The Impacts of

Domestic Violence on

Marriages, Partnerships, and

FamiliesStephanie House-Watford

Introduction• Domestic violence and emotional abuse are defined as

behaviors that are used by one person in a relationship to control the other (Chemtob & Carlson, 2004).

• These control tactics may consist of behaviors such as:• Stopping a person from being free to make their own decisions• Limiting or isolating them and/or their activities with relatives &

friends• Arousing fear in a partner• Preventing a partner from doing what they wish or forcing them

to behave in ways they do not want to perform• Using physical and sexual violence, threats and intimidation,

emotional abuse and economic deprivation

Introduction• In today’s society, marriages, partnerships, and families are

being torn apart at alarming rates because of domestic violence.

• It is estimated that between 3.3 million and 10 million children in the United States live in households that have domestic violence (Chemtob & Carlson, 2004).

• This number also reflects how many children live in domestic violence households, as well as how many partnerships, and marriages break up because of domestic violence and emotional abuse that is being carried out in the home.

Introduction

• Domestic violence impacts marriages, partnerships, and families in many negative ways.

• The impacts of domestic violence on marriages, partnerships, and families may leave life-long, long term distress on the marriage, family, or partnership, or the act of domestic violence may result in the death of the victim, or the abuser.

Key research on the Impacts of domestic violence on marriages, partnerships, and families reflect the

following:

• Domestic Violence leaves many psychological consequences on marriages, partnerships, and, families.

• One of the psychological consequences is posttraumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD.

• Posttraumatic stress disorder is a serious anxiety disorder resulting from the exposure to or the witnessing of events that threaten life or cause injury (Cooley & Frazer, 2006).

• PTSD evokes intense fear or helplessness in the person who experienced or witnessed the event (Gewirtz, Weidner, Miller, & Zehm, 2006).

• As a result of PTSD, the abuser, at the conclusion of the dispute may continue to re-live anxious feelings, and the witnessing child may continue to re-live feelings of fear, hopelessness, and anger (Chemtob & Carlson, 2004).

Key Research reflect the following:

• When domestic violence exists within a partnership, usually the victim cannot work effectively because they are hiding physical and emotional scars from being abused (Tolman & Wang, 2005).

• Additionally, even the abuser may not be able to perform at their highest performance level because they may also be hiding physical scars, emotional scars, and guilt (Tolman & Wang, 2005).

• As a result, in many cases, many victims & abusers are fired from work for lack of performance, or for not showing up for work .

• In many cases, because one partner is not working, this leads to additional acts of domestic violence, financial difficulties, and often leaves the family without resources such as food, shelter, and clothing. Therefore, the welfare of the family is threatened.

Key Research reflect the following:Key Research reflect the following:

• If the victim of the domestic violence dispute is the person staying at home providing care to the children, the emotional scars of being abused are being passed to the child, knowingly or unknowingly, by the victim (Tolman & Wang, 2005).

• In many cases, the victim is trying to shield the child from the abuse. However, the actions and feelings of the victims, such as depression or crying, may be feelings that the child is often aware of (Gewirtz, Weidner, Miller, & Zehm, 2006).

• Additionally, the children are aware of the aggressive behaviors, unhappy and unhealthy emotions, and abnormal actions of the abuser (Cooley & Frazer, 2006).

• In many of these cases, children will began to mock the behaviors of the victims, as well as the behaviors of the abusers (Chemtob & Carlson, 2004).

• As a result, the person who is at home caring for the children may not only be a victim of the actions of the abuser, they may also be victims of the unhappy and unhealthy emotions of the children.

• If this is the case, the care of the family is severely threatened because the care-provider is unable to deal their own emotional and physical scars of abuse. Leaving the emotional scars of the children unaddressed (Gewirtz, Weidner, Miller, & Zehm, 2006).

Key Research reflect the following:Key Research reflect the following:

• The victim often struggles with low self-esteem, while the abuser often struggles with guilt and anxiety issues (Chemtob & Carlson, 2004).

• The witnessing children are often left with feelings of not knowing which parent to trust because the children often love both the victim and the abuser (Chemtob & Carlson, 2004).

• Additionally, in many cases since the children are directly involved in the dispute, households with domestic violence often produce future generations of households with domestic violence (Cooley & Frazer, 2006).

• Children who live in households of domestic violence often grow up to become victims of domestic violence, or they grow up to become domestic violence abusers (Gewirtz, Weidner, Miller, & Zehm, 2006).

• The negative impacts of domestic violence not only produce future victims and abusers, it also often produces future drug and alcohol addicted children, teens, and adults because many who live in households of domestic violence often turn to drugs and alcohol to numb the hurt of the abuse, or to even cope with the abuse (Chemtob & Carlson, 2004).

• School drop-out rates, learning, and higher-education are also negatively impacted by the affects of domestic violence (Tolman & Wang, 2005).

Key Research reflect the following:Key Research reflect the following:

• The negative impacts of domestic violence can happen to anyone regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender (Tolman & Wang, 2005).

• Domestic violence not only impact women and children, it also impacts men and teenagers (Gewirtz, Weidner, Miller, & Zehm, 2006).

• In many cases, particularly pertaining to men and male teenagers, they themselves were victims of an abusive parent (Chemtob & Carlson, 2004).

• Additionally, as previous victims of abuse, their emotional scars from the abuse were never addressed. Therefore, as a result, they become abusers (Chemtob & Carlson, 2004).

• Victims of abuse, in many cases, have been raised by prior victims of abuse (Chemtob & Carlson, 2004).

• Therefore, children who are taught to be victims, because they are only exposed to being victims, often become victims of domestic violence (Chemtob & Carlson, 2004).

• The cycle of domestic violence seems to be endless. The negative impacts may span from generation to generation.

1) FAMILIES NEED TO FOCUS ON FEELINGS OF LOVE, NURTURING, AND HEALTHY EMOTIONS (CHEMTOB & CARLSON, 2004).

2) LEARN TO ADDRESS ISSUES IN A HEALTHY MANNER WITHIN RELATIONSHIPS (COOLEY & FRAZER, 2006).

3) MORE IMPORTANTLY, IN ORDER TO STOP THE CYCLE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND PREPARE OURSELVES FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS AND ABUSERS, PARENTING CLASSES, RELATIONSHIP GUIDANCE, EFFECTIVE WAYS OF DEALING WITH VARIOUS PERSONALITIES, AND THE IMPACTS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE NEED TO BE MADE FOCAL POINTS OF RELATIONSHIPS (COOLEY & FRAZER, 2006).

In order to overcome the negative impacts, suggestions for Future Work