The Basics of Domestic Violence

by Child Welfare Information Gateway

To establish a foundation for understanding child protection in families experiencing domestic violence, this chapter provides an overview of the definition, scope, and causes of domestic violence, along with the evolving societal responses. The chapter also provides a description of victims and perpetrators of domestic violence, highlighting prevalent misconceptions, common behaviors, and parenting issues.

What is Domestic Violence?

Historically, domestic violence has been framed and understood exclusively as a women's issue. Domestic abuse affects women, but also has devastating consequences for other populations and societal institutions. Men also can be victims of abuse, children are affected by exposure to domestic violence, and formal institutions face enormous challenges responding to domestic violence in their communities. The effects of domestic violence on victims are more typically recognized, but perpetrators also are impacted by their abusive behavior as they stand to lose children, damage relationships, and face legal consequences. Domestic violence cuts across every segment of society and occurs in all age, racial, ethnic, socio-economic, sexual orientation, and religious groups. Domestic violence is a social, economic, and health concern that does not discriminate. As a result, communities across the country are developing strategies to stop the violence and provide safe solutions for victims of domestic violence.

Defining Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a "pattern of coercive and assaultive behaviors that include physical, sexual, verbal, and psychological attacks and economic coercion that adults or adolescents use against their intimate partner." Domestic violence is not typically a singular event and is not limited to only physical aggression. Rather, it is the pervasive and methodical use of threats, intimidation, manipulation, and physical violence by someone who seeks power and control over their intimate partner. Abusers use a specific tactic or a combination of tactics to instill fear in and dominance over their partners. The strategies used by abusers are intended to establish a pattern of desired behaviors from their victims. Certain behaviors often are cited by the perpetrator as the reason or cause of the abusive behavior, therefore, abusive verbal and physical actions are often intended to alter or control that behavior.

Scope of the Problem

Currently, national crime victimization surveys, crime reports, and research studies indicate:

• An estimated 85 to 90 percent of domestic violence victims are female.
• Females are victims of intimate partner violence at a rate about five times that of males.
• Females between the ages of 16 and 24 are most vulnerable to domestic violence.
• Females account for 39 percent of hospital emergency department visits for violence-related injuries, and 84 percent of persons treated for intentional injuries caused by an intimate partner.
• As many as 324,000 females each year experience intimate partner violence during their pregnancy, and pregnant and recently pregnant women are more likely to be victims of homicide than to die of any other cause.
• Females experience the greatest assault rate (21.3 per 1000 females) between the ages of 20 and 24. This is eight times the peak rate for males (3 per 1000 males ages 25 to 34).
• Domestic violence constitutes 22 percent of violent crime against females and 3 percent of violent crime against males.
• Eight percent of females and 0.3 percent of males report intimate partner rape.
• Approximately 33 percent of gays and lesbians are victims of domestic violence at some time in their lives.
• Twenty-eight percent of high school and college students experience dating violence and 26 percent of pregnant teenage girls report being physically abused.
• Seventy percent of intimate homicide victims are female, and females are twice as likely to be killed by their husbands or boyfriends than murdered by strangers.
• On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in the United States every day. In 2000, 1,247 women were killed by an intimate partner. The same year, 440 men were killed by an intimate partner.
• An estimated 5 percent of domestic violence cases are males who are physically assaulted, stalked, and killed by a current or former wife, girlfriend, or partner.
• Domestic violence victims lose a total of nearly 8.0 million days of paid work - the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs - and nearly 5.6 million days of household productivity as a result of the violence.
• The costs of intimate partner rape, physical assault, and stalking exceed $5.8 billion each year, nearly $4.1 billion of which is for direct medical and mental health care services.
• Males are significantly more likely to be victimized by acquaintances (50 percent) or strangers (44 percent) than by intimates or other relatives.
• Females experience over 5 to 10 times as many incidents of domestic violence than males. In comparison to men, women have a significantly greater risk for being a victim of domestic violence and suffering chronic and severe forms of physical assaults.

Domestic Violence Tactics

The types of domestic violence actions perpetrated by abusers include physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, and psychological tactics; threats and intimidation; economic coercion; and entitlement behaviors. Examples of each are provided below. Some of the behaviors identified in the following lists do not constitute abuse in and of themselves, but frequently are tactics used in a larger pattern of abusive and controlling behavior.

Physical Tactics

• Pushing and shoving;
• Restraining;
• Pinching or pulling hair;
• Slapping;
• Punching;
• Biting;
• Kicking;
• Suffocating;
• Strangling;
• Using a weapon;
• Kidnapping;
• Physically abusing or threatening to abuse children.

Sexual Tactics

• Raping or forcing the victim into unwanted sexual practices;
• Objectifying or treating the victim like a sexual object;
• Forcing the victim to have an abortion or sabotaging birth control methods;
• Engaging in a pattern of extramarital or other sexual relationships;
• Sexually assaulting the children.

Verbal, Emotional, and Psychological Tactics

• Using degrading language, insults, criticism, or name calling;
• Screaming;
• Harassing;
• Refusing to talk;
• Engaging in manipulative behaviors to make the victim believe he or she is "crazy" or imagining things;
• Humiliating the victim privately or in the presence of other people;
• Blaming the victim for the abusive behavior;
• Controlling where the victim goes, who he or she talks to, and what he or she does;
• Accusing the victim of infidelity to justify the perpetrator's controlling and abusive behaviors;
• Denying the abuse and physical attacks.

Threats and Intimidation

• Breaking and smashing objects or destroying the victim's personal property;
• Glaring or staring at the victim to force compliance;
• Intimidating the victim with certain physical behaviors or gestures;
• Instilling fear by threatening to kidnap or seek sole custody of the children;
• Threatening acts of homicide, suicide, or injury;
• Forcing the victim to engage in illegal activity;
• Harming pets or animals;
• Stalking the victim;
• Displaying or making implied threats with weapons;
• Making false allegations to law enforcement or CPS.

Economic Coercion

• Preventing the victim from obtaining employment or an education;
• Withholding money, prohibiting access to family income, or lying about financial assets and debts;
• Making the victim ask or beg for money;
• Forcing the victim to hand over any income;
• Stealing money;
• Refusing to contribute to shared or household bills;
• Neglecting to comply with child support orders;
• Providing an allowance.

Entitlement Behaviors

• Treating the victim like a servant;
• Making all decisions for the victim and the children;
• Defining gender roles in the home and relationship.

About the Author

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Formerly the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information and the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, Child Welfare Information Gateway provides access to information and resources to help protect children and strengthen families. A service of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.