Factors Contributing to Domestic Violence: A Focus on Socio-Economic and Psychological Factors

This study discusses the impact of socio-economic and psychological factors on domestic violence and mental health. It focuses on the factors contributing to domestic violence, including education, poverty, substance abuse, mental disorder, stress, and thought process. The study concludes that effective interventions are necessary to reduce the prevalence of domestic violence and its harmful effects on mental health.

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Introduction:
Mental health and well-being is refer to the state of mind in which a person could identify
the ability to adapt stress, involve in work properly and contribute effectively in the social
participation. The status of mental well-being helps a person to set person goal and achieve them
in an effective manner to live life with satisfaction (who.int, 2018). However, various factors
have been identified that creates obstacle in the way of maintaining healthy mental status and
well-being. Among them domestic violence has been found to be contributed effectively in the
development of poor mental health (Fisher, 2013). Violence in the domestic settings such as
violence against wife, children, parents and other family members is referred as domestic
violence. It may be physical, mental, verbal or sexual violence or abuse. The consequence may
lead to severe health condition, mental illness, unwanted pregnancy and death as well (Brown &
James, 2014). Domestic violence have been considered as the one of the main factors that leads
to the consequence of stress, depression, anxiety and other mental disorders. The global
prevalence of domestic violence is 35% (Devries et al., 2013). 33% incidents of domestic
violence have been reported in the developed and developing countries (ncadv.org, 2018). In
Australia 54% population has been to suffer from domestic violence (aihw.gov.au, 2018). Hence,
it has become global concern. The assignment focuses to provide brief discussion regarding the
factors contributing to the consequence of domestic violence. The following paper will discuss
about the socio-economic and psychological factors of domestic violence.
Socio-economic factors:
Study has indicated different socio-economic factors that have contributed to the event of
domestic violence. Among such factors, education, poverty and substance abuse have been
identified as the most common factors (Menati et al., 2013).

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Factor 1: Education-
Education has been to be one of the major socio-economic factor that contributes to the
incident of domestic violence in an effective manner. Study has indicated that, people that are
uneducated are economically less productive and such people remain inferior in the family due to
their poor economic contribution. Thus, it becomes easy for other family members to exploit
such people (Horsman, 2013). It can be said that low literacy rate is associated that
unemployment and low income, hence leads to the consequence of domestic violence. In
addition it has been find that community that associated with low literacy contains various
discrimination such as gender discrimination, discrimination due to disability, income related
discrimination caste and others. Such kind of discrimination is another potential factor that
influence domestic violence. In such community dowry related domestic violence is also found
(Othman, Goddard & Piterman, 2014). Statistics has indicated that lack of education contributes
to the 45.8% events of domestic violence worldwide (Devries et al., 2013). In Australia, literacy
rate is low in the indigenous population and it has been found that the gap in the literacy rate
between indigenous and non-indigenous people is more than 30% (abs.gov.au, 2018). Such
situation leads to high domestic violence in the aboriginal population. Thus, it can be considered
that lack of education influence domestic violence which affects the mental health and well-
being of individual in an effective manner.
Factor 2: Poverty-
Poverty is another potential factors that contributes to the consequence of domestic
violence. Study has indicated high association of low income families with the incident of
domestic violence. In low income countries people lack housing, proper income, employment
and other necessary resources, thus, suffer from financial crisis that leads to stressful condition

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(Root & Brown, 2014). Such condition may influence a person to involve in domestic violence.
In some cases it has been found that when women want to go for work in order to improve the
financial condition of the family they are restricted by some family members and conflict occurs
(Brown & James, 2014). Such conflict may lead to the consequence of domestic violence as
well. 51% cases of domestic violence across the world have been found to be associated with
poverty (Devries et al., 2013). Poverty and low income is one of the main problem of indigenous
population in Australia, thus, the prevalence of domestic violence is also high in this population.
It has been that unemployment and poverty contributes to the 38% events of domestic violence
in aboriginal population (aihw.gov.au, 2018). Thus, it can be said that in the event of domestic
violence and poor mental health, poverty contributes in an effective manner.
Factor 3: Substance abuse-
Relation between substance abuse and domestic violence has been identified by many
studies. Association with one or more substance such as drug, alcohol and others with the
perpetrator has been found in 61% cases of domestic violence (Van Boekel et al., 2013).
Excessive substance abuse affect the decision making capability of individual, thus increase the
risk of involving in domestic violence. Substance leads to the development of inherent and
aggressive personality that could influence the incident of intimate partner violence (Lawrence et
al., 2015). Generational cycle is another effective factor that is associated with domestic violence
and substance abuse. A person that experiences the consequence of domestic violence due to
substance abuse during childhood may adapt the same characteristics in later life and involve in
domestic violence and substance abuse (Van Boekel et al., 2013). One of the main reason of high
prevalence of domestic violence in aboriginals is high level of substance abuse (Fisher, 2013).
Half of the indigenous people have been reported to associate with alcohol abuse and the number

