Socioeconomic & Psychological Factors Influencing Domestic Violence

This essay examines the significant psychological and socioeconomic factors contributing to domestic violence, primarily focusing on the Australian context while also referencing international perspectives. It explores psychological factors such as the cycle of violence, where witnessing or experiencing abuse in childhood leads to its perpetuation in adulthood, and the belief in male dominance and control over women. The essay also discusses the 'Exchange or Choice Theory,' where perpetrators continue abusive behavior because it has previously yielded desired results. Mental health issues, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, are identified as potential contributors to violent behavior. Socioeconomic factors, including cultural beliefs that subordinate women, financial insecurity, unemployment, and societal stress, are also examined. The essay highlights the emotional and mental health consequences for victims, including sleep problems, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and the development of unhealthy coping mechanisms. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of healthcare professionals understanding these factors to provide effective interventions for both victims and perpetrators.

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

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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. 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 (Eriksson & Mazerolle,
2015). 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. They tend to get used to such situation and
thereby grows as adults who also follow the same patterns in their adult life (Overlien, 2017).
They also tend to abuse their partners, spouse as well as children and these cycle keeps on being

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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 - WHO publication
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 (Weir, 2014).
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 (Wuest et al., 2016). 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.
There are many instances where mental health patients with severe psychological distress
and mental health issues have seen to commit violence on their family members, partners,

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children and others in their lives. People suffering from different psychotic disorders are seen to
belong to this category of perpetrators (Labrum & Solomon, 2017). People suffering from
schizophrenia are seen to be more prone to conducting abuse on their caregivers and other
members of their family. Moreover, it was also seen that the people who suffer from the bipolar
disorder as well as multiple personality disorder are also highly prone to abuse their caregivers,
spouse or partners. Hence, nursing professionals who are handling such cases should not only
arrange for protection services and care services for the abused victims but also have the
responsibility refer the perpetrators to experts who would successfully provide interventions and
manage the psychotic symptoms of the perpetrators actively (Hultman & Broberg, 2016).
Apart from the various types of the psychological factors that lead to different cases of
domestic violence, there are also socio-economic factors that also lead to such consequences.
One of the most important social factors is the traditional belief of certain cultures that it is
ethically right to control women as they are the lower section of the society and that they can be
never equal to man. Their culture dictates separate job roles for males and females. When any
female members of the culture try to breaks the norm wanting to create a separate niche for their
own success, they are humiliated and tortured (Fleming et al., 2015). Often the males of the
society abuse them and try to keep them within the boundaries of the traditions. This can be well
associated with that of the feminist theory. This theory mainly states that violence faced by
women by men in the society is mainly because of the patriarchal structure of the society. By the
term of patriarchy practices, it means practicing controls over the females of the society that are
often subtle and are deeply entrenched (Franke, 2016). The most violent forms are not seen to
emerge until the patriarchal control is threatened. Therefore domestic violence are seen to occur
when the females try to break open the societal rules or they threaten to leave the relationships

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or they tend to experience their rights. Therefore, it becomes very important for the healthcare
members to understand the societal approaches to the concept of domestic violence in order to
handle such sensitive cases successfully (Nurse & Midwife Support: Your Health Matters, 2015).
Different other socioeconomic factors are also present which result in increasing the
chances of abuse. Often there might be cases where individuals lose their employments or
remain employed in organizations that cannot ensure proper financial security for the individuals
as well as for the family members. Such situations when tend to continue for a prolonged period
might result in stress, depression as well as anxiety (Anderberg et al., 2016). These tends to give
rise to disappointment, agitation as well as frustration out of which such individuals lose their
self control and tend to abuse spouse, partners as well as other family members. They also tend
to take up substance abuse like drugs and alcohol that tend to make the perpetrators more
vulnerable and abuse the victims largely. Researchers have conducted studies that have shown
that higher number of cases of substance abuse is associated with cases of domestic violence in
comparisons to unemployed individuals who are not abusing alcohol and drugs in the family
(The Australian College of Mental Health Nurses, 2015).
In many other cases, stress developed by society is another cause of domestic violence.
Often individuals who are not able to meet their role expectations in the organizations are seen to
develop stress (McNulty, 2015). They fell humiliated and embarrassed when they fail to achieve
their goals and especially when their higher authorities tend to put pressure on them to achieve
the objectives. They feel stressed and fatigued and this creates a mental pressure on them.
Similar consequences are also seen to occur in students who cannot achieve their academic
excellence. Such individuals are mainly seen to release their frustrations on members whom they
were closely associated like spouse, partners and many others. All these tend to result in

