Co-Occurrence of Forms of Family Violence Essay ⋆ Criminal Justice Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Many families experience multiple forms of violence both concurrently and sequentially. Parallel assessments, for example, of adult domestic violence, child maltreatment, sibling abuse, and elder abuse offer an opportunity to determine how these types of violence interact with each other and with other family problems. Such an understanding is vital for the development of more integrated and coordinated social policies and interventions.

Common Risk and Protective Factors

An ecological or integrated framework suggests that individuals who commit or who are victims of violence face a number of common personal, socioeconomic, and environmental challenges. Common risk markers found among perpetrators of child maltreatment and adult domestic violence include poor impulse control and a lack of empathy for others, often stemming from their own early exposure to violence or victimization as children. Living in poverty and resource-poor communities and associating with peers who support the use of violence are also common risk markers in studies of all forms of violence among family members. Such environments can create a state of stress and uncertainty that encompasses all aspects of daily living, making it difficult to approach child rearing or relationship building in a measured and nonviolent manner. Although it is not universal, it is often the case that those engaged in violent behaviors have a history of poor performance in other domains, such as school, social relationships, and the workplace, failures that further isolate them from formal and informal systems that might modify their behaviors.

In addition to sharing common risk factors, at-risk individuals also share a variety of personal, familial, and cultural conditions that serve to minimize levels of family violence. Adults who have a strong sense of self and feel rewarded in their personal and work relationships are better able to manage the inevitable setbacks and disappointments in life without resorting to violent coping strategies. Strong family and friendship ties that reinforce respect for the opinions and needs of others also reduce the likelihood for violence. Communities with strong educational systems, employment opportunities, and a range of recreational and supportive services provide families and individuals ready access to the types of assistance that can bolster an individual’s resistance to violence.

Over and above these shared risk and protective factors, a more coordinated examination of family violence is justified by the frequent co-occurrence of these problems within individual families. Most community mental health, child welfare, and juvenile court caseloads include a large proportion of clients who struggle with myriad problems. Within the context of violence, a number of reviews document the co-occurrence of child maltreatment in families where adult domestic violence is also occurring. Over 30 studies of the link between these two forms of violence show a 40% median co-occurrence of child maltreatment and adult domestic violence in the families studied. Similarly, children involved in mistreating their siblings often have experienced or observed violence by their parents. Adult children who physically or emotionally abuse their elder parents may do so, in part, because of how they were cared for as children.

One challenge in building on these commonalities in advancing practice and policy reforms is the tendency for those working in these domains to become more focused on their specific concerns, resource requirements, and professional training. In the absence of direct communication and shared learning, the efforts on each issue run the risk of becoming more self-contained and competitive. While recognizing the uniqueness of each form of violence and the reality that there is no perfect correlation among the causal patterns, impacts, and response systems associated with each form of violence, meaningful progress on each issue might best be realized by advancing coordinating reforms that cut across one or more of these problems.

Common Intervention Issues

The co-occurrence and common causal characteristics of different forms of family violence have significant implications for how assessments are conducted and services delivered. Recognition of these commonalities is reflected in the establishment of dual assessment tools, more diversified case planning, and more formalized interagency agreement. Although far from universal, these types of treatment reforms are generating a number of opportunities for those working in various areas of family violence to learn from each other and to more accurately recognize indicators of multiple acts of violence. Recognizing the complex causal patterns surrounding various forms of family violence, a growing number of therapeutic interventions targeting these families seek change on multiple, ecological levels. Improvement is sought in how individuals view themselves, interact with other family members, and function within a broader social context.

Efforts to prevent various forms of family violence also share a common set of concerns. In addition to seeking change within individuals, prevention advocates for adult domestic violence, child abuse, and elder abuse pay attention to altering the cultural values and assumptions that enable and, in some cases, justify violent interactions among family members. Acceptance of corporal punishment and gender inequality as well as a general unwillingness to support actions that challenge the supremacy of parental rights or family privacy in determining appropriate behaviors between adults, or between adults and children, raise formidable barriers for creating prevention systems that can significantly reduce levels of violence. Progress in overcoming these barriers, however, is being made, as reflected in the development of universal education efforts with children and widespread public education and awareness efforts. In addition, prevention programs adopting a developmental perspective place greater emphasis on engaging families in supportive programs early in the parenting process or as relationships are formed, offering families an opportunity to establish stronger positive communication patterns and appropriate boundaries.

Bibliography:

Daro, D., Edleson, J., & Pinderhughes, H. (Eds.). (2004).
Child abuse, youth violence and adult domestic violence [Special issue]. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 19(3). Edelson, J. (1999). Children’s witnessing of adult domestic violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14(8), 839–870.
National Research Council. (1993). Understanding and preventing violence (A. J. Reiss & J. A. Roth, Eds.). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

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