Paper Example on Domestic Violence: Injuries, Control, and Children Affected

Introduction

Domestic violence includes controlling behavior, yelling, chronic arguing, threats of murder or suicide, and injuring. One in every 3 women and 1 in every 4 men have been physically assaulted by an intimate partner (Smock, 2019). In every 7 women, one has been injured by an intimate partner which is a figure higher compared to the male gender, whereby in every 25 men, one has been injured by a partner. More than 50 percent of women who experience domestic violence have children. Children growing in a family where domestic violence occurs are highly affected. In families where domestic violence occurs, there is a chance of 45 to 60 percent of child abuse takes place. This rate is 15 times higher than the average, which is an issue of concern as this greatly affects the children's development and their adult life. Children witness 68 to 80 percent of the domestic assaults, and 50 percent of the assaulters abuse not only their partner but also their children.

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Women with disabilities are 40 percent more prone to partner violence than women with any disability. 2 in every 5 gays or bisexual also experience violence in their families at least once in their lifetime (Smock, 2019). 63 percent of the women who are homeless have experienced domestic violence, and 28 percent of them are homeless because they flew or their safety. Approximately 5 million children have witnessed domestic partner violence, which has influenced them to run away, attempt suicide, engage in sexual assaults, and prostitution. Approximately 40 percent of the spouses who report being assaulted by their partners have children below 18 years. Children who are abused by their assaultive parents are 4 times more likely to perpetrate violence when they grow up.

Why Domestic Violence Need To Be Addressed

Domestic violence should be addressed to give the children a chance to grow up with both of their parents (Smock, 2019). When one of the parents is abused, he/she runs away and either leave the children with an abusive partner. Either way, the children are raised by only one parent who may struggle to provide for their basic needs as well as psychological, emotional, and moral support. It is even worse when domestic violence leads to suicide or murder as the remaining parent is jailed, thus leaving the children devastated. Such children are highly likely to engage in drug abuse, teenage prostitution, and robbery to cater to their basic needs.

Addressing domestic violence is critical in avoiding intergenerational domestic violence transmission (Smock, 2019). This is because children who witness domestic violence are more likely to perpetrate partner violence when they grow up. Long term exposure of the children to domestic violence acts affects them emotionally. If they do not receive adequate counseling, they are highly likely to learn from their parents and perpetuate the acts to their spouse. Boys learn from their fathers and girls from their mothers; therefore a boy who grows up with a violent father is highly likely to learn from him while a girl who grows up in a family where her mother is continuously abused learns that violence is normal and that they should learn the coping strategies.

Domestic violence should be addressed in order to create a harmonious environment for children (Smock, 2019). Children who grow up in a family where domestic violence develop behavioral, developmental, academic, and emotional problems. Children growing up in such an environment are more likely to be violent in school and the community as a way of expressing their frustration caused by the perceived threat. By addressing domestic violence, therefore, the cases of violent behavior will decrease.

Witnessing domestic violence is during childhood is linked to psychopathic traits in male criminal offenders. 20 percent of the incarcerated adult criminal offenders suffer from a psychopathy personality disorder, thus the necessity of addressing the problem as it will help in reducing the rate of crimes (Dargis & Koenigs, 2017). Individuals with this disorder are more likely to re-offend as compared to the criminal offenders who do not exhibit the disorder. The disorder can be explained through the social learning approach, which outlines the role of the environment in shaping children's behavior when they transition to adulthood. Children who witness domestic violence develop coercive and manipulative behavior, which they exhibit during children as well as when they become adults.

Children's' mitigation to violence helps in reducing the effects of exposure to domestic violence. With relevant mitigation strategies, 37 percent of the children who experience domestic violence perform better or the same as children who do not experience domestic violence (Smock, 2019). Children who receive peer and social support can cope with domestic violence. The relationship with their parents or the caregiver also contributes to their coping ability. The severity of domestic violence also plays a role in the extent to which children are affected. Children who grow up in a family where there is short term domestic violence are less affected than those raised in a family where violence is ongoing.