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development of strenuous situations in the relationships affecting the quality of lives not only in
the victims but also in the perpetrators.
Different types of emotional turmoil and mental health disorders result in the victims that
the nursing professionals need to be aware. Such abuses might result in sleeping problems as
well as depression in the victims. There are also studies that show presence of anxiety attacks as
well as low self-esteem. Moreover, it also results in the lack of trust in the victims by which they
cannot rely on others. They develop the feelings of abandonment as well as develop frustration
as well as anger. They develop sensitivity to rejection and all these might result in diminished
mental as well as physical health. They also face inability to work and tend to develop poor
relationships with the children and even with the loved ones. Many of the patients are seen to try
very hard to cope with the situation and in trying to do so, they are often seen to pick up wrong
habits. They tend to use drugs, smoke and drink alcohol. They are also seen to develop eating
disorders as a coping behavior for the abuse (Johnson, 2016).
From the above discussion, it becomes clear that the various kinds of the psychological
factors result in the cases of domestic violence. Inappropriate personality, thinking patterns,
mental health issues, and many others are the main causes of abuse. Different types of the socio-
economic disorders might also result in abuse. These are the patriarchal cultural tradition;
financial insecurity as well as the loss of employment that might create social pressures that
result in abuse on women of the families. Therefore, it is very important for the healthcare
professionals to know about the factors that contribute to such cases of domestic abuse. These
would help them to understand the psychology of both the victims and the perpetrators and these
would help them to take interventions accordingly

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References:
Anderberg, D., Rainer, H., Wadsworth, J., & Wilson, T. (2016). Unemployment and domestic
violence: Theory and evidence. The Economic Journal, 126(597), 1947-1979.
Domestic violence: issues and policy challenges (2018) , Parliament of Australia.
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/
Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1516/DVIssues#_Toc436116813
Eriksson, L., & Mazerolle, P. (2015). A cycle of violence? Examining family-of-origin violence,
attitudes, and intimate partner violence perpetration. Journal of interpersonal
violence, 30(6), 945-964.
Fleming, P. J., McCleary-Sills, J., Morton, M., Levtov, R., Heilman, B., & Barker, G. (2015).
Risk factors for men’s lifetime perpetration of physical violence against intimate
partners: results from the international men and gender equality survey (IMAGES) in
eight countries. PloS one, 10(3), e0118639.
Franke, K. M. (2016). Theorizing yes: An essay on feminism, law, and desire. In Feminist and
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Hultmann, O., & Broberg, A. G. (2016). Family violence and other potentially traumatic
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Johnson, M. P. (2016). Confl ict and Control: Symmetry and Asymmetry in Domestic Violence.
In Couples in conflict (pp. 125-134). Routledge.

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Labrum, T., & Solomon, P. L. (2017). Rates of victimization of violence committed by relatives
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McNulty, Y. (2015). Till stress do us part: The causes and consequences of expatriate
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Överlien, C. (2017). ‘Do you want to do some arm wrestling?’: children's strategies when
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The Australian College of Mental Health Nurses (2015), http://www.acmhn.org/
Theobald, J., Murray, S., & Smart, J. (2017). From the margins to the mainstream: the domestic
violence services movement in Victoria, Australia, 1974-2016. Melbourne University
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Weir, A. (2014). Sacrificial logics: Feminist theory and the critique of identity. Routledge.
Wuest, J., & Merritt-Gray, M. (2016). Beyond survival: Reclaiming self after leaving an abusive
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