Chie Maekoya Chie Maekoya
What is intimate partner violence (IPV)?
Who are the victims of IPV?
What is the dynamic between offenders and
victims like?
What are the impacts of IPV on victims and their
children?
How do victims respond to their victimization?
Unique aspects of IPV (Women who use violence
against their partners)
Definitions
Definitions
A pattern of behaviors where one partner
tries to maintain control over the other
through the use of physical force,
intimidation and/or threats.
Physical
Physical
kicking, grabbing, punching, shoving,
slapping, pushing, burning, biting, choking,
use of weapons
Sexual
Sexual
forced or pressured sexual acts, criticizing
her/his body parts and rape (even if
married)
Emotional
Emotional
excessive jealousy, making the victims feel
crazy, isolation from family and friends,
Verbal
Verbal
name calling and put-downs, yelling,
blaming, minimizing, denying abuse
Spiritual
Spiritual
attacking the victim’s spiritual or religious
beliefs or misquoting the scripture to justify
the abuse
Financial/ economic
Financial/ economic
controlling the victim’s economic status and
basic needs, withholding money and
Destructive acts
Destructive acts
destruction of victim’s property,
vandalism and harming or killing pets.
Homophobic
Homophobic
threatening to reveal the victim’s sexual
orientation
Immigration
Immigration
Males or Females?
Males or Females?
Percentages of males and females who
Percentages of males and females who
report their experience as victims
report their experience as victims
In the USA (in their lifetime):
7.3% males vs. 21.7% females
(Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000)
In Japan (in their lifetime):
17.4% males vs. 33.2% females
Female victims experience more negative impacts
by their partners’ violence compared to male
victims (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000).
Females are more likely to …
◦
sustain injury
◦receive medical help
◦
be hospitalized
◦
receive counseling
◦
loose time from work
Countries?
Countries?
The World Health Organization (WHO)
(2005b) measured the prevalence of IPV
including physical, sexual and emotional
violence in 10 countries. They focused on
only violence against women.
Although there were some differences
(WHO, 2005)
(WHO, 2005) In all countries, the interviewer was frequently the first person that the
“My husband slaps me, has sex with me against
my will and I have to conform. Before being
interviewed I didn’t really think about this. I
thought this is only natural. This is the way a
husband behaves” (by women interviewed in
Bangladesh).
“I did not know where I could go for help. Now I
know where I can go. I was looking for such
places. It is good to address these types of issues
in a survey” (by women interviewed in Japan).
Cycle of violence
Cycle of violence
(Walker, 1979)It consists of three phases
Tension building phase
Acute battering phase
Honeymoon phase
The dynamics of violent relationships between an
offender and a victim is complex and makes it
Denial Acute Explosion Tension Building Honeymoon Offenders Offenders
hitting, humiliating, rape, verbal abuse etc.
Victims
Victims
protect self, call police, try to calm offender, try to reason, fight back, leave
Offender
Offender
“I am sorry”, “I‘ll never do it again”, beg forgiveness, cry, declare love
Promise to get help
Victims
Victims
agree to stay, return to offender attempt to stop legal proceedings
Offenders
Offenders
moody, nitpicking, put-down, yelling, threatening, withdraw affection, criticized
Victims
Victims
nurturing, stay away from family/friends, agree, try to reason,
Effects of violence on victims
Effects of violence on victims
◦
Depression
◦
Anxiety
◦
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
◦
Suicidal ideation
(Pico-Alfonso et al, 2006)
Long term mental health risks
Five years later they are likely to have …
greater degree of depressive symptoms
functional impairment
low self- esteem
Effects of violence on children
Effects of violence on children
The effects on children who witness violence
between their parents are also serious and various.
Those children are likely to …
◦
withdraw, being depressed and get involved with
delinquent and aggressive behaviors
(Clarke et al., 2007).◦
Get involved with bullying behaviors which are both
offending and victimization
(Baldry, 2003).
Being maltreated & witnessing of IPV in childhood
can increase the risk of women being victimized later
in adulthood
(Renner & Slack, 2006).
Abused women tend to abuse their own children
An abusive behavior is handed down from generation
to generation as an appropriate way to deal with
conflict
This theory does not suggest that battering tendencies
are inherited; rather, they are experienced.
Violence facilitates more violence.
Cycle of violence occurs across generations.
Witness violence between parents
Being abused by parents
Learn violence
Becoming an abusive adult
Fear
Low self-esteem
Recognition toward violence
Feeling toward partner
Lack of resources
Childcare need
Financial problems
Social embarrassment
Poor social support
Battered women syndrome
Describe a pattern of psychological and behavioral symptoms found in violent relationship.
