Intimate Partner Violence: Madea's Family Reunion

Approximately 1.3 million women each year are victims of physical assault by a partner in the United States, with larger numbers of such incidents not being reported (Herman, Rotunda, Williamson, & Vodanovich, 2014, p. 2). Intimate partner violence (IPV) is defined as sexual, physical, or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse, which can include sexual violence, psychological and emotional violence, or physical violence (Herman et al., 2014, p. 2). IPV is also known as dating violence, domestic violence, family violence, or spouse abuse.

Domestic violence (DV) has and continues to affect millions of, women, men, children and the elderly every day. National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, defines Domestic violence as, “hurtful, repeated and intentional behavior that one person uses to maintain power and control over another in an intimate relationship.” (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, n.d.) Abuse impacts many individuals from various backgrounds. Abuse comes in many forms, verbal, emotional, physical, sexual and, covers a wide range of tactics to establish and maintain power and control. A predominant form of DV is Intimate Partner Violence is also known as (IPV,) which affects millions of people every year, primarily women

Throughout the world, we hear many stories about individuals being victimized, and individuals who have are the perpetrators. Also, many of these news segments are based off of headed situations between intimate relationships. Many relationships become this way because of stress about work, paying bills, past circumstances, and much more. There are many micro and macro level risk factors that pertain to victims (prior history of intimate partner violence, female sex, and youth), and perpetration (anger issues, low self-esteem, low income, and depression). “These factors are some of the very important factors that shape victimization and perpetration in intimate partner violence” (Seccombe, 2015, p.318).

Walter (1969) gave a comprehensive definition of violence as “destructive harm including not only physical assaults that damage the body, but also techniques of inflicting harm by mental or emotional means” (p. 24). However, in the context of intimate relationships, the definition of violence requires more aspects to be determined. The basic questions to be asked when defining domestic violence proposed by Hegarty, Sheehan, and Schonfeld (1999) in their article A Multidimensional Definition of Partner Abuse are 1) which relationships should be included as domestic? And 2) how should violence in domestic life be defined? To answer these questions, Hegarty et al. said that it is important to choose the appropriate definition that is most relevant to the purpose of the studies. Dutton (2006) defined domestic violence in his book Rethinking Domestic Violence as “any violence occurring between intimate partners (same sex or other sex, married or unmarried) and against children” (p. 3), but further said that he will only focus on intimate

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health problem in youth and young adults. Serious short- and long-term consequences of IPV, coupled with high prevalence, have driven researchers to formulate theoretical frameworks to explain why individuals engage in abusive behaviors toward their partners.

Domestic violence exists everywhere and affects all people regardless of socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, sex, ethnicity, or religion. Most times physical violence is accompanied by emotional abuse and controlling behaviors. The result of domestic violence includes physical injury, psychological issues, and death. Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) occurs in 1 of 4 women in the United States and can be correlated with a loss of emotional, social, physical and mental health. Intimate Partner Violence is an issue that does not receive a lot of recognition and is overlooked majority of the time. There is a lot of information on women in intimate partner violence relationships that explains how it affects women physically, mentally, and socially.

Before taking this course on family violence, I had an idea what was Intimate Partner Violence. I have always believed that Intimate partner violence involves only married couples. I had also thought that violence between a married couple consider the only force of using physical abuse only. Fortunately after reading about partner violence, I have learned that there was more than just one type of abuses. For example, I never thought that sexual abuse could happen between a couple. In addition, I learned that intimate partner violence does not consider only married partners but also partners who have same sex genders, and are unmarried.

