Session 1 Introduction to and overview of class. Relationship of violence in the family to other forms of violence.

 

• Incidence & prevalence of family violence in USA

 
• Family is most violent institution other than military

 
• Risk of violence in the family is 1,000 times greater than rate of violence outside family

 
• Focus on community violence over family is a direct reflection of social belief that violence in the family is a private affair

 
• Societal Issue: Why do Americans seem to focus more on community violence than family violence?

 
• Practice Issue: How do we make family violence an issue in practice when people are getting SW services for something entirely different? Do we risk alienating people when we probe into family violence

 
• Between 1/6 and 1/10 of all wives physically assaulted at least once per year; 1/30 severe battery; 1/3 women will be assaulted at some point in their relationship

 
• assault = physical abuse

 
• physical abuse = Pushed, carried, restrained, grabbed or shoved her; slapped or spanked her; burned her; kicked her or hit her with a fist; threw her bodily; raped her; hit her or tried to hit her with a weapon; beat her up (multiple blows); choked or strangled her; threatened her with knife or gun; used knife or gun on her (CTS)

 
• Societal Issue: Is the incidence of IPV decreasing increasing, or staying the same? What factors account for change or staying the same?

 
• Practice Issue: How does your agency or institution screen for IPV? What policies are in place to govern practice? How can systemic changes occur to increase detection?

 
• Practice Issue: Mental health, substance abuse, and child welfare agencies all have family violence co-occurrence rates above 50%, suggesting to not screen for DV may be unethical and is certainly bad practice

 

• Only 6% of IPV victims notify police; of those who do, 20% lead to an arrest; of those arrested, 50% are convicted; of those convicted, 50% are punished (Dutton, 1988)

 
• therefore only 4 of every 1,000 battering incidents lead to any form of punishment

 
• to some, these data suggest social support for domestic abuse

 
• others say that all criminal offenses shown a similar distribution or "funnel effect"

 
• Societal Issue: does the criminal justice system ignore domestic violence?

 
• Practice Issue: how do community practitioners best intervene with violence supportive attitudes and practices in the criminal justice, medical, and educational systems (among others)?

 
• 31% of all men and 25% of all women believe it is ok to batter a wife under certain conditions (Finn)

 
• particularly infidelity

 
• Tip: the singlemost important question in screening adults for IPV is asking about support of circumstantial violence

 
• Societal Issue: can physical aggression be justified by cultural tradition?

 
• Practice issue: how do we handle cultural justification of physical aggression against partners, children?

• 1.5 million children (3%) are battered each year

 
• batter=hit with fist or object other than on the butt, or other extreme forms of physical control

 
• if "hit with object such as a belt or a wooden spoon" is added, the figure jumps to 11%

 
• Americans do not agree on what constitutes child abuse or child neglect

 
• 75% of all parents are physically violent w/ child at least once (> spanking)

 
• 90% believe slapping is appropriate
• 90% slap or hit infants
• 30% slap or hit toddlers

 
• Societal Issue: is spanking an effective (or appropriate) form of punishment?

 
• Practice Issue: how do we talk to parents about corporal punishment?

 
• Trans-generational hypothesis (child abuse causes later wife abuse and child abuse) is not generally true, but is truer for court-involved (e.g. batterers, child abusers, incest perps)

 
• 12% of men and 13% of women who were "physically aggressive" with partners had violence in family of origin (community or clinical sample) does not differ much from rate in general (non-violent) population

 
• in a sample of batterers, this rate is usually 30-50%

 
• belief that just because someone has been the victim of child physical or sexual abuse means they will be violent or mentally disturbed themselves is both untrue and victim-blaming

 
• most victims of child sexual and physical abuse are both psychologically normal and non-violent

 
• Societal issue: is violence transmitted from generation to the next? If so, how?

 
• Societal issue: how can children be maltreated and turn out OK? If so, how?

 
• Practice Issue: How can we explore violence in the family of origin with clients or consumers w/o suggesting, during exploration, that they are "damaged goods"

 
• Practice Issue: How can we help child witnesses to IPV w/o labeling or stigmatizing them?

