The Consumption Of Alcohol And Domestic Violence

Throughout the 1800’s in the United States, state laws and cultural practices continued to support a husband's “right” to discipline his wife. It wasn't until 1895 that women were given the right to divorce their husbands no matter the conditions (Dryden-Edwards MD, 2012). Another stride in unveiling the taboo and private nature of domestic violence was made through the Battered Women's Movement, which was a by-product of the Women’s Liberation Movement from the 1960’s. Greatly supported by the Feminist theory, this movement was frequently credited for unmasking the extent of intimate partner violence and agitating for social change (Meyer-Emerick, 2002).

Domestic violence is a devastating social problem. “Domestic violence is about one person getting and keeping power and control over another person in an intimate relationship. It is a pattern of behavior in which one intimate partner uses physical violence, coercion, threats, intimidation, isolation and emotional, sexual or economic abuse to control and change the behavior of the other partner (Despres,2009). Domestic violence is not just hitting or fighting or an occasional mean argument. It is a chronic abuse of power and a need for control. In every state there are laws that prohibit domestic violence but they vary from state to state. Domestic abuse is widespread and

Alcohol is blamed for many sexual assaults and domestic violence cases over the years. Of course it is an easy substance to blame with it is one of the most widely used depressant in the world, but it is important to note that the amount consumed determines the effect on your body. There are however many sources that have conducted studies about how alcohol doesn’t lead to an increase in physical violence in a relationship. These studies show that there is truly only one contributor to domestic violence and it’s not alcohol, it’s the people and the choices they choose to make beforehand.

The article constructs domestic violence as an issue of gender, race and socioeconomic status. Women are identified as the “majority” of victims (Taylor 2014). Consequently, the article conceptually represents domestic violence as events of intimate terrorism where one partner violently terrorizes the other partner to gain complete control over the relationship, which is entirely perpetrated by men (Johnson 2012). With that said, Johnson (2012) points out that majority of domestic violence is situational couple violence, where both the man and the

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

Researchers Smith, Homish, Leonard, and Cornelius admit that it is well known that a risk factor for intimate partner violence is substance use. (2012) However, we have a very limited understanding of the association between specific substance use and intimate partner violence. These researchers set out to bring about a deeper understanding of this. For the purpose of this study, researchers examined intimate partner violence in the presence of alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and opioid use, as well as poly-substance use of alcohol and cocaine and alcohol and marijuana. (Smith, et al., 2012) Further, this study looked at substance use and intimate partner violence and differentiated between perpetration and victimization. Alcohol and cocaine use disorders were highly associated with intimate partner perpetration whereas cannabis and opioid use disorders were more highly associated with intimate partner victimization. (Smith, et al., 2012) Individuals diagnosed with both an alcohol use disorder and a cannabis use disorder were reported to have a lower likelihood of intimate partner perpetration compared to having the diagnosis of any one substance use disorder. Having a poly-substance use disorder with the combination of alcohol and cocaine increased the likelihood of an individual to perpetrate intimate partner violence. However, if you remove the diagnosis of alcohol use disorder and only have a cocaine use disorder, the

“We define 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.  Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone.”

Abuse can come in many forms, including those that we cannot physically see. Intimate partner violence can occur physically, sexually, and psychologically and emotionally. Physical violence includes the use of physical force, such as slapping, hitting, kicking, grabbing, throwing, use of a weapon, and the like, with the intention to cause harm, injure, or kill (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Sexual violence describes violence that uses force to compel a person to engage in sexual activity against their will or ability to decline. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). And lastly, psychological and emotional violence involves harming the victim through the use of threats or coercive tactics such as, but not limited to, humiliating, controlling, isolating, or stalking (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Similarly, there are two major forms of intimate partner abuse: intimate terrorism and situational couple violence (Leone, Lape, and Xu). Intimate terrorism describes a pattern of abuse in which one partner exercises a cycle of continuous power and control over their significant other by means of physical or coercive actions that trap their victim in the relationship while, in contrast, situational couple violence refers to violence that it provoked by a specific conflict (Leone, Lape, and Xu). Overall, it is clear that intimate partner abuse occurs in a variety of ways and to varying degrees of

The history of Domestic Violence (DV) and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) recognizes that abuse is not just an individual problem, but a social one. Our culture at one time reinforced the idea that violence within relationships was acceptable, and at the same time, blamed the abused for being victims. The way we think now about violence in the home has changed. Violence is a learned behavior that often is the result of months or years of intimidation and control. Contrary to belief, violence is no longer gender specific. Preventing Domestic Violence is important to me because of the physical and psychological effects it has on victims, the impact on families and communities, and the effectiveness of laws and resources.

In the United States today, 85% of domestic violence victims are women, and only 15% are men. Domestic violence can be anything that involves physical harm, sexual assault, or fear of physical harm. (“What is Domestic Violence?”) Domestic violence dramatically affects more women than men. Roughly about “38,028,000 women have experienced physical intimate partner violence in their lifetimes” (Huffington post). Domestic violence is an extensive complication in American society. In the United States alone there are multiple states with a high ranking rate when it comes to domestic violence. Ranked #1-10 with females being murdered by males, in 2011, with South Carolina as #1. Domestic violence is caused by many different situations and complications

Intimate partner violence occurs among partners who are in a relationship. Such partners can either be married, engaged, and or dating and in either heterosexual or same-sex relationships. Both, male and females, can either be the victim or the perpetrator of such horrific episodes of violence against their partner. Women, for instance, are very aggressive and violent in self-defense while men, on the other hand, are most likely to engage in cycles of abuses and thus the notion that they are more violent and particularly against women (McLennan & MacMillan, 2016).

In order to understand the intricacies within relationships, a comprehensive definition of intimate partner violence must first be recognized since recent research has found to produce incongruent determinations of such. Intimate partner violence, also known as domestic violence, is the physical, emotional, sexual, and psychological abuse of a current or former intimate partner. An intimate partner is one with whom there has been a relationship, current or former, including spouses, cohabitating couples, dating relationships, family members, and same-sex couples. It was only recently that acts of violence against an intimate partner were criminalized and remedies sought by victims through court approved action (Carlson, B. E., & Worden, A.

Domestic violence is a pattern of behavior used to exhibit control over another person through fear and intimidation by threat, force, or use of violence in intimate relationships. This issue has been an overlooked problem in American society for ages however as it becomes mainstream time and time again and the statics go up, Americans are beginning to see this as a pressing epidemic. With more than 4 million women and 3 million men becoming victims to physical assault in intimate relationships every year, domestic violence has become a societal issue in which it affects people from all walks of life regardless of a person’s gender, race, status, ethnicity, age or religion. Since most cases almost always go unreported and the severity of this problem is often disregarded, domestic violence is ultimately a problem that accrues cost to victims and their families, employers and their business, and society as a whole.

Over the last few decades, a wide variety of statutory, procedural, and organizational reforms have been enacted throughout the legal system to combat the widespread and destructive effects of domestic violence. Beginning in the 1970’s, efforts focused primarily on implementing legislation that criminalized domestic violence. Police departments instituted pro-arrest or mandatory arrest policies, prosecution increased dramatically, and the courts began using a variety of sanctions such as jail, probation, and mandatory treatment. At the same time, civil legal protections were expanded to cover domestic issues and protection and restraining orders became widespread (Fagan, 1996).

In today’s society, the defining moment of high-risk populations occurs on a daily basis due to unprecedented and precedent situations out of person’s control. The lives of individuals who are victims of substance abuse are running of the events of turmoil either from the past or at the present moment.