Domestic Violence: Socioeconomic and Psychological Factors

Introduction
Human health is mostly dependent on the well being of them. If their mental state is
not satisfactory then it can affect their health status. Violence is a term which is recognized to
all and it present in almost every case, from workplace to home. If violence is destroying the
peace of home, then it is termed as domestic violence (Brassiolo, 2016). It is defined as the
aggressive behaviour of the abusive partners. Violence is not only counted as physical
torture, but also in some cases mental and sexual abuses are kept in the category of domestic
violence. A constant fear and anxiety chase the victims of domestic violence which ruins
their mental stability. Mainly the sufferers are the women but in some exceptional cases, men
also experience domestic violence (Cox, North & Weingast, 2015). This crime is growing all
over the world and it has snatched away the peace from the life of its victims. Various factors
are associated with domestic violence which is the main reason behind it. This paper is going
to analyze what are the factors that cause fear of insecurity within the homes. Paper is also
focussed to depict the evaluation of the factors among the victims.
Domestic violence and socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomic factors play a major role in the occurrence of the domestic violence. It
generally affects the overall human functioning including the physical as well as the mental
well being. Lower socioeconomic status and its correlates such as poor education, poverty,
poor health all affect the society ultimately (Krook, 2015). If the financial status of any
particular community is not good then it affects the educational achievement of that
community which in turn resists their development in the society. It also affects their
relationship status among the people of the society. All these reasons keeps them far behind
from the main stream of the society. As a result, they cannot access anything so easily as per
their demand which acts as a stressor and they always stay under societal pressure. Inequities

in the health distribution, inequities in the wealth distribution and inequities in the education
distribution are increasing across the globe. However, violence is present amongst all the
communities of the society but the worst sufferers are the people from lower socioeconomic
status groups. Again, the income of a family is also responsible for violence. In some studies
it has been found that if the income of women is higher than the income of her partner then
chances of the occurrence of violence become low. Again, some other studies also revealed
that if men are getting more salary than their wives then it results in violence as their partners
become abusive. This situation can be supported by the bargaining model of economics
which depicts that the violence will be decreased if income and economic status of women
will be increased (Cox, North & Weingast, 2015). Again, according to the backlash theory of
sociology, the violence will increase in some cases (Krook, 2015). So, domestic violence can
occur anytime irrespective of the income of partners but in all the cases economic status is
related.
Domestic violence is common in rural areas and some studies revealed that almost
43% women are more likely to experience slapping and beating from their husbands during
domestic violence. Race and ethnicity is one of the most important sections of socioeconomic
status which is highly responsible for domestic violence. The Hispanic women are the
extreme sufferer of violence as they lack some facilities of society and which acts as stressor
among Hispanic men (Alaggia, Gadalla, Shlonsky, Jenney & Daciuk, 2015). Due to less
educational achievement, the people with poor socioeconomic status are more likely to
experience unemployment too. Financial stressor creates negative impact in their homes and
as a result they become aggressive and violence occurs. Socioeconomic status is related to
behavioural and attitudinal change of human being which makes them more violence on their
partners (Cattaneo & Goodman, 2015). So, poverty is not the main factor, rather some
stressors that are associated with the poverty are responsible for domestic violence

occurrence among the people or community of lower socio-economic status in compared to
higher socioeconomic status community.
Domestic violence and psychological factors
There is a massive involvement of psychological factors on domestic violence. Many
retrospective studies have proved the fact that psychology correlates to the partner violence.
Psychology of perpetrator can be affected by various external factors that can result in their
aggressive and dominant behaviours which in turn makes them an abusive partner in a
relationship. Psychology develops from the childhood so the upbringing as well as the mental
development in the childhood is directly involved with the mental state of a human being. If a
child has witnessed the domestic violence or became the victim of domestic violence, then
the chances increase that he will also become an abusive partner when grown up (Pearlman,
Zierler, Gjelsvik & Verhoek-Oftedahl, 2016). If a boy as a child does not learn to respect
women then they will also not respect women in future. This is due to the psychological
factor that has made them believe that abuse is normal in a relationship.
Two different emotional dynamics can also greatly contribute to the domestic
violence and one of them is destructive thought process. Abusers in this case always carry a
thought that men should have all control over women and if women do not obey them they
should have a right to be aggressive on them and as a result they make harmful physical as
well as mental torture to their partners (Berns, 2017). Even, in many countries, still women
are considered as a property of men and it allows aggression and control in case of alleged
misbehaviour. Even, in some community, if women do any mistake then men try to punish
them as they think that they have the right to do so. Another emotional dynamics can be
termed as fantasy bond, in which a sense is involved with the perpetrator that the other person
is responsible for their happiness and if it is not achieved they should be tortured or punished.