Summary of the article
The article, Domestic violence dangers mount with economic, seasonal pressures by Ortiz Elias reviews the effects of economic downturn on domestic violence since it propels seasonal pressures in the family. The author identifies financial conflict as a major cause of domestic violence especially during the cold season when cases of sexual abuse are reported as highest.
The economic conflict is highest during cold weather since such families cannot afford proper shelter and may resort to sexual abuse to counter the cold weather. The author concludes that investment and consultative approach to economic conflicts may reduce domestic violence by a large proportion since these families will be in a position to afford better shelter (Ortiz, 2013).
The dependent and independent variables
The independent variable in this article is the economic stress-reduction intervention as a strategy for reducing domestic violence contributed by economic conflicts. The two dependent variables include cold weather and a measure of coping behaviors from sexual abuse. These variables are believed to be able to prompt the family to explore the experiences and meanings of stress and stress management.
Theory and significance
Significant changes in the family’s normal stress levels may occur due to intervention and practice. A life crisis might escalate the stress response and negate the intervention effect. Conversely, crisis resolution might reduce the response to stress.
As proposed by the ‘loss of control’ theory, the family must take a leading role in reduction and prevention of domestic violence. It is through this approach that a better understanding of the sequel of domestic violence can be obtained including coping strategies and stress management efficacy.
The ‘loss of control’ theory is more significant than the ‘learned helplessness’ theory since it recognizes the cognitive element in the intervention and control mechanisms when handling cases of sexual abuse as a result of domestic violence.
Besides, this theory focuses on empowerment in the family unit to create harmony. Empowerment focuses on social, economic, and spiritual strength of the individual who may be the victim or perpetrator of domestic violence. As a matter of fact, empowerment is a vast concept that should not be concentrated upon women affairs since the victim and the perpetrator should be reading from the same page.
Analysis
As suggested by the article, addressing feminine issues in domestic violence surrounding feminist theorist should be complete and reflective of the roles and acculturation as adopted by the society expected to embrace gender equality to minimize domestic violence. For such reason, supportive intervention should be provided to vulnerable and marginalized women in order to address their needs.
Through application of informative learning, women and men are put in a position to understand and appropriate the need for stress management (Ortiz, 2013). Through this, it is relatively possible to control violence in the family unit and manage the process without having to create conflict in the intervention mechanisms.
Empowering women and gender equality are vital to the attainment of minimal cases of domestic violence since they are always the victim in most instances. Therefore, policies which fail to address gender inequality also fail to support women to enhance important development activities in their societies.
As a matter of fact, resolution for this financial problem should be in the form of measures adopted to promote and empower both women and men. Some have criticized the idea of empowering women alone since it contributes to gender inequality instead of promoting equality (Ortiz, 2013).
Conclusion
This article has successfully addressed the financial reasons for occurrence of domestic violence in the modern society. However, the article is not convincing enough on how domestic violence is related to changing seasons.
Reference
Ortiz, E. (2013). Domestic violence dangers mount with economic, seasonal pressures Web.