DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND IT’S EFFECTS ON THE AMERICAN FAMILY
Neh Awundaga
Elyse Pinkie
Liberty University
9/24/2013

ABSTRACT
This analytical paper takes a look at family violence and the psychological problems faced by the victims. Furthermore the paper examines the contrast which exists between gender role indifference and accepted violent behaviors. In addition, using an ecological stand point external factors within the victim’s environment will be looked into. The leading factor, which brings about serious health and psychological problems for all individuals involved in such an environment is family violence. Research have shown and proven that damaging acts inflicted by perpetuators upon their victims have a long damaging effects on their victim’s self-esteem. There are several reasons, which brings about family violence and which Social Welfare Services in the United States need to examine. This include understanding the nature of unemployment, poverty and standard of living.

Domestic Violence is a growing concern within most families and this social problem has been on the minds of several societal bodies, the media not excluded. Across the world, thousands of families are being pledge with the devastating effects of violence, which occurs within their families. Some researchers state, violence occurs because of the role women play in their families, which this is still imminent nowadays. The woman’s role in the family is seen as being of a lesser value and lesser significance, thus bringing about this power struggle between husband and wife. In regards to domestic violence, the victims each year, are mostly women and children who are subjected to psychological, physical, sexual and emotional abuse by someone they know. Some of them survive this form of torture, others cannot with stand the gravity of pain their perpetuator, is inflicting on them, meanwhile others are permanently traumatized by the unfolding of events in their lives. Those children, who live in unfortunate conditions like, poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, and unemployment are products of domestic abuse families. In this instance Professional Counselors and therapists, need to use different assessment techniques in solving these issues. So it is of uttermost importance that, when Professional Counselors are working with dysfunctional families, each family member’s success rest on the Counselor, the agency and the community.
According to Perry, B.D., in his article, “Incubated in Terror: Neurodevelopmental Factors in the Cycle of Violence”, he states not only the family is being affected by violence, but the detrimental effects is felt by everyone (Perry, 1997, p. 1). Furthermore, Perry states in every culture Violence is an ongoing phenomena and in reference to the most violent places amongst the industrialized nations, Rudo, a researcher states that the United States stands out as an unsafe environment, to reside in.Violence in any form always has been a natural occurrence of any culture. Of all Western industrialized nations, the United States is viewed as one of the most violent place to live in (Rudo & Powell, 1996, p. 1). Redo’s assumptions is being backed up by Reno, J., in his article “Breaking the cycle of violence: recommendation to improve the criminal justice response to child victims and witnesses”. Where he state that women and children each year are faced with physical assault, neglect, rape and adduction, by someone they know and trust. (Reno, Holder, Fisher, Robinson, Brennan & Turman, 1999, p. 6) According to Reno’s article, 4.1million cases of family violence were reported and were under criminal investigation and the victims in most of these cases were children, because of their size, dependency and age (Reno, Holder, Fisher, Robinson, Brennan & Turman, 1999, p. 6). Once more according to Perry in his article, “ Incubator in Terror”, states that the most destructive violence does break the mind and results in the death of the soul, not the body (1997, p. 3).
It has always been known for generations, that men had the right to discipline their wives and children in cases of not showing respect, and disobedience. This assumption is addressed by the British “rule of thumb”, which gives men the right to punish their wives accordingly. Which this rule according to Hart , was accepted by the Mississippi Supreme Court in 1824, which stated the court had no right to inter in domestic disputes occurring in the family (Hart 1991, p.1).
Once more, Forte, Franks, Forte, and Rigsby (1996) believe that what brings about family violence is the difference in role- making. They look at what occurs in dysfunctional families, where the husband believes that being the bread winner of the family, he is entitled to absolute individual power. According to the authors, they believe in a violent relationship, role making is asymmetrical (p. 60), this indirectly implies the dominant person not regarding him or herself as being meanwhile the victimized person tries to please the perpetrator and this action gives the perpetrator the upper lead to act in an inappropriate manner. With this being said, in this kind of scenario, the most affected individuals are battered women. According to Peled, Eisikovits, Enosh, Winstock, battered women stay in violent relationships because, they are emotionally, physically, and psychologically blocked out from decision making, which this tends to make her valuable to low self-esteem, fear, guilt, and loneliness (Peled, Eisikovits, Enosh, Winstock, 2000, p. 11). Furthermore, Forte, Franks, Forte, Rigsby, in regards to the discussion of why battered women stay in abusive relationships, state that most of these women have several reasons stay and one of them is the welfare of their children, so these women greater violence, and greater power inequality (Forte, Franks, Forte, Rigsby, 1996, p. 62). Other reasons why battered women stay in abusive relationship, with the perpetuator according to Dutton and Gordon is because most of them cannot bare the loss of the income, looking for a job and child care (Dutton, Gordon, 1996, p. 9).