Violence against women is a substantial public health problem in the United States. According to data from the criminal justice system, hospital, and medical records, mental health records, social services, and surveys, thousands of women are injured or killed each year as a result of violence, many by someone they are involved with or were involved with intimately. Nearly one-third of female homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner (Federal Bureau of Investigation 2001). Throughout this, many will read about intimate partner violence also called

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pattern of aggressive behavior and coercive behavior that can include physical injury, psychological abuse, sexual assault, progressive isolation, stalking, and intimidation which may take many forms. IPV is a common and significant public health problem that is life threatening and preventable. It affects millions of women regardless of race, ethnicity, age, education, socioeconomic class, or sexual orientation. One in three women in the United States has experienced some form of IPV in their lifetime. (1)

To begin with, Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) has been around for a very long time and it is still a present issue in the United States. There are many forms intimate partner violence such as, sexual, physical, emotional, and psychological. IPV occurs among all religious, socioeconomic, and cultural groups in the United States and other countries. As many people know intimate partner violence tends to come with consequences after the damage is done to the victim. Intimate partner violence does not just happen out of nowhere where the perpetrator thinks they have the right to be violent towards their spouse. The issue of IPV is connected to the cycle of violence in ways that it gives you an idea as to why the perpetrator thinks they have the right to hit the victim. In many cases not only do they think they have the right to due such thing but also feel like they have control over their spouse and have a mindset that they own them and will do anything just to keep them. Often the perpetrators feel guilty for being violent towards their loved ones that they come to a point of being apologetic and doing anything in their power to keep them. This author believes that intimate partner violence is a big issue and for many victims it is hard for them to escape the relationship. The victims go through so much in staying in the relationship that once they decide to definitely leave the relationship they end up suffering consequences and seeking available resources to

Intimate partner violence (IPV) or domestic violence, is violence that occurs between people that are involved in a close relationship (Benokraitis, 2012a, p. 384). The people involved don’t necessarily have to be married, just in a close personal, intimate relationship. Abusive relationships are unhealthy, damaging

Daily, families are facing issues that bring challenges to the home regardless if it 's violence or not. There are issues such as intimate partner violence (IPV) also known as domestic violence that at times are not reported until it is very late. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines intimate partner violence (IPV) as "physical violence, sexual violence, stalking and psychological aggression (including coercive tactics) by a current or former intimate partner (i.e. spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, dating partner, or ongoing sexual partner). The term intimate partner may or may not be cohabiting and may be of opposite or same sex. IPV exists may from a single episode of violence to ongoing battering" (Breiding, Basile, Smith, Black, & Mahendra, 2015). IPV affects women, men, and children regardless of ethnicity, race, sexual orientation and economic status. More than one in three women and more than one in four men in the United States have experienced rape, physical violence, and stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime (Black, et al., 2011). As Hispanic four in ten women and three in ten men have been victims of rape, physical violence or stalking in his/her lifetime (Black, et al., 2011).

Perpetrators of IPV are likely to have experienced or witnessed some form of early childhood or adolescence trauma (i.e. mental, physical, and/or sexual abuse or inter-adult abuse), and thus develop negative and maladaptive behaviors that may lead to a need for power and control in relationships as well as poor conflict resolution (Eckhardt, Murphy, & Sprunger, 2014, p. 1). The Power & Control diagram from the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence (NCDSV) is useful in understanding the overall pattern of abusive and violent behaviors of IPV perpetrators to establish and maintain control over his/her partner.

“Domestic violence is a type of abuse by one or both partners in marriage, friends, family, dating or cohabitation” (Aziz & Mahmoud, 2010). There are many forms of abuse from verbal and emotional to physical that often escalates over time in intensity for the victim. Data from the criminal justice system, hospital patient medical records and mental health records, police reports, surveys and social services reports of thousands of women revealed that many are injured and killed as a result of violence from someone close to them. “The US Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) defines domestic violence as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender” (Robertson & Murachver, 2009). Researchers and the criminal justice system have not been able to agree on a clear definition to domestic violence which can range from physical injury, stalking, verbal abuse and humiliation, denial of shelter and access to money, and intimidation through aggressive behaviors. The definition of domestic violence may vary but the results from physical injury, mental and emotional trauma, and sometimes even death can last a life time.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects an estimated 1.5 million women and 830 thousand men in the United States (James & Gilliland, 2017). This movie helped to put a face to the countless domestic violence attacks that take place daily. I recall viewing the moving, and there were many scenes that are difficult to watch. I can’t say I can’t believe it, because I witnessed a family member endure 9 years of physical and verbal abuse by her husband.