Chapter 14

Chapter 14 revolves around violence, abuse, and poor health conditions concerning the family and its members. The chapter begins with IPV, intimate partner violence, which normally involves two partners (unmarried, divorced, or homosexual) with an abusive relationship. The chapter goes on to explain three different types of IPV; there is physical abuse (physical force is used), sexual abuse (sexual acts without consent of the partner), and emotional abuse (intimidation, name calling, or stalking). IPV is extremely prevalent in the United States causing a combined 1,500 deaths and over 2.5 million injuries. The chapter later talks of marital rape, the cycle of domestic violence, and the abuse of women on men. Marital rape is the most common type of rape in the United States but is sometimes defined as a lesser offense than stranger rape. While violence upon a man is less common, the abuse by a woman on a man usually tends to be less violent and the injuries sustained tend to be far less severe. Next, we look upon the topic of child maltreatment. There are four major types of child maltreatment including physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and emotional maltreatment. These types of maltreatment can easily result in physiological, social, and emotional problems which can easily become long term and can continue into adulthood. Later the chapter discusses the physical and sexual abuse among siblings in family and the elderly; both of these types of abuse are greatly under-reported. Theories surrounding abuse in relationships include male dominance theory, social learning theory, resource theory, exchange theory, and ecological systems theory. Despite the great amount of physical abuse, there are also various types of other health-related issues in families such as drug abuse, depression, suicide, and eating disorders. Finally, we find out how to combat family abuse and violence in the home.

I found the issue of marital rape to be extremely interesting based on the fact that I had no idea how big of a problem it was. To be the leading form of rape in the United States is rather astonishing and caught me completely off guard. I did not understand how a married couple could define rape until reading this chapter. Furthermore, the three phases of domestic violence greatly interested me. For there to be three set phases that a man or woman go through in domestic violence, this is clearly a common situation. This sad fact is what made this topic worth reading over further.

One question I draw from this chapter is, at what point is a person capable of knowing that they are in-fact abusive, or in an abusive relationship? Does this fall under a learned behavior, or is it genetically wired by the stress of a parent?