After looking at the scope of what brings about family violence, in reference to gender-inequality, most researchers like Rudo and Powell believe that violence in the family is Family "intergenerational" (Rudo, Powell, 1996, p. 8). According to research, both the perpetrator and the victim are capable of child neglect and abuse. Since some of these adults have either experienced or witnessed violence in their child upbringing, which this has increased the possibility of them being abusers themselves. Rudo and Powell (1996) state the factors that are to blame for child abuse and neglect are the parental sins and society failure (p. 8). The authors believe that when there structural in balance in the society, child rearing is made difficult, because parents tend to use socially inappropriate disciplinary actions like failure to set limits, harsh punishment, and inconsistence parental supervision. Thus, what happens to these children, how do they react to the demands of society? These children according to Perry aggressive to their friends and the society at (Perry, 1997 p. 11) Perry also mentions other factors that brings about violence in families and this are ; poverty, low socio economic status, mental illness, and drug and alcohol abuse. One out of five families in the U.S live in poverty according to Perry (p. 348), and these families as Perry states lack basic social necessities to live on (p. 351). The outline reasons listed above for causing family violence in the U.S is the least of any reasons as compared to the growing concern of the abuse of alcohol and drugs by the welfare system. Saunders believe that , battered women are most of the time under emotional and psychological stress, so in order to release some of the stress, most of them tend to alcohol and drugs, which this in turn leads to child abuse and neglect (Saunders, 1994).
Now, let’s look at the side effect have on its individuals in their everyday functioning. According to Perry, Children who are brought up in ill manner families are likely to bear negative consequences of violence due to their constant exposure to these horrifying actions, which to Perry, this long term exposure especially in children can cause brain damage (Perry, 1997, p. 3). In addition, these victimized children of abuse may exhibit some cognitive, behavioral and psychological developmental (p. 11).
Treatment for families in crisis depends on several aspects, including how many individuals are involved in this matter, the duration and the extent of the problem and what the family had done in the past to resolve existing problems. Treatment and intervention should be directed toward the needs of each individual involved in this family matter. Proper screening methods will determine the appropriate treatment plan and psychological profile of the victim and the perpetrator. Psychometric instruments such as the "Multiphasic Personality Inventory" determine the victim's psychological state and treatment possibilities. Treatment methods applied should be directed toward the goal of "normalization" and emotional stability, as well as the elimination of psychological malfunctioning (Saunders, 1994, p. 54). Another important instrument is "the Index of Spouse Abuse ", which measures "the severity of both physical and nonphysical abuse" (Forte, Franks, Forte, Rigsby, 1996, p. 59). Other treatment possibilities of dysfunctional families include "individual therapy, group therapy, play therapy and family therapy (Burman, Allen-Meares, 1994, p. 31, 32).
After looking the reasons of why violence occurs in families in the U.S and its effects on victims, some researchers state, treating dysfunctional families depends on how many members are involved, the extent and duration of the problem, and had been put in place by the family to solve the existing problem. Authors like Sauders, talk about various techniques in improving the lives of dysfunctional family members, she talks about “normalization” and emotional stability (Saunders, 1994, p. 54). In addition, Forte, Franks, Forte, and Rigsby, introduce “The Index of Spouse Abuse”, which this according to them, measures how severe the abuse is (Forte, Franks, Forte, Rigsby, 1996, p. 59). Finally Burman, Allen-Meares, talks about the various kinds of therapies like group, individual, play and family therapy being a solution to dysfunctional families (Burman, Allen-Meares, 1994, p. 31, 32). According to Burman, treatment to children, should be given, separately from adults and she emphasized a lot on children who have experienced the death of a parent. In Barman’s assessment, she thinks, which I totally agree with her, that Professional therapists and counselors, should maintain a trusting rapport with their victims (Burman, Allen- Meares, 1994, p. 31). Finally Empowerment, according to various researchers, social workers, Professional Counselors and therapists, is another solution, to a dysfunctional family. Empowerment here according to researchers like, Peled, Eisikovits, Enosh, and Winstok, permits most of these victimized individuals of domestic violence, to have a freedom of life, to be able to make decisions for themselves (Peled, Eisikovits, Enosh, Winstok, 2000, p. 12).
In conclusion, it could be said that for years violence in the families in the U.S was an acceptable action but now a days it is considered incriminating. Evolution of this more humane view is still a work in progress. The forces of change, which include Professional therapists/Counselors, Social workers and agencies are faced with this social dilemma and are working towards curbing down its growth.

