion it can be stated that domestic violence is prominently seen between intimate partners. There are several socio-economic as well as the psychological causes identified which leads to an increased rate of violence in the domestic setting. Although most the times the perpetuators of violence are the men who are generally antisocial and suffer from psychological problems and the victims are mainly the women. However it is not always the case. Some of the antisocial women also show signs of aggression and most of the time these women inflict violence on their intimate male partners. The study shows that both men and women can be perpetuators as well as victims of domestic violence

References

Berns, N. S. (2017). Framing the victim: Domestic violence, media, and social problems. Routledge.

Bugeja, L., Butler, A., Buxton, E., Ehrat, H., Hayes, M., McIntyre, S. J., & Walsh, C. (2013). The implementation of domestic violence death reviews in Australia. Homicide Studies, 17(4), 353-374.

Guedes, D. T., Alvarado, B. E., Phillips, S. P., Curcio, C. L., Zunzunegui, M. V., & Guerra, R. O. (2015). Socioeconomic status, social relations and domestic violence (DV) against elderly people in Canada, Albania, Colombia and Brazil. Archives of gerontology and geriatrics, 60(3), 492-500.

Jahanfar, S., Janssen, P. A., Howard, L. M., &Dowswell, T. (2013). Interventions for preventing or reducing domestic violence against pregnant women. Cochrane database of systematic reviews, (2).

James, L., Brody, D., & Hamilton, Z. (2013). Risk factors for domestic violence during pregnancy: a meta-analytic review. Violence Vict, 28(3), 359-80.

Lansford, J. E., Deater-Deckard, K., Bornstein, M. H., Putnick, D. L., & Bradley, R. H. (2014). Attitudes justifying domestic violence predict endorsement of corporal punishment and physical and psychological aggression towards children: a study in 25 low-and middle-income countries. The Journal of pediatrics, 164(5), 1208-1213.

Pallitto, C. C., García?Moreno, C., Jansen, H. A., Heise, L., Ellsberg, M., & Watts, C. (2013). Intimate partner violence, abortion, and unintended pregnancy: Results from the WHO Multi?country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence. International Journal of Gynecology& Obstetrics, 120(1), 3-9.

Phillips, J., &Vandenbroek, P. (2014). Domestic, family and sexual violence in Australia: an overview of the issues. Department of Parliamentary Services, Parliamentary Library.

Root, M. P., & Brown, L. (2014). An analysis of domestic violence in Asian American communities: A multicultural approach to counseling. In Diversity and complexity in feminist therapy (pp. 143-164). Routledge.

Root, M. P., & Brown, L. (2014). An analysis of domestic violence in Asian American communities: A multicultural approach to counseling. In Diversity and complexity in feminist therapy (pp. 143-164). Routledge.

Straus, M. A., Gelles, R. J., & Steinmetz, S. K. (2017). Behind closed doors: Violence in the American family. Routledge.

Tenkorang, E. Y., Owusu, A. Y., Yeboah, E. H., & Bannerman, R. (2013). Factors influencing domestic and marital violence against women in Ghana. Journal of Family Violence, 28(8), 771-781.