The family is a social institution that is conceived by society as a space of security, pacifism and warmth. The family can be a provider of support, affection and protection. However, it is one of the centers in which a greater number of attacks can be suffered, in part due to the consideration of the family and its private matters. In recent years, this violence that takes place in the family nucleus is considered a public health issue that requires awareness and sensitization on the part of the population. If you want to know what domestic violence is, keep reading our Psychology-Online article: Domestic violence: what it is, types, causes and consequences.
What is domestic violence
In some Western countries, the violence that takes place in families began to be talked about and investigated in the 1970s. Until then, it was an invisible phenomenon and considered a private matter related to family intimacy. Currently, the call domestic or intrafamily violence It is considered and classified as a public health problem. But what is domestic violence?
Domestic violence: definition
The definition of domestic violence establishes that it is that violence that takes place between members who belong to the nuclear family and the domestic sphere. This definition includes both people emotionally or familiarly linked to the aggressor and those with whom he or she lives, without the need for the existence of family ties. Domestic violence includes those acts or omissions that threaten life, integrity, freedom or the development of capabilities and personality.
In domestic violence there are two differentiated roles: the abuser, who imposes his authority and power, and the victim, the one who suffers the abuse. Normally, the people most vulnerable to this type of violence are children, women, the elderly and people with some type of physical, mental and/or sensory problem. This vulnerability is explained because domestic violence generally involves an abuse of power by the aggressor towards the victim or victims, whom he or she considers vulnerable. Vulnerability is associated with variables such as age, gender and disability. Even so, domestic violence can be carried out by men and women of any age. Domestic violence can affect:
- The person who has been or has been a partner (includes violence from woman to man and between homosexual couples)
- Sons and daughters
- Old people
- brothers or sisters
- Minors or people with disabilities
- People under guardianship or guardianship in both public and private centers
- Any other type of family relationship not mentioned above
It is important to know that domestic violence is not limited to one or several acts of aggression, but rather reflects a dynamic, way of interacting and relating between family members, which is why there is a tendency to repeat itself generationally.
Domestic violence: examples
To better understand what domestic violence is, we illustrate it with some examples of domestic violence such as:
- Child abuse in which the parent or primary caregiver does not attend to the child’s basic food and hygiene needs.
- When a teenage son emotionally blackmails and physically attacks his parents.
- A family that lives with an elderly person and takes money from them.
These are some examples of domestic violence to help better understand what this phenomenon consists of, but there are many more given the complexity of family-type structures and the types of violence it encompasses.
Difference between gender violence and domestic violence
Before 2004, in Spain violence against women in relationships with a partner or ex-partner was considered domestic violence. In 2004, Spain approved the current gender violence lawOrganic Law 1/2004, of December 28, on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence, so that violence against women by a male partner or ex-partner or similar emotional relationships is no longer considered domestic violence and It is now considered and called gender violence.
What is the difference between gender violence and domestic violence? The reason for the distinction between both types of violence is that gender violence responds to a type of structural violence, to a patriarchal system, to the historical existence of real inequality between men and women and women suffer it for the simple fact of being women. Likewise, gender violence does not only manifest itself in the domestic sphere, but also in the institutional and non-family spheres, such as workplace harassment, sexual violence, etc.
Instead, Domestic violence refers to attacks due to family relationships and/or cohabitation. whose cause is not the unequal position of women, but rather the family dynamics. That is why domestic violence includes attacks by female partners against men and between same-sex couples, both between women and men, but not violence by men against women, which is gender violence.
The demand for the name of gender violence for violence against women arises from the need to make it visible as a violence whose origin is found in an unequal system and whose manifestations are not limited to the domestic sphere. Therefore, violence against women in any area and domestic violence They present different etiologies or causes, operating mechanisms and characteristics, so the differentiation between both terms is essential for specific and effective prevention and approach. Therefore, it is important to know the difference between gender violence and domestic violence.
Domestic violence: types
Main types of domestic violence or manifestations are the following:
- Intimate partner violence: It includes repeated physical, mental and/or sexual violence by one person to another with whom they are romantically linked. The motivation for this violence is to exert control over the victim, which causes harm to the abused person. Domestic violence between couples includes violence exercised by a woman against a man and between homosexual couples, whether they are a couple, an ex-partner, whether or not they live together.
- Violence exercised by parents against their sons and daughters: What is also called includes all acts that may hinder the proper development of the minor. Child abuse encompasses both acts of abuse and acts of neglect or omission that threaten the integrity and health of the child. The acts can be carried out by parents, main caregivers or by any institution that takes charge. In this violence, in addition to the physical, emotional and sexual negligence is included. Negligence consists of the omission of action, which neglects the necessary basic care of the minor. Extreme negligence is the , which can be physical or emotional.
- Child-parent violence: it’s about violence by sons or daughters towards their parents or towards adults who exercise their functions as such. It is one of the types of violence that has increased the most in recent years. The possible specific causes of this violence are changes in family functioning, regulatory difficulties on the part of parents, increasingly older parents, avoidance of conflict in search of balance and harmony within the family, and the so-called “emperor syndrome.” Therefore, minors increasingly develop egocentric and tyrannical attitudes towards their parents or those in charge of their care.
- Violence towards older people: This type of abuse includes voluntary actions that cause harm to an elderly person and inaction or omission that deprives them of care and basic rights. It is distinguished between physical, psychological and sexual violence, as well as neglect and economic violence. Neglect is the abandonment of caring for a person’s basic needs. Economic violence or abuse includes actions such as appropriation and use of economic and material goods, falsification and coercion in signing documents, etc. Vulnerability factors for this violence include being over 75 years of age, being a woman, having a disability, as well as the presence of a mental illness in the elderly person.
- Violence between brothers or sisters: Within domestic violence, it is one of the least visible abuses, probably because both fathers and mothers do not usually recognize it or identify it as domestic violence and, therefore, it has a greater tendency to be denied. A power difference between brothers or sisters is usually perceived when this violence exists, normally due to the age factor. The forms of violence are similar to those of bullying.
Causes of domestic violence
It is difficult to establish the causes of domestic violence because it encompasses different types of domestic violence, as we have seen in the previous section. Domestic violence is heterogeneous and multifactorial, however, the following factors can be identified as risk factors in increasing violence and tensions in the family:
- Family dynamics and structure have an overwhelming weight, usually occurs in families that interact a lot with each other, due to family isolation and the lack of other meaningful social ties. Likewise, it is common in families in which some family members try to influence and impose their values and ideas and in families in which there are generational and sex differences.
- Conflict resolution styles They are based on violent and abusive models, on the one hand, and the imposition of ideas and values that is carried out in an authoritarian manner, on the other hand. These attitudes toward domestic violence are precursors and predictors of domestic violence. There is, therefore, a culture of violence within the family.
- The appearance of a stressful event such as unemployment or having dependents in charge can increase tension within the family. Likewise, if from the beginning it is a family with difficulties in managing stress, this new event can more likely trigger domestic violence.
- The lack of resources both economic, social, work, and housing is another of the causes of domestic violence, since they generate stressful and tense situations, which can end up being resolved violently.
- The lack of emotional competencies by various members of the family or the aggressor. The lack of self-esteem, empathy, social skills, warmth, etc. makes it difficult to establish peaceful and secure relationships between people belonging to the family nucleus.
- Regarding the aggressoris usually a person with a…