Ch. 6 - FLE Plan/Intervention

There are different strategies being embrace in the fight against domestic violence that influences children development. Family life education entails empowering family members with knowledge and skills that strengthen interpersonal relationships and improve the personal skills of the family members. The knowledge and skill help the family members with the skills that help them to solve many conflicts. Among the skills that people get from family life education include the acquisition of communication skills that are key in communicating when solving conflicts. Communication skills enable family members to know how to approach their partners when trying to solve issues that bring conflicts among the family members.

Family life education embraces various interventions that can be applied to end domestic violence that lead to strengthening interpersonal relationships among family members. The interventions include recognizing the importance of having healthy interpersonal relationships among family members, where people are encouraged to respect their partners and other family members (Duncan & Goddard, 2016). The children brought up in such families recognize the importance of respect; hence they will practice respect once they form their own families; hence the healthy interpersonal relationships contribute to reduced domestic violence (Smock, 2019). Healthy interpersonal relationships prevent domestic violence, which is better than having to solve conflicts once the conflicts are resolved then the children grow up in a healthy environment.

Domestic violence is a challenge to children who are affected by domestic violence that happen in the families where they are brought. The children rely on support from their parents; hence domestic violence influences the support they used to get from their parents (Duncan & Goddard, 2016). For children to continue enjoying support from their parents, have to be in healthy relationships for the children to get the support they require. Family life education helps parents to understand the challenges the children get when there is domestic violence in the family. The parents are educated on how to solve conflicts without having violence as a way to solve conflicts.

Family life education is also key in children's development, especially children growing up in violent environments by helping them to understand and know how to remain safe. There are instances when domestic violence is against children who are helpless and do not know what to do during the violence (Duncan & Goddard, 2016). Domestic violence is in different forms, including physical and emotional violence from parents and other family members. The children are educated on how to respond to different situations and types of violence. Physical and emotional violence need to be dealt with differently to ensure the children remain safe. Domestic violence is on the rise; therefore, interventions are required to keep the children safe.

The main problem facing the people is lack of trust among the partners that form families where a member feels that they are not getting the attention and the support that they deserve from the partner. Once they begin to feel unappreciated, they begin to become violent as they demand attention from their partners (Duncan & Goddard, 2016). The person who begins the violence believes that they deserve better than what they get from their partners (Smock, 2019). People who are brought up in a violent environment are used to seeing violence as one of the ways to settle their disputes. Family life education encourages people to strengthen their relationships to avoid conflicts that affect children who rely on support to survive.

Many children are abandoned by their parents with some sustaining injuries from the domestic violence they get from their parents and other family members who are involved in conflicts. The children need to be protected whenever there are conflicting parties in families. There is a need for legislation that will secure the interests of the children where the children are living in violent environments (Duncan & Goddard, 2016). The law will ensure that parents and other family members get punished when they become violent to children. The people also need to be educated on the effects that the children get from domestic violence. Community health volunteers will facilitate public awareness of the challenges and threats that children get when they grow up in violent environments. Parents are likely to change if they understand the dangers of exposing their children to domestic violence.

The result of legislation to protect the children is that parents will fear the consequences of being violent to their children. Children are helpless because they cannot fight back against their parents and other older family members (Duncan & Goddard, 2016). The law will ensure that the children are protected by the law to make the parents continue to support their children even after conflicts (Smock, 2019). The parents also get to understand the best way to solve conflicts without hurting their children. When the parents stop domestic violence, their children will grow in a healthy environment where the children will also learn to solve conflicts without having to engage in conflicts.

There are different dynamics that cause domestic violence, where people from the same family disagree for different reasons. Society issues play a role in family issues that eventually lead to domestic violence. Conflicts are inevitable. The only thing that can be done is educating people on an alternative way of solving conflicts (Duncan & Goddard, 2016). Family life education is based on family science and identifies the main factors that cause domestic violence: unemployment, substance abuse, and debt, where family members disagree on the best way possible to deal with the challenges. Family life education educates people to understand their partners and other family members in terms of how they respond to challenges. Once they understand each other, they will know how to treat each other when conflicts erupt.

Family life education is focused on the functionality of the family, where efforts are made to make people make the right decision that will benefit all the stakeholders by considering their interests (Duncan & Goddard, 2016). Data shows that many conflicts emerge where people fail to agree on related financial matters where people believe that the conseque...