Four psychological stages of battered women syndrome.
Denial:Denial: refuse to admit that she has been victimized or there
is a problem.
Guilt:Guilt: acknowledge and recognize that there is a problem, but
still consider herself responsible for it.
Enlightenment:Enlightenment: no longer assume responsibility for her
husband. Recognize that no one deserves to be victimized.
Responsibility:Responsibility: accept the fact that her partner will not/
Learned helplessness
Learned helplessness
(originally this concept
was created by Seligman)
it occurs when victims believe that they are
powerless and not able to escape from their
abusers and it results in them staying in
violent relationships.
Try to resolve these abusive situations by
separating, reporting the case and seeking
help
(Ruiz-Perez et al., 2006).
There is no single profile of a battered woman.
Each individual is different in…
◦
emotional reaction (fear, anger, sadness)
◦
beliefs and attitudes about self, other and the world
◦
symptoms of psychological distress or dysfunction.
Their responses depends on…
◦
victimization
◦
victims
◦
context or environment in which victimization
Historically, victims of IPV have been viewed stereotypically.
Females → helpless victims in IPV
Focus of research ： female victims ＆ male offenders
(Frieze, 2005; Robertson & Murachver, 2007).
IPV has been considered as violence from males to female partners.
This perception begun to be changed after the first U. S. National Family Violence Survey in 1975.
“Females were as violent as males were.”
Bi-directional violence
Bi-directional violence
Violence is initiated by both partners.
Mutual violence
Mutual violence
The more their partners use violence against
female victims, the more female victims use
violence against their partners and vice versa.
→
Violence is escalated.
Here are some facts…
Mutually mild violence was the most common form of
violence (Williams & Frieze, 2005).
Females’ use of violence and their partners’ use of violence
appeared to be parallel (Orcutt et al., 2005).
Being involved with a violent male partner
→
→
Reinforces females’ aggressive tendencies & amplify
their likelihood of being offenders of IPV
Being involved with a nonviolent male partner
→
→
Reduces females’ violent tendencies
(Herrera et al., 2008)
Females experiencing both offending & being victimized
behavior are more
vulnerable than females experiencing
vulnerable
Both males and females likely use violence as a
means to achieve their goals, but females are
mostly unsuccessful in achieving their goals
(Dasgupta, 2002).Motivations
Motivations
Both genders
Males
◦ trying to establish long-term authority (Dasgupta, 2002). ◦ punishment their partners’ unwanted behaviors
(Hamberger et al., 1997).
Females
◦ trying to establish short-term security (Dasgupta, 2002). ◦ Self-defense (Swan & Snow, 2003).
◦ Retaliation for prior physical and emotional violence from their partners, and escape from their male partners’
Using violence for self defense:
◦
may be effective for some victims in stopping the violence
from their partners (Swan & Snow, 2003).
◦
makes their situations worse and they may end up being
more vulnerable.
Offenders’ violence get worse
Victims receive more severe injuries and injuries likely
to be sustained
(Bachman & Carmody, 1994; Langhinrichsen-Rohling
et al., 1995; Orcutt et al., 2005)
Even though females use minimal violence against their
Four non violent strategies that female victims can use to
protect themselves in violent situations (Downs et al., 2007)
◦ Separating themselves from their partners by running away or locking themselves in a room
◦ Threatening to call for help such as to the police
◦ Talking the partners out of perpetrating the violence ◦ Obeying their partners’ demands.
↓
↓ If those strategies do not work… ◦ Use violence
Usually, it results in the escalation of violence from their
partners.
Nonviolence strategies generally appear to be the safest
Effective Intervention (Ananda et al., 2007)
Exposure therapy, cognitive therapy, anxiety management, psychoeducation
Psychoeducation
Victims often have maladaptive coping strategies, confusion and self-blame.
↓
↓
◦ Provide accurate information about
their victimization typical responses
educate healthy vs. unhealthy coping strategies (teach
adaptive coping techniques.)
Empowerment
A condition surrounding violence may be different in each community and country because of different social
situation, economies, perceptions about violence and other factors; however, it is true that violence is not an
acceptable behavior and it facilitates many negative consequences.
Most of what I have mentioned about today is basically based on facts that were found in the studies done in high income and greater gender equality countries. There might be something similar and different in your countries. I hope you have found something you can apply to your
I personally believe that education is really important in
Thank you for your attention!!
Thank you for your attention!!
Chie Maekoya (maekoya@tokiwa.ac.jp)
