9.4 Freedom from Violence and Abuse
Alexandra Olsen
Freedom from violence and abuse is an essential aspect of families’ ability to create safety. Violence and abuse are common issues for families. They are significant barriers that keep families from creating a true sense of safety. Similarly, many types of families experience violence and abuse—both those who have resources and are served well by social institutions and those who are not. Even if a family has many of their macro-level needs met, families are prevented from creating positive and compensatory experiences for children if there is violence and abuse. Violence and abuse also can prevent the development of quality relationships within and outside of the family.
This section looks at common violence and abuse: IPV, sexual violence, child abuse, elder abuse, and intergenerational trauma. First, we’ll define these terms and discuss how common these types of violence and abuse are. Next, we’ll outline the problems that must be addressed if we want all families and individuals to experience safety and stability. One of the major takeaways from this discussion is that institutions are critical to addressing the impact of violence and abuse on families, as their role is to promote safety. If institutions can effectively promote safety, families and individuals will be better positioned.
It is important to note that these are serious and difficult topics to discuss, mainly because these social problems impact many people. Still, by better understanding the dynamics of violence and abuse, we can find ways to make our society safer for all individuals.
Intimate Partner Violence
The United States recognizes IPV as a significant public health issue. This type of violence is universally condemned due to its heinous nature. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is defined as any incident or pattern of behaviors (physical, psychological, sexual, or verbal) used by one partner to maintain power and control over the relationship.
Historically, in the United States, IPV has been considered an act of violence committed by men toward women. While heterosexual women commonly experience IPV, it can occur to people of any gender and sexuality. Young women are particularly at risk as IPV declines with age. Perpetrators of IPV are most often heterosexual men. Engaging in IPV has been linked with being unemployed, low income, involved with aggressive peers, and having conduct problems or antisocial behavior (Capaldi et al., 2012). Figure 9.6 shows the gender contrast (in a binary system) between the rates of experience and reporting of IPV.
There are three kinds of IPV:
- Physical violence consists of touching or painful physical contact, including intimidation of the victim through pushing, slapping, hair pulling, arm twisting, disfiguration, bruising, burning, beating, punching, and use of weapons.
- Sexual violence consists of making degrading comments, touching in unpleasant means of harm, addressing a partner i