Domestic violence against women: Understanding social processes and women's experiences

Abstract

The prevalence of domestic abuse against women has been estimated as high as one in four. The risk is particularly high for women who are younger, economically dependent, unemployed and with children. Research about the factors that maintain situations of abuse has generally focused separately on the coping strategies of women, barriers to leaving the relationship and the perpetrators' means of abuse. In this study we used a community psychology perspective to seek a broader understanding of what maintains situations of abuse, in order to suggest interventions in a rural County in the North of England. Twelve women who had experienced domestic abuse and had used voluntary sector services agreed to be interviewed about their experiences and the resources and strategies available to them. Using grounded theory we generated four themes: (1) Commonalities and contradictions in the experience of abuse; (2) living with abuse; (3) the response of systems reinforced or challenged the abuse and (4) dealing with abuse beyond the relationship. These findings illustrate how situations of domestic abuse can be prolonged by limited options available to victims for support and protection, and a lack of active public acknowledgement that domestic abuse is unacceptable.

Domestic violence and mental health in a Dutch community sample: The adverse role of loneliness

“…Both domestic violence (e.g., Bostock, Plumpton, & Pratt, 2009) and loneliness (e.g., Stroebe, Stroebe, Abakoumkin, & Schut, 1996) have been topic of community psychology research, yet appear to have been examined in relation to each other only a few times. However, on these occasions, loneliness was primarily considered to act as an outcome of domestic violence and not as a risk factor for maladjustment (e.g., Lauder, Sharkey, Mummery, 2004).…”

Intimate partner violence and women’s health and wellbeing: Impacts, risk factors and responses

“…O ne in four women experience physical or sexual violence, or both, by an intimate partner at some point in their lives (Bostock, Plumpton, & Pratt, 2009). Such violence is associated with a broad range of negative physical and mental health outcomes that lead the victims to seek health-care services at a far greater rate than other women (Roberts, Hegarty, & Feder, 2006).…”

‘I’m not gonna hit a lady’: Conversation analysis, membership categorization and men’s denials of violence towards women

“…This takes us to the paper's second aim, which is to encourage the study of men's accounts of violence based in the naturally-occurring institutional settings in which they are produced, and away from the collection and analysis of experiential narratives elicited research interviews. The majority of research reviewed above involves researchers interviewing men who have admitted the violent or sexual assault of a woman, often their partner (e.g., Adams, Towns & Gavey, 1995;Anderson & Umberson, 2001;Boonzaier, 2008;Bostock, Plumpton & Pratt, 2009;Cavanagh, Dobash, Dobash et al, 2001;Eisikovits, Goldblatt, & Winstok, 1999;McKenedy, 2006;Pogrebin, Stretesky, Unnithan et al, 2006;Wood, 2004). While participants are often drawn from the prison population, or domestic violence programmes, very few analyse, say, the encounters between men and the professionals that deal with them (notable exceptions include Auburn & Lea, 2003;Auburn, Drake & Willig, 1995;Schrock & Padavic, 2007).…”