The document discusses different types of stressors that can lead to violence and abuse in families, including family stress, crisis, and stressors from outside the family. It then defines family violence, domestic violence, and describes the cycle of violence. It outlines various types of violence and abuse such as intimate partner violence, sibling-to-sibling abuse, parent-to-child abuse, child-to-parent abuse, elder abuse, and teen dating violence. Finally, it discusses some theories that can explain violence and abuse and ways to manage and prevent violence and abuse.
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Chapter 11:
Stress, Violence, & Abuse in
Marriages & Families
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What Are Different Stressors That Can Lead to Violence &
Abuse?
Stress
• Family Stress – a real or imagined imbalance between the
demands of the family & the family’s ability to meet those
demands
• Crisis – an unstable condition in which there is a lack
of sufficient resources to manage the situation
• Cope – manage & confront stress
• Types of Stressors
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Stressors from Outside the Family
• Include things like difficult economic times, disasters, school
bullying, & violence in the community
• Managing Stress
• Resiliency
– The ability of an individual or family to function within
familiar patterns or to create new patterns in the face of
adversity or crisis
– Elasticity – the ability to recover from trauma or crisis
– Buoyancy – the ability of a family to keep afloat during
adversity
– Recovery Factors – qualities or characteristics of a family
that assist recuperation from stress or a crisis
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• Managing Stress Continued
• Be Productive
– Hayhoe’s 5 R’s
○ Rethink goals
○ Reorganize priorities
○ Reduce the number of activities
○ Release through physical activity
○ Relax
• Theories of Stress & Coping
– Hill’s ABC-X Model
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What Are Violence & Abuse?
• Family Violence – intentional abusive behavior against a family
member that includes intimidation & physical & sexual assault
• Domestic Violence – intentional abusive behavior against an
intimate partner that includes intimidation & physical & sexual
assault
• Is a continual cycle of violence
– Tension leads to Battering leads to Apology
• Why do victims stay?
– Love, Fear, Threats, Lack of Resources, Learned
Helplessness
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Types of Violence & Abuse
• Intimate Partner Violence
• Intentional physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, or
intimidation via threats of physical or sexual abuse,
typically between partners or spouses, but including
other intimate family relations
• Dominance & Control are defining characteristics of
these relationships
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• Intimate Partner Violence Continued
• Female Victims
– More likely to be the victims
– Wife Rape – forced sex on a female spouse by a
male spouse
• Male Victims
– More Likely to be the victims in dating violence
• Abuse in Homosexual Couples
• Rate is similar to that in heterosexual relationships
• Dominance & Control is again the defining
characteristics of the relationships
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• Abuse in Homosexual Couples Continued
• Cycle Patterns are similar, though some differences
– Threats can including “outing” the victim
– Generally is not mutual
• Lesbian-to-Lesbian Abuse & Violence
– Abusers tend to have similar personality traits as
heterosexual male abusers
– Fusion makes abuse more likely
○ Fusion – extreme emotional connection &
interdependence between intimate partners
• Gay-to-Gay Abuse & Violence
– Same predictors as in heterosexual relationships
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• Sibling-To-Sibling Abuse
• Distinct from Sibling Rivalry
• Decisive factors include parental instability, favoritism,
& inequality in household fairness
• Linked to families with economic issues
• Children’s personality tends to be a greater factor than
anything else
• Parental disciplinary processes & loss of temper also
predict
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Sibling-To-Sibling Sexual Abuse
• Most common sexual abuse in families
• Families with heightened or suppressive attitudes toward sex show
an increase in sibling-to-sibling sexual abuse
• Parent-To-Child Abuse & Violence
• Children experience more long-term effects of abuse &
violence
• Social Learning Theory – violence & abusive behavior is
learned
• Social Cognition Theory – a child’s interpretation of a certain
situation may not be as hostile or aggressive as he/she may
perceive
– Changing children’s impressions may help them overcome
abusive situations
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• Parent-To-Child Abuse & Violence Continued
• Family Systems Theory – different traits & coping
mechanisms are passed through generation to generation
within a family
• Trauma Theory – how a traumatic event is handled
determines the extent of trauma that a victim experiences
• Parent-to-Child Sexual Abuse & Violence
– Female perpetrators tend to be primary caregivers
– Male perpetrators tend to not be primary caregivers
– Somatization – the manifestation of physical symptoms
from psychological problems
– Personal Resilience – an individual’s ability to cope with &
manage stress or a crisis
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• Child-To-Parent Violence & Abuse
• Small percentage
• Childhood violence patterns put adolescents at risk to
commit acts of aggression toward their fathers &
mothers
• Children are more likely to commit acts of child-to-
parent aggression
• The higher in “parent demandingness” toward a child,
the more likely the child is to commit an act of
domestic violence toward the parent
• Adolescent violence toward the parent is often a
survival response
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• Elder Abuse
• Can be physical, emotional, or sexual
• Neglect or denying basic care & freedom are also
considered forms of elder abuse
• Often takes place at the hands of a caregiver or
service provider in an institutional setting
• Majority of perpetrators are related to the victim
• Limited conclusive research to date
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• Teen Dating Violence & Abuse
• Can be physical, emotional, or sexual
• 25% of teens dating have experienced some form of
dating violence
– 10% of this is physical
• Perpetrators most likely suffers from low self-esteem
& depression
– Tend to resolve conflict through violence, lacks
anger management & communication skills
– Often lacks parental supervision & is either the
witness, victim, or perpetrator of abuse at home
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Managing & Preventing Violence & Abuse
• Protecting Yourself
• Create a personal safety plan
• If abuser attempts to victimize you at work, notify appropriate
people & request confidentiality
• Seek support (crisis intervention, legal assistance, medical
personnel)
• If planning to leave make sure you develop a safety plan before
leaving with money & a designated physically safe place
• If possible, urge abuser to seek help
• Seek help from appropriate law enforcement authorities, doctors,
hospitals, legal representation or advocacy groups
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Think Marriages & Families
What Are Some Theories That Can Explain Violence & Abuse?
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Discover Marriages & Families in Action
How Can Subjectivity Enhance Data Collection on Domestic
Violence?
• Researcher Menon found that being attuned to certain
non-objective aspects of research was helpful in
gathering valuable information
• This kind of subjective information can help
contextualize the participants’ experience