Abstract
The paper reviews partner violence and its position in the modern world. There are different approaches to defining the phenomenon, and each of them focuses mainly on the personality of victims. Partner violence is a general term that consists of smaller components that can affect people of different ages and genders. That is why particular types of intervention should be used to deal with the problem. It refers to pharmacologic interventions, emotional support, patient education, and policy advocacy. With this, there are new phenomena to consider when dealing with partner violence. To explain, they are level of knowledge of the two partners, presence of substance abuse, and family considerations. Thus, the paper presents an overview of partner violence and gives a comprehensive insight into how it is possible to improve the current condition of the victim.
Some traces of the past are still present even nowadays. Among other things, it refers to partner violence and its dangerous consequences. Although partners tend to conceal the data, it is still possible to analyze existing information to see the real state of affairs. Thus, partner violence is a serious problem of modern society that can affect different groups of people, which makes particular intervention strategies important.
What is Partner Violence?
There are some disputes as to what partner violence is and what it denotes. On the one hand, Beyer, Wallis, and Hamberger (2015) believe the term refers to some problems affecting women only. This statement is said to be logical because males are generally more physically developed than their female partners, which makes it easier for them to exercise violence. On the other hand, there is strong evidence that both men and women are subject to physical abuse even though at different rates (Breiding, Basile, Smith, Black, & Mahendra, 2015). At this point, the second approach to the problem seems to be more comprehensive since it embraces representatives of the two genders.
Partner violence is “physical violence, sexual violence, and psychological aggression by a current or former intimate partner” (Breiding et al., 2015, p. 11). The definition is rather extensive, and it is reasonable to comment on its components. Physical violence is the most common phenomenon because offenders need only to apply their physical force with intent to cause harm, injury, or even death. Although many people believe sexual violence can happen only between strangers, this kind of abuse is a common thing between intimate partners. It sometimes happens that one of the partners initiates sexual contact without the consent of the other. Finally, the term psychological aggression indicates a person uses means of verbal and non-verbal communication to mentally harm his/her partner. Thus, partner violence is a severe problem consisting of a few aspects and causing some health problems.
Statistics / Incidence
As is clear, different groups of people can suffer from acts of partner violence. Since men are naturally more powerful, female partners tend to be victims more often. To explain, every fifth woman in the USA has experienced “severe physical violence by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime” (Breiding et al., 2015, p. 1). This state of affairs results in approximately 29 million women suffering; as for men, they are less subject to partner violence, but 16 million male victims can be a surprise for many. (Breiding et al., 2015, p. 1). Besides, partner violence is a common thing among people of different ages. This problem starts appearing while in college. Porter, Williams, and Love (2019) suggest that the volumes of partner violence are incredibly high, especially when one of the partners witnessed child maltreatment. To explain, about 30% of female and 40% of male college students suffered from this kind of violence (Porter et al., 2019, p. 2). Thus, people of different ages and genders are subject to partner violence. It is necessary to apply certain measures to minimize the influence of partner violence.
References
- Beyer, K., Wallis, A. B., & Hamberger, L. K. (2015). Neighborhood environment and intimate partner violence. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 16(1), 16-47.
- Breiding, M., Basile, K. C., Smith, S. G., Black, M. C., & Mahendra, R. R. (2015). Intimate partner violence surveillance: Uniform definitions and recommended data elements, version 2.0. Web.
- Porter, J. L., Williams, L. M., & Love, K. (2019). Interaction of auditory status, child maltreatment, and victimization of intimate partner violence. Athens Journal of Social Sciences, 6(1), 1-18.