References

Burman, S., & Meares, A. P. (1994). Neglected victims of murder: children's witness to parental homicide. Social Work. 39 (1), 28-41.
Dutton, M. A., Gordon, M. (2000). Validity of battered women syndrome" in criminal cases involving battered women (review paper). Washington, D. C.: George Washington University, National Law Center. Retrieved February 20, 2000, from the World Wide Web: (http://ojp.usdoj.gov/ocpa/94Guides/Trials/Valid).
Fraser, M. W. (1996). Aggressive Behavior in childhood and early adolescence: an ecological developmental perspective on youth violence. Social Work. 41, (4), 347- 361.
Peled, E., Eisikovits, Z., Enosh, G., & Winstok Z. (2000). Choice and empowerment for battered women who stay: toward a constructivist model. Social Work. 45, (1), 9 - 25.
Perry, B.D., (1997). Incubated in Terror: Neurodevelopmental Factors in the 'Cycle of Violence' In: Children, Youth and Violence: The Search for Solution (J. Osofsky, Ed.), Guilford Press, New York, pp. 124-148.
Marans, S., Bergman, M., & Cohen, D. (1996). Child development and adaptation to catastrophic circumstances. In Apfel, R. J. and Bennett, S. (eds.), Minefields in their hearts: The mental health of children in war and communal violence. (104 -127). New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Press.
McNew, J. A., & Abell, N. (1995). Posttraumatic stress symptomatology: similarities and differences between Vietnam veterans and adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Social Work. 40, (1), 115 - 126.
Reno, J., Holder, E. H., Fisher R. C., Robinson, L., Brennan, N., & Turman K. M., (1999). Breaking the cycle of violence: recommendation to improve the criminal justice response to child victims and witnesses. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice Office Programs
Rudo, Z. H., & Powell, D. S., (1996). Family violence: a review of the literature. Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida.
Saunders, D. G., (1994). Child custody decisions in families experiencing women abuse. Social Work. 39, (1), 51-59.

Neh,
You are off to a good start on your paper! Below you will see your rubric score of 3222 broken down for you so that you can really work on your problem areas when revising. I have also attached a copy of the rubric so that you can more fully understand your results.
Content: 3
You do have a strong FOCUS on your topic, but there were some places where points got a little blurred together. Make sure that you are completely discussing each point that you address and stick to the point. You do need to work on your coherency; the entire paper should go together – nothing should appear to be missing or out of place. Your LOGIC was good, for the most part. You were able to move through your points smoothly, not leaving any topics out. There were just a few places where things appeared out of order. You did have EVIDENCE for most of your points, which is very critical for graduate level writing – you should always support your views with the research and wisdom of those knowledgeable in your field. The CONCEPT was appropriate and your PURPOSE was evident.
Structure: 2
Your TOPIC & DEVELOPMENT were present, but there were some places where you could have expounded on your discussion a little bit more. Additionally, you should work on having a strong introduction, complete with a thesis statement, a body, and a memorable conclusion. In regards to ORGANIZATION, you are off to a good start. Just be sure that you are connecting your thoughts and ideas. Never jump from one thought to the next without transitioning. Your PARAGRAPHS were okay, for the most part, just make sure that you are including only one main point per paragraph.
Readability: 2
You are struggling with your MECHANICS. Watch your punctuation and capitalization. Many misunderstandings and confusion result from errors in mechanics. Make sure that you go over this area closely when you are proofreading. You did have some errors in DICTION as well; be careful to select the appropriate words for the topic. Watch for plurals and misspellings of each word that you use. It is important to carefully proofread your paper, focusing on CLARITY. You want your reader to be able to understand your work. This is where you can focus in on the writing process.
Documentation: 2
You did attempt to FORMAT your paper correctly, but I suggest that you review the formatting guides on the OWC website. Remember that CITATIONS need to be complete for each and every use of an outside source. Your SOURCES were good, but be sure to cite each one!

I hope that this will help you revise your paper. Be sure to carefully read through the OWC tutor’s comments, as well as the ones that I have included here in your paper. We have both focused on different aspects of your writing and I trust that you will find both sets of comments useful. Remember to proofread your work and to be diligent! Keep working hard! You will soon be able to reap the benefits of your labor!