Impact of Socioeconomic and Psychological Factors on Domestic Violence

Running head: MENTAL-HEALTH NURSING
Mental-health nursing
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1MENTAL-HEALTH NURSING
Domestic violence is a global phenomenon that has resulted in many negative health and
social consequence for the victim. It is defined as a form of abuse where a person is subjected to
aggressive behaviour within a domestic setting such as home by other partner (Dowst-Mayo,
2018). The WHO report states that domestic violence negatively affects physical, mental, social
and reproductive health of a person. People with low education, exposure to domestic violence,
alcohol use and history of child maltreatment are more likely to perpetrate violence whereas
victims of domestic violence are mainly those people low education and attitude towards
violence (World Health Organization, 2017). The statement indicates that socioeconomic and
psychological factors in the life of a person significantly influence the incidence of domestic
violence. The main purpose of this essay is to examine the impact of socioeconomic and
psychological factors on domestic violence and evaluate contribution of these factors on the
victim or the perpetrators.
An individual can be at risk of domestic violence because of many individual, family and
society related factors. Many of the risk factors can be described by the analysis of links between
socioeconomic factors and domestic violence incidence. Monetary issues are the most common
cause of domestic violence followed by alcoholism (Sanjay et al., 2013). Clarke and Wydall
(2015) gave an insight into the association between poverty and increasing incidence of domestic
violence. The author argued that low income in women decreases their bargaining power and
increase the level of intimate partner violence. Poverty in low-income families acts as the fuel
that promotes conflict between partners and contributes to incidence of domestic violence. This is
supported by Slabbert (2017) who states that abused women mostly have low income and
poverty is a challenge that prevents women from taking action against domestic violence. They
avoid taking actions due to fear related to loss of housing and income. The survey with women

2MENTAL-HEALTH NURSING
who are in a abusive relationship has revealed that they have no economic resource and they fail
to leave their husbands because of responsibility towards children and the need to leave their
friends and relatives. In case of perpetrators of domestic violence, they become motivated to
indulge in acts of violence anticipating that low future expected earning of her female partner
would make her inclines to tolerate violence and not leave their partner (Anderberg et al., 2016).
Hence, it can be domestic violence is highest in communities characterized by social deprivation
and families living on low income.
Low education is also regarded as one socioeconomic factor that increases rate of
domestic violence episodes. Women with little or no education become vulnerable to domestic
violence and such women also tend to accept domestic violence as part of their life (Oanh Thi
Hoang et al., 2016). There are many studies which report about risk of domestic violence in
women with low education. Mohamadian et al. (2016) revealed that low education level,
husband’s unemployment and being a housewife has significant relationship with domestic
violence against women. Low education or literacy among women makes them economically
less productive and this limitation makes them inferior in comparison to their husband. Such
trend is commonly seen in countries like Asia and Africa which have rigid culture and
patriarchal norms (Sabri, Simonet & Campbell, 2018). Patriarchal norms in certain sections of
society are also a reason for low education among women in certain society. They are denied the
right to basic education which eventually increases the likelihood of domestic violence.
However, Hayes (2013) argues that patriarchal norm does not always mean that men are
perpetrators of domestic violence; anyone can become a victim irrespective of gender. The
analysis of socioeconomic risk factors of domestic violence suggests that education is one factor