Domestic Violence And Its Socioeconomic And Psychological Influencers

NRSG210 Domestic Violence Assignment

Forms of Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is the form of offence or crime in which act of violence is committed by the partner, current or former spouse, intimate partner or any other person cohabited with the victim (Root & Brown, 2014). There are several terms of this violence depending on the relationship of the victim with the perpetrator and can be of different forms such as verbal, physical, emotional, religious, reproductive or sexual abuse, economic and so on. Despite the fact that domestic violence is harmful for the entire society, women, children and older individuals are prone to such violence. Violence against women and children leads to increased absenteeism, inability to focus on work, reduces their ability to move hence is responsible for decreased productivity (Devries et al., 2013). If the data from World Health Organization is assessed, it will be determined that more than 35% of the women around the world has experienced physical domestic violence in their lifetime, whereas, more than 30% of women has suffered from intimate partner violence or sexual violence in their lifetime (World Health Organization, 2014).

There are several personal, social and psychological factors depending on which the rate of domestic violence in a community varies. Socio-economic imbalance creates a gap of educational attainment, economic attainment and occupational or employment attainment between high income and low income families, which can trigger domestic violence in the community (Johnson, 2016). Whereas, due to psychological violence which includes verbal attack, intimidation, humiliation and isolation, a deep emotional harm is faced by the victim that affects their confidence, self-esteemed and constructive thinking. The primary aim of this assignment is to identify the socio-economic and psychological which works as an influencer for the acts of domestic violence. Further, after relating then to such crimes, evaluation of such factors for perpetrators of such action will also be carried out.

Socioeconomic status is a cumulative aspect of a community which is determined by its member’s financial status, economic strength, educational attainment, perceptions of social status and the social class (Guedes et al., 2015). Socio-economic status works as an important factor in effecting people’s affordability in accessing quality healthcare, achieving quality education and to achieve a quality source of employment so that they can convey the comfort to their next generation, therefore has the ability to affect people socially, physically and psychologically (Straus, Gelles & Steinmetz, 2013). If the power and finance is not properly distributed within the society, it becomes quite difficult to manage the increasing gap and inequality. Hence, it is evident that as low SES leads to poverty, illiteracy and compromised health in a community, effect that entire society from every aspect. Therefore, increasing disparity in education, employment health and basic human rights could be the reason for emergence of violence in such low SES community that made them vulnerable to detrimental future outcomes (Pearlman et al., 2016). Furthermore, reports of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare also support the prevalence of family and domestic violence among different socioeconomic, age and demographic groups, primarily among indigenous children and women. 1.5 million women and 992,000 men reported physical and sexual abuse before 15 years of age. Additionally, 1 in 6 women (1.6 million) also reported experiences of sexual and/or physical violence made by their cohabitating partners (AIHW, 2018). Therefore from this fact it was evident that communities or groups which were suffering from low SES related to economy or education or activities of daily were more affected with domestic violence.

Impact of Domestic Violence on Women, Children and Older Individuals

However, the current trend of domestic violence is no more about the low of high socioeconomic status as through the entire level people are suffering from domestic violence internationally and in Australian perspective (Costa et al., 2015). Despite this, if the international image of domestic violence is witnessed it will be observed that the rate of poverty in developing as well as developed countries are increasing every year hence the gap between rich and poor is increasing. Further in a research article by Begum et al., (2015) it was mentioned that with increasing economic gap, the educational and social connection related gaps are also increasing which is affecting the mental and physical health of such low SES community and making them involved in domestic violence. Therefore, SES cannot be designated as the active reason for domestic violence related incidences. In a survey done by the International Violence Against Women (IVAWS) Survey in 2013 that high level of financial stress is associated with high level of chances for physical and sexual violence against women. Therefore it is evident from the survey result that financial stress can be the reason for violence against women (Kutin, Russell & Reid, 2017). Further educational disparity, knowledge of governmental policies and laws, reporting ability also determine the level of domestic violence and the perpetrator perform such violent actions after assessing the ability of the victim to raise voice against such action (Costa et al., 2015). Therefore, from above-mentioned, survey and governmental data it can be determined that SES is one of the major factors that influences domestic violence against the vulnerable group of the society and the social structure and culture is responsible for emergence of such incidences against the victims.