 
• Unexplored area of family violence: children are the most violent members of US families

 
• "all" (99%) hit their siblings, 

 
• 20% hit parents; 

 
• teens are actually less violent than children: 
• 65% hit their siblings 
• 10% hit their parents (McCord)

 
• Societal Issue: What is the boundary between family violence, normal family aggression, and play?

 

 
 
 

• Practice Issue: Do we (and how do we) raise sibling aggression as an issue when we work with kids and families?

 
• pro-wrestling models & custody evals

 
• 4% of elders are abused or maltreated (Canadian study)

 
• material maltreatment (4 per 100) 

 
• verbal abuse (1 in 70) 

 
• physical violence (1 in 200)

 
• neglect (1 in 250)

 
• advocates for the elderly say these figures are much higher, and exploitation is an un-figured form of abuse

 
• Societal; issue: Why is elder abuse such an invisible issue in our society?

 
• Societal issue: Are elder abuse victims child abusers who got old?

 
• Practice Issue: 

 
• Police records indicate that the proportion of assaults per victim target are (Dobash & Dobash): 

 
• wife/gf 76%
• child 11
• parent 7
• sibling 5
• husband/bf 1 (godzilla effect)
• mutual 1

 
• Societal issue: why do we hear so much about "battered husbands" in the media if the incidence is as low as D & D report?

 
• Societal issue: Why is the most common form of abuse (woman abuse) virtually invisible as a societal issue, and drastically under-funded?

 
• Practice Issue: How does our own personal experience as victims, perpetrators, or witnesses of violence in our familes effect our ability and desire to detect and intervene in family violence as social workers?

 
• Common features of family abuse (Finkelhor, 1983)

 

• Family violence is an issue of power

 
• more powerful abuse less powerful

 
• by gender (men/women)
• by generation (parents/child)

• by ability (caretaker/cared for--not in Finkelhor)

 
• abuse gravitates toward relationships of greatest power differential

 
• issue: What do we mean by "power"?

 
• Issue: If power is a key factor, why are mothers more likely than fathers to be child abusers? 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

• At its core, all family violence is an issue of powerlessness

 
• power paradox: people who exert power over others often express powerless themselves

 
• most batterers report being the victims of a society of woman-protectors

 
• most batterers report they have been abused, and are powerless to do anything about it because they will be arrested

 
• abuse most likely at times abuser experiences power loss

 
• partner abuse: loss of job, loss of face, loss of argument
• child abuse: loss of control, loss of income, loss of sex, loss of sobriety 

 
• Issue: How can people who have power experience themselves as powerless?

 
• Family violence has a adverse effect on victims that extends beyond the physical injury

 
• physical damage may be the least of it

 
• emotional abuse and brainwashing (alternates power over with affection for) with resulting:

 
• victims blame themselves
• victims maintain allegiance to abuser
• victim believes abuse will stop if she could change herself
• shame and humiliation
• effects are long-term

 
• issue: How can this be, given that it has been said that most victims of violence are not themselves violent? 

 
• Families where violence occurs are more likely to have certain characteristics

 
• lower income 
• patriarchal
• isolated

 
• Issue: If family violence crosses all levels of society, why are poor people seen as being more violent?

 
• Society has a predictable response to abuse

 
• (1) initially minimized abuse and saw it as occurring infrequently

 
• (2) seen as manifestation of pathology

 
• (3) victims are implicated as well as abusers

 
• (4) a social movement arose

 

• differences in types of abuse

 
• age & status of victims 
• support groups
• battered women 
• womens movement
• volunteers
• low funding
• feminist theory

 
• abused children
• physicians & professionals
• paid
• high funding
• family theory

 
• sexual abuse 
• synthesis of both

 
• issue: Why are Americans so focused on child victims?

 

• Controversies in the family violence field (Gelles)

 
• Are men abused by women?

 
• Is violence transmitted inter-generationally?

 
• Is child abuse over-reported?

 
• Are child sexual abuse prevention programs effective? This could also be asked for any family violence prevention program?

 
• Are family preservation programs effective?

 
• Do battered women learn to be helpless?

 
• Does mandatory arrest deter violence against women?

 
• Can memories of abuse be lost and recovered?