Level of Awareness on Domestic Violence free essay sample

In the Republic Act 9262, the term domestic violence refers to violence between adult intimate partners. However, in this study, domestic violence may mean violence towards a child. It is the maltreatment, whether habitual or not, of the child (Republic Act 7610). It includes psychological, emotional, sexual and economic maltreatment. Accounts of domestic violence have increased in recent years. It can have different forms including physical abuse, physical neglect, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect (Kozier, 2004). Today, the cost to children and to society of children’s exposure to domestic violence is enormous (Carter, 1999). Every child is exposed to a various degree of violence depending on its kind. Such children coming from the poor families are more likely to be affected. In fact, many families in which domestic violence are present suffer from lack of financial support to support to sustain them every day, thus provoking them to be stressed and cause trouble. We will write a custom essay sample on Level of Awareness on Domestic Violence or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Furthermore, it was postulated on Bowen’s concept of family emotional system that describes four basic relationship patterns that govern where problems develop in a family and the level of tension depends on the stress a family encounters, how a family adapts to the stress, and on a familys connection with extended family and social networks. Tension increases the activity of one or more of the four relationship patterns which are the marital conflict, dysfunction in one spouse, impairment of one or more children and lastly the motional distance. Our study was afflicted with the impairment of one or more children that when a mother or father gives more emphasis to the child then the child become more anxious to them thus aggravating the fair to communicate and the parents become vulnerable the do some negative actions towards the helpless child. The basic relationship patterns result in family tensions coming to rest in certain parts of the family. The more anxiety one person or one relationship absorbs, the less other people must absorb. This means that some family members maintain their functioning at the expense of others. People do not want to hurt each other, but when anxiety chronically dictates behavior, someone usually suffers for it. Moreover, children are survival-oriented and they model their surrounding behavior to learn the lessons of survival (Capello, 2005). Although some children who witness and experience community violence may be able to recover from the incident, many others are deeply scarred. Such chronically traumatized children often appear deadened to feelings and pain, and show guarded emotional development over time (Osofsky, 1999). They may feel helpless and see the world as fickle, unfriendly, and frightening whenever they witness and experience domestic violence. In addition, a child is faced with a crushing task of finding a sense of trust in an untrustworthy environment, safety in an unsafe situation and control in a terrifying and unpredictable environment. Overall, children’s responses to their experiences with domestic violence vary. Children may come back with any of an array of modification problems and psychopathology, or may take on from their experiences reasonably safe. Factors that appear to affect these responses include the child’s proximity to the violence, (That is what the child actually experienced, saw or heard), the child’s temperament, the age of the child at the time(s) of exposure, the severity and duration of the violence, and the availability of adults who can emotionally protect or sustain the child (Culross,1999). In addition, the existence of adult figures in children’s lives can mitigate the child’s experience of trauma and promote effective coping. Related Studies One of the problems that social scientists, researchers, doctors, and advocates have in documenting the numbers of victims of domestic violence is the shame attached to an act of violence between family members and intimate partners. Ones home is believed to be a place of safety and refuge, so when violence occurs in that refuge, the doers and victims are often unwilling and even fearful to report the incident to outside persons or agencies (Educational Encyclopedia, 2004). Berkovitz (1998), in his review noted that poverty, or a more complex variable of economic deprivation, was a good predicator of aggressive behavior. Anderson and Anderson’s (1998) model testing founded that socio-economic status was positively related to violent crime, independent of other factors. Furthermore, Jewkes’ (2002) postulated that there is a strong positive correlation between poverty and rates of violence. Moreover, this relationship may be reconciled through stress or a crisis in male role identity. Consequently, sociologists were able to postulate social-organization theories in trying to explain the greater amounts of domestic violence existing in our society. These theories claim causes of domestic violence which can be found in the structure of the society. Hence, its effect on how the family members relate to each other is also presented in the theories (Glass, Laughon, and Campbell, 2004). In addition, Levinson (1989) in his study, found more severe physical punishment of children in more complex societies and in societies with more single-parent families. Incidentally, researches have documented that age and gender are linked with domestic violence. Young children are at risk for domestic violence. Thus, with increasing age and increasing independence, the risk for domestic violence decreases (Gary, Campbell, Humphreys, 2004). The gender of the abused child is essential in establishing the degree of abuse. Male and female cope in a different way, depending on the societal culture and norms. Conversely, female are more vulnerable from the beginning. The burden of adversity falls heavily upon them: malnutrition, infection and illiteracy are more prevalent among them than among males, influencing how they perceive their experiences and life chances. On the other hand, a child’s age must be gathered upon the time of maltreatment and of disclosure. Their age at the time when the violence occurred measures the children’s ability to grasp the experience and therefore also determines the impact of abuse on them. The child’s age is vital in evaluating their ability to comprehend their situation and extract a meaning out of the experience. In addition, the child’s age is also important in measuring their ability to relate their experience. (Marcelino, et. al, 2000) Finally, efforts in trying to understand the fundamentals of domestic violence have been made through postulating theories. These theories serve as guide-lines that could aid the researchers in assessing the perception and level of awareness of the children towards domestic violence. One theory stated that children learn through modeling. Therefore, a child exposed in a violent community is subjected to acquiring violent behaviors. Hence, children who observe and participate in aggressive acts may continue to participate in them in their adult lives (Gary, Campbell, Humphreys, 2004) Synthesis Domestic Violence (sometimes refers to as domestic abuse or spousal abuse) occurs when a family member attempts to physically or psychologically dominate another. It is perpetrated by both men and women, occurring in both same-sex and opposite-sex relationships (Wikepedia, 2007). However, in this study, domestic violence may mean the kind of violence or abuse inflicted on children. Furthermore, it seriously threatens the health and emotional well-being of children (Fantuzzo Mohr, 1999). In the past decade, a growing body of empirical research has demonstrated that children who live in households affected by domestic violence experience a deleterious effect on their development. In addition, they may be unable to elicit or respond to disclosures about their situation. Data suggests that such exposure has long-term consequences for a child’s well being, ultimately affecting their adult functioning (Culross, 1999). Furthermore, exposure to domestic violence can now have serious effects on children. These effects may include behavioral problems such as aggressions, phobias, insomnia, low-self esteem, and depression (Groves, 1999). The study gives emphasis on the different forms of domestic violence that may define the level of awareness of the public high school students. In this study, the researchers include the variables such as age, sex, estimated monthly family income, and the children’s parent’s marital status. This is to find out if the level of awareness of the public highschool students toward domestic violence may be related to their profile.