Psychological and Socioeconomic Factors Contributing to Domestic Violence

Running head: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Family, domestic and sexual violence have become a major health and welfare issue in
the Nation of Australia. Researchers have noticed that it occurs among all the different ages as
well as with the different socio-economic and demographic groups and most commonly are seen
to affect the children and the women of the nation. Data provided by the Australian Health and
welfare department of the government states that about 72000 women, 34000 children and 900
men are seen to seek for homelessness services in the year 2016 to that of 2017 mainly due to the
reasons of family as well as domestic violence (Domestic violence: issues and policy challenges,
2018). About 1 in every 16 men accounting for about 0.5 million men have experienced sexual
or physical abuse and violence by a cohabiting partner since the age of fifteen. Moreover, it has
been also found that about 2800 women and 560 men had been hospitalized in the year 2014 to
2015 after their partners or their spouses had assaulted them (Wijenayake et al., 2018).
Therefore, it becomes very important for the government as well as the healthcare professionals
to identify the main psychological as well as socioeconomic factors that play the contributing
factors to the occurrence of domestic abuse and violence.
Over the years, various researches have been conducted which puts forward different
psychological reasons that might increase the chances of domestic abuse. One of them is the
violence cycle that affects most of the children in their younger age (Mayer, 2017). When
children are seen to grow in houses where they become the witness of daily domestic abuse or
where they become the victims of domestic violence, they are seen to develop a psychology that
abuses are accepted in the society (National plan to reduce violence against women and their
children 2010–2022, 2010). They tend to get used to such situation and thereby grows as adults
who also follow the same patterns in their adult life. They also tend to abuse their partners,

2
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
spouse as well as children and these cycle keeps on being repeated. Such psychology thereby
increases the chances of domestic abuse and many keep on being repeated in every generation.
Another important psychology that tends to play an important role is that men have the
eternal right to practice the right and control over women (Domestic violence - WHOpublication
list, 2012). They tend to dictate the different aspects of the lives and actions of women and
accordingly they exhibit abusive behaviors when such psychology of the perpetrators is
challenged. This can be well associated with the “feminist gender politics model theory”. This
theory mainly shows males mainly try to control the women in many domains that might range
from intimate relationships to that of the economic lives. Researchers are of the opinion that
victims in most of the cases are seen to remain in the relationship in spite of the abuse mainly
because of the lack of support, fear as well as victim blaming by the relatives, friends as well as
the larger communities (Costa et al., 2015).
Another interesting psychological perspective can be reflected from the “Exchange or the
choice theory” of domestic abuse and violence. Studies that have worked on this theory have put
forward interesting information. Men are seen to choose to behave abusively towards their
female partners with the concept that they as they had got away with it previously, so behaving
like this would help them to become successful in their demands (Bern, 2017). This makes them
that in behaving like this would help them to achieve what they want in the form of power and
control. Therefore, they tend to continue abusing their partners as they develop the psychology
that this would ensure them in gaining what they want (Global plan of action to strengthen the
role of the health system, 2014).