Introduction
Socio Economic conditions shape up an individual’s personality profile as they grow up and interact with their families and other members of their community. An exposure to high levels of inter-parental violence acts as an environmental stimulus for adolescents and young people to accept instances of dating violence as normal.
A disadvantaged social economic status of individuals influences them to have a low self-esteem that makes them more prone to engagement of harmful habits. Alcohol and drug abuse, as examples of harmful habits are the major causes of violence in courting or dating couples, as they impair the couple’s ability to behave and make rational decisions.
The Indirect Effect of Socio Economic Conditions
Socio Economic indirectly affects the chances of witnessing courtship and dating violence through the opportunities and limitations it represents. Individuals enjoying a high socio economic status in their communities are privileges to access better facilities and services that mitigate the chances of resolving to violence as the way to iron out their relationship differences. Such individuals afford to live in well of neighborhoods that are secured and witness little or no incidences of societal problems like robberies and gang violence.
They are also able to afford the necessities for maintaining a high standard of living and therefore they have a low stress level for meeting their bills and other responsibilities compared to individuals enjoying a lowing income status. An improved socio economic status impact a sense of importance to the individual, allows them to attend proper schools, increase their chances of meeting with likeminded, and economically well off partners.
Poverty is a socio economic problem characterized by an inability to afford the necessities of life such as proper housing, nutrition, education and other social amenities. Poor people and those working on low income jobs face a greater challenge to manage their meager earnings and in most cases are not left with any savings to invest for their personal development.
Such individuals seem to be stuck in a hole that they cannot pull themselves out. Their insufficient earnings force them to sacrifice their leisure and comfort for survival and therefore they pay little attention to the quality of services and social amenities they receive. Eventually, a continuum of poor nutrition, improper housing, unsecured neighborhoods and other social ills surround these individuals.
Persons courting or dating are in a process of getting to know each other properly and would like to present their best selves to their partners. Therefore, they go to great lengths to present a self-image they see appropriate for their partners and this usually involves incurring of expenses to impress their partners.
Impressions may come as gifts, outings and other activities that fall under expenditures in the couple’s personal accounts. Lastly, when it becomes no longer sustainable to support the superficial expenditures, partners resolve to their natural self that may present a sense of disappointment to the other partner. Relationships then assume a payback character where each emotional and financial commitment expects a reward.
Conclusion
To sum up, socio economic conditions indirectly affect the chances of violence occurring in courtships and dating relationships. The indirect effect occurs after the conditions promote or hinder personal development and the ability to resolve diplomatically conflicts in relationships.
According to O’Keefe (1997), females perpetrate more dating violence compared to men; however, men are often the cause of the violence. Men use violence to get over their partners in conflicts as a last resort of self-defense. In addition, most dating relationships have the man as the masculine and stronger partner.
Reference
O’Keefe, M. (1997). Predictors of dating violence among high school students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 12(4), 546-568.