This Youtube Video Shows what happens to children and families affected by Domestic Violence.
Facts About Intimate Partner Violence
- Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is broadly defined as "psychological, physical, or sexual violence perpetrated by a current or former spouse, partner, or lover..." (Gomez, 2010).
- 29% of American Women and 23% of men have experienced IPV.
- Of violent crimes committed by partners, 85% are against women.
- Women between ages 16-24 are at the greatest risk for nonfatal IPV.
- Research indicates that in 21% of college dating relationships, one of the partners is being abused- according to the Red Flag Campaign.
Causes/Theories of Domestic Violence
- Cycle of violence hypothesis: children who experience abuse are more likely to perpetrate violence as adults.
- Heise's adaptation of ecological systems theory:
-Layers of risk factors; individual & exosystem
-Individual, i.e. being abused as a child
-Exosystem, i.e. social factors, unemployment, low socioeconomic status, social isolation... - Bandura's social learning theory: behaviors are learned from observations; violence as a method for dealing with conflict (Gomez, 2010).
- Attachment theory: children's attachment to parents; violence in the home can lead to "emotional dysregulation, abandonment, anxiety, & dependent attachment style in adulthood" (Roberts, et. al., 2010).
- Exposure to violence can cause mental illness, such as PSTD, anti-social personality, and issues in processing anger.