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of drug users in the total Australian population have been found to be 3.1 million (aihw.gov.au,
2018). Beside such high rate of substance abuse it has been identified that prevalence of mental
illness is also high in the population (Lawrence et al., 2015). In Australia, substance abuse have
been found to be responsible for 57.2% incidents of mental distress (aihw.gov.au, 2018). It can
be said that substance abuse has strong impact not only in the victim of domestic violence but
also on the perpetrator.
Psychological factors:
Along with socio-economic factors there are some psychological factors as well that
influence the event of domestic violence. Study has identified three major factors that contributes
to the consequence of domestic violence such as mental disorder, stress and thought process
(Tenkorang et al., 2013).
Factor 1: Mental disorder-
It has been identified that a person suffering from severe mental health issue may involve
in the incident of domestic violence. Research has indicated that, poor mental health condition
affects the ability to think or make decision to an extent, thus people suffering from severe
mental health issue fail to manage their stress, depression, anxiety and aggressiveness and reflect
such emotions by involving in the incident of violence in some cases (Howard et al., 2013).
There are evidence for some special cases such as post traumatic disorder and personality
disorder Most of the patient suffering from severe mental health issue has been found to be
associated with domestic violence (Oram et al., 2013). The Australian Psychological society has
indicated that rate of such incident in Australia is 42% (psychology.org.au, 2018). Thus, it can be

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said that adequate treatment and prevention measures need to be taken in order to improve the
mental health condition in the population and reduce the rate of domestic violence.
Factor 2: Stress-
Stress is another vital psychological factor that contributes to the event of domestic
violence. Stress may be resulted from economic crisis, conflict in relationship, conflict in family
or from some critical situations and when an individual fails to manage the stress he or she may
involve in the incident of domestic violence. Failure in career or workplace sometimes leads to
the development of stress and domestic violence as well. In such situations people fail to control
their mental balance and induce d in the cat of domestic violence or intimate partner violence
(Howard et al., 2013). The prevalence of stress disorder has been found to be 35% in Australia
and it has been reported by the Australian Psychological society that most of the people suffering
from stress associated with the consequence of domestic violence in the population
(psychology.org.au, 2018). Hence, it is clear that stress is a potential factor that influence
domestic violence effectively.
Factor 3: Thought process-
Thought process of individual is another potential psychological factor that leads to the
consequence of domestic violence in an effective manner. It plays a vital role in order to
establish personal perception. Poor thought process could lead to the development of negative
perception, for example, doubt, jealous, hate and domination. Development of such negative
perception may lead to the incident of violence in the domestic settings (Oram et al., 2013). It
has been found by Australian Psychological Society that such thought disorder is mostly found in
the people with age 18 to 25 in Australia (psychology.org.au, 2018). However, it has been found

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that different circumstances could influence such negative thoughts within any age group. Such
negative thoughts have been found to be responsible for domestic violence and severe mental
health problem (Howard et al., 2013).
Critical thinking:
Study has indicated that, beside physical harm, domestic violence affected the mental
health of a person to an extent. Incident of domestic violence creates excessive pressure and
stress within the victims and leads to increase in depression and anxiety (Horsman, 2013). Beside
depression and anxiety disorder, physical or sexual abuse in domestic violence could lead to post
traumatic stress disorder. A child victim of domestic violence may suffer from severe mental
disorder in later life as the incident of abuse may trigger the psychotic symptoms (Fisher, 2013).
In some cases it may leads to the suicidal thoughts as well (Oram et al., 2013). Thus, it can be
said that, there is high level of association between domestic violence and poor mental health.
Hence it is important to introduce effective interventions in order to address the factors
contributing in the incident of domestic violence in order to reduce the prevalence of such
violence in the domestic settings and reduce its harmful effect on the mental health of both the
victims and the perpetrator (Tenkorang et al., 2013).
Conclusion:
It can be concluded from the above study that, improved mental health helps a person to
involve in personal work and societal work effectively though maintaining the stressful situation
in life. However, many factors have been identified that restrict a person to maintain mental
health and well-being. Domestic violence have been found to be one of such factors. Some
effective socio-economic factors have been identified that play an important role in order to

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develop mental illness through domestic violence, for example, education, poverty and substance
abuse. In addition some psychological factors are also responsible for domestic violence such as,
thought process, stress and mental disorder. Together such factors lead to the consequence of
domestic violence and affect the mental health and well-being of both the perpetrator and the
victim.

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