In the current society, domestic violence (DV) has become a major concern following the increasing number of victims reporting cases of DV in their families. DV is a social challenge that crosses economic, religious, geographical, and even cultural boundaries. It is a violation of human rights since the affected people undergo emotional, psychological, and even physical torture that impacts their general well-being. Even though DV is a global problem, women and children are the victims of the issue. The offenders usually target the weak individuals whom they deem cannot defend themselves and thus they humiliate and perform all types of ill-act on them. The aspect of DV entails aggressive control, violent behavior, and threatening, degrading, and coercive conduct by a partner or a family member. The problem extends to teens especially the ones dating, they experience courting violence. The underlying causes of DV include trauma, belief in domination, and experiencing a DV as a child. Other factors such as level of education, poor communication, substance use, insecurity, and personality disorders facilitate the prevalence of DV leading to mental and physical health effects.
The prevalence of DV in the community is linked to issues such as childhood trauma. When either of the partners experiences any form of abuse during their young age, they are more likely to develop the same behaviors when they become old. Similarly, aspects such as neglect by the parents or constant fight between the guardians remains a clear memory and thus tend to haunt them in the future especially if the perpetrator failed to receive proper counsel. Furthermore, by witnessing DV, when the child becomes an adult they tend to implement such acts on their partners because the majority believes that is the best way to handle family differences. Therefore, experience from childhood plays a significant role in facilitating the increasing rate of DV in society.
Similarly, limited access to education contributes to the increasing rate of DV in society. generally, schooling enhances the individual exposure to various facets of life. When a person is confined within a single cultural perspective due to less experience, they are more likely to retain the norm and act based on it. However, if such an individual interacts with others through education and learns new ideas, they might be able to have a different view of issues hence changing their overall mindset. Furthermore, education grooms people making them to be decent and reasonable enough to solve issues without coercing their partners. Therefore, when individuals do not have adequate knowledge, they will hold the societal practices thus making them engage in DV.
Poor communication among the couple or family members facilitates DV in society. Generally, when one partner fails to communicate effectively on crucial matters, the level of tension rises between them. With such fluctuation in temper, the likelihood of conflict occurring increases between the people involved. Similarly, failure to provide reliable information may cause the other party to become suspicious thus promoting them to act negatively. For instance, an individual may opt to neglect the counterpart in the event of an unclarified misunderstanding. Such approaches result in degrading the other party and thus they feel less cared about.
Furthermore, there are some cultural backgrounds that foster the belief that men should dominate women. In such a setting, males tend to have control over their female counterparts in society (Song et al. 650). For instance, at home, all the available resources are managed by the man, and the women’s responsibility is reduced to protecting children. In such a setting, men tend to be more aggressive and thus portray violent behavior that affects the well-being of their partners. In other words, the ideology of male power is making the majority of men coerce, and control women to be more submissive to their demands. Such aggressions are enhancing the issue of DV especially when the females tend to resist the mistreatment they are facing.
In addition, the usage of illegal substances such as bhang, cocaine, and other drugs contributes to the increasing DV in society. When an individual has consumed any of the mentioned drugs, their brain function is altered and thus they fail to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner (Boserup et al. 2754). Some partners go to the extent of physically assaulting their loved ones. Partners who are addicted to alcohol spend more money on the drinks leaving their families with limited resources to protect them. In such cases, they abuse the individuals and affect their emotional well-being.
Moreover, some cases of DV are associated with borderline personality disorder (BPD). People suffering from BPD conditions are more likely to portray violent behaviors, physical abuse, and even emotional torture. The family members who associate and interact with such persons usually experience DV following the inability of the BPD individuals to control themselves. Therefore, personality disorders are significant influencers of the DV issue in the community.
Generally, people who encounter DV issues are impacted emotionally and physically. Their health is at great risk following the conduct of the aggressors. On the basis of mental health, DV leads to panic attacks, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other emotional problems. Such outcomes can easily trigger suicidal thoughts, development issues, and even psychotic episodes. Furthermore, the victim may develop low self-esteem and aggressive conduct which is detrimental to the well-being of the people. When experiencing the mentioned conditions, the victims cannot easily mobilize the necessary resources to facilitate their living in the community. Similarly, the children might face difficulty concentrating on their studies hence affecting their academic performance.
Similarly, the physical health effect of DV is detrimental to the victims. Assaults may result in significant body scratches, chest complications, pelvis and even bleeding (Kaukinen 670). Sometimes the offenders may opt to use a sharp object to pierce through the body of their targets causing serious injuries. In addition, in some cases, women are dragged by their hair and even pushed against the wall. The overall consequences of such conduct include migraine, death, hypertension, and other related diseases which have an effect on the well-being of the affected person.
Even though the communities have shown some advancement, the aspect of DV has remained a significant social issue affecting many people. Underlying factors such as childhood trauma and witnessing DV cases contribute effectively to the growing DV. Limited access to education, substance abuse, poor communication, and PBD are other facets facilitating the rising cases of DV. The social problem results in both mental and physical health effects such as depression and scratches respectively. Therefore, DV is a major issue affecting the majority, especially the vulnerable group in society. Without awareness, the people suffering from the behaviors might not overcome the challenges and thus remain victims of the conditions.
Works Cited
Boserup, Brad, Mark McKenney, and Adel Elkbuli. “Alarming Trends in US Domestic Violence during The COVID-19 Pandemic.” The American journal of emergency medicine, vol. 38, no. 12, 2020, pp. 2753-2755. Web.
Kaukinen, Catherine. “When Stay-at-Home Orders Leave Victims Unsafe at Home: Exploring the Risk and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence during The COVID-19 Pandemic.” American Journal of Criminal Justice, vol. 45, no. 4, 2020, pp. 668-679. Web.
Song, Yueping, Jingwen Zhang, and Xian Zhang. “Cultural or institutional? Contextual effects on domestic violence against women in rural China.” Journal of Family Violence, vol. 36, no. 6, 2021, pp. 643-655. Web.