Physical and mental wellness are two main aspects of holistic health that determines the overall growth and improvement of individual’s physical and mental capabilities. Adverse conditions not only affects the physical condition of individual but also makes them suffer from psychological trauma (Straus, Gelles & Steinmetz, 2017). There are several psychological factors that contribute in generation of positive or negative thought process in human mind and these are stress, hostility, depression, hopelessness and self-esteem (Straus, Gelles & Steinmetz, 2017). This is because, the link between disturbed mental wellness and emergence of domestic violence cannot be denied. Emergence of psychological trauma has the ability to affect the infancy and childhood development stage as well as affect younger generation by making them vulnerable to fear and negative consequences (Van der Kolk, 2017). A study aimed to determine the implementation of Domestic Violence Routine Screening (DVRS) program and the feasibility of routine screening in relation to the sexual and reproductive health of women. Upon conducting a retrospective review of the medical records, 4% women (220 of 5491) disclosed incidents of domestic violence. Some of the factors that were identified responsible for such disclosure were age group, clinic attended, religion, education, disability and employment status (Hunter et al., 2016). Upon characterizing the mental health and demography of women accessing special domestic violence and abuse (DVA) services in the UK, it was found that their exposure to DVA was quite high (mean score=56; SD=34). Mean scores for Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) was 18 (SD=8), showing a 76% outcomes above clinical threshold. Thus, this study also established a correlation between domestic abuse and anxiety and depression among women (Ferrari et al., 2016). This needs to be understood that attempting domestic violence on vulnerable communities such as women, older adults and children make them weak and break their self-confidence. Further lack of proper social structure, social support and education such people starts isolating them from the entire community that make them prone to unstable mental health condition. Hence, mental domestic violence affects the mental health condition of victim regardless of the degree and intensity of the violence.

Socio-Economic Status and Domestic Violence

On the other hand, World Health Organization (2014) mentions about the mental state of perpetrator who attempts such crime and mentions that due to social inequality, continuous discrimination, and weak financial structure for their development communities who are backward or are unable to develop their ability and life style becomes prone to domestic violence so that they can release the amount of pain and agony through their violent action. If the international perspective is discussed it can be witnessed that communities living in developing countries are more prone to face such psychological conditions that changes their ability to think rationally in every negative situation and in such heat of the negative condition they perform domestic violence. Kulkarni et al., (2015) mentions that maximum of the conditions in such countries are due to lack of educational and economic condition. Further, affected psychological condition can also make people suffer from substance abuse which can be one of the leading reasons for such psychological damage from domestic violence in Australia. Statistical reports suggest that there were an estimated 158 victims of family and domestic violence (FDV), related to homicide that accounted for 38% of total homicide rates (Abs.gov.au, 2015). Females accounted for approximately 65% (2/3^rd) of all FDV victims in 2015 (103 vicitms). In the year 2014, the number of FDV victims were 30 (New South Wales), 32 (Victoria), 13 (Queensland), and 11 (Northern Territory) (Abs.gov.au, 2014). 126 victims reported FDV-related Homicide in 2017 (Abs.gov.au, 2017).

Domestic violence also effects the social structure and makes children vulnerable to such actions. Stuart et al. (2013) mentions that domestic violence not only affect the person who is being tortured in the action but also the people witnessing such offense. Therefore, if any children watches such action in his or her home, he or she will be influenced by such action and will use similar actions to control any situation. Therefore, the infancy and childhood of the child is being affected the thought process and human morality. Therefore, it is evident that due to involvement of different psycho-social aspects the link between domestic violence and psycho-social aspects in increasing or decreasing such action cannot be denied.

While concluding this essay it should be mentioned that domestic violence is one of the major factor that contributes in the morbidity and mortality rates throughout the world. From developed to developing countries, the disparity in socio economic status is affecting their attainment to employment education and social structure due to which people are becoming prone to attempt or being affected with domestic violence related activities. There are several aspects due to which domestic violence can be seen affecting the society and these factors can be attainment of education, economic strength and communication gap between the upper and low class of the society. This disparity creates a gap in the society due to which some people are able to achieve their fundamental needs and others pressurize their cohabitants to achieve the similar comfort level due to which domestic violence related incidences are witnessed in the society. This assignment deals with two primary aspects of emergence and development of domestic violence, psychological or mental aspects and socio-economic factor related condition. Using several Australian and governmental survey these factors were analyzed from both victim and perpetrator’s perspective and witnessed the effectiveness and ability to of such conditions to affect the victim.

Psychological Factors and Domestic Violence

References

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