One of the secular occurrences inherent in human life is violent behavior, which it manifests itself in human's day-to-day activities through various conducts and events that are either undeliberate or deliberate. When violence manifests itself in the context of a relationship, it becomes domestic violence, which should be viewed from the angled of interaction between predator and the prey. Domestic violence continues to attract the interest of the different group of psychological, social theological and academic interests. These stakeholders together bring a broad range of agendas, opinions, and perspectives to help change human attitudes towards family violence. Despite all these efforts, and increased awareness and care services for victims, domestic violence worldwide shows no signs of ending soon. Many victims of domestic violence suffer in silence due to various reasons, making it hard for them to access much-needed advocacy and support services. Nevertheless, with the growing denunciation of domestic violence, the perpetrators have invented other means to conceal their conducts for them to sustain and protract their ascendency on their prey. Following this discussion, it is essential for psychologists dealing with family violence to look for warning behaviors, sings, and conditions linked with domestic violence and its manifestation as well as the psychological impact of this form of oppression.
Worldview Issues
Domestic violence has been identified as a deleterious psychological and social problem. According to the psychological view, perpetrators of domestic violence are more likely to be suffering from intergenerational violence and be abusing drugs. Besides the psychological perspectives, there are other worldviews which share the same opinion and attempt to shed light on the issues.
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Besides the social and psychological views on the causes of domestic violence, anthropology views that it is acceptable for a male to replicate with one female. This calls for the male to invest heavily in caring and raising the child, and while doing so, they miss many opportunities to grow their reproductive fitness. With all these sacrifices, the male has to make sure that he is investing in his right child (Laws, 2017). The evolutionary theory of anthropology views family violence as conduct that has evolved as a tactic for the male to institute dominance over female sexual assets to ensure female’s offspring are his. Anthropology views domestic violence as a method of creating and maintaining power and control over a partner. If a male dominates a female, there will be lesser probabilities of the female committing infidelity for fear of being assaulted. Nevertheless, a female is at a higher risk of being physically abused if they decide to escape an abusive relationship.
To address this problem, anthropology advocates for a comparative approach focusing on human behavioral variances and the importance of culture in the diversity and difference of moral standards, ideas, and behaviors. This includes pointing out the nature of rational thinking and the way they portray themselves generally. Solutions to domestic violence need to integrate concepts, practices, socio-economic and cultural context (Bartolomei, 2015). In other words, the value one can attach to the idea of violence varies from the importance which it has for people from different traditions and cultures. Therefore, awareness of all the cultural facets is necessary to comprehend the diverse ways in which gender representation and roles creates and recreates stereotypes, concepts, practices visions and perceptions of discrimination and inequality. Anthropologist believes that it is impossible to address the issue of domestic violence only through outlawing it and legal laws (Bartolomei, 2015). Qualifying conduct as illegal and failing to eliminate it from people’s way of life and their mentality will bear any fruits. Therefore, it is vital to identify socio-economic and cultural factors nurturing the culture of violence if the issue of domestic violence is to be solved.
On the other hand, the moral influence theory of atonement is one of the theories that is considered to be old and ranked as the earliest theory. This theory explains that the reason why Jesus came was to bring about restoration to human beings and also instill a positive change towards humanity (Weaver, 2001). This moral theory was expressed through the actions and teachings of Jesus Christ that he hated violence of any kind. Domestic violence is known to go against good morals that were commanded by God. It is within this theory that the death of Jesus is witnessed and was categorized under the catalyst of reform that was going to change the society to live good moral lives of love. The atonement theory is a call to all men to love and care for their wives and for the wives to obey and respect their husband (Weaver, 2001). By doing this, good relations in a mirage will end all domestic violence-related deeds. Therefore, domestic violence is a sin that the lord came to cleanse.
Furthermore, marriage is considered to be the union of two companions, that is the man and the woman who come as one before the eyes of God to form what is known as the creational cosmos (Sandlin, 2016). The marriage is among God’s rules and laws since it is not an optional thing. Marriage is an order from God since the beginning world's creation order. It is expected to be a divine, smooth nature that exists in the cosmos. Since from the beginning, God gave orders to our first parents that they should multiply and take care of his creations since they are considered God's ambassadors in this world. Domestic violence in relation to cosmology destroys the command that God gave about marriage and togetherness. This rule does not apply to man and woman who are separate but its marriage in harmony that fulfills this rule.
Literature Review
Various researchers have come to accept that domestic violence has become a common phenomenon across class, ethnicity, religion, and culture. Various reasons for domestic violence has emerged, psychologist believes that the heinous behavior might have serious consequence on the health outcomes of the victims. Firestone (2012) observes that besides financial elements, domestic violence is substantially caused by psychological problems that should be addressed for the cycle of violence to stop. Psychologically, two emotional dynamics instigate domestic abuse. The destructive thought process and a dangerous illusion between the partners are the two harmful belief structures that set up ground for violence (Firestone, 2012).
Another study performed on 141 respondents established that about 23% of adolescent and adult females have been victims of domestic violence (Sarkar, 2010). Majority of the females were between 30 and 39, and who were found to unmarried and illiterate. Most of the victims claimed that their spouses acted as perpetrators with slapping serving as the physical abuse. The investigators stated that most participants cited lack income, education, and economic opportunities a significant hindrance to overcoming the ordeal. Based on the findings, stakeholders need to implement a multidisciplinary method of empowering females which will consequently lead to the elimination of domestic violence. Nazi and Malik (2018) also found out that physical and sexual abuses had a more disturbing impact on the mental welfare of the victims as compared to psychological and economic violence. According to Nazi and Malik (2018), the majority of women are domestically abused due to the lack of awareness regarding their legal rights, social restrictions, and duties about marital relationships. All these studies shed light on the psychological effects of domestic violence, calling for an immediate solution.
Biblically, society needs to come out clean and dialogue about domestic violence in relation to gender, marriage, and power among the Christians. According to the Bible, domestic violence or any form of violence is considered a sin to God and against humanity at large. The Bible has many instances where God is condemning violence of any kind. Many are the times where violence is linked to wickedness and all other dirty doings. For example, in the book of Duet 22:26 about the laws of the Jews, rape was equally compared to murder, and it was a sin. In the New Testament, Jesus came to show that those in power should stop oppressing the powerless since it is the act of participating in violence.
Personal Theory
Theories are instrumental particularly when it comes to the explaining domestic violence. Theories give different approach on responses required in tackling the issue of domestic violence. They are also relevant since they offer a common understanding of the issue at hand because if the issue is not understood then responding to the problem will not be efficient and persistent conflicts are likely to emerge. A good theory must be supported by legitimate evidence. All the theories are meant to get to the bottom of the situation which is, in this case, domestic violence and know the causes and response to take.
A compelling theory that can best be used to understand domestic violence is the psychosocial theory. Human behaviors are a product of extended developmental processes by which children study the kind of occurrences to expand, how to react and what consequences will be. Children whose up bring environment is characterized by violence are likely to grow knowing that violence is the order of the day. However, this argument does not explain the causes of domestic violence sufficiently since two persons might have been brought up in the same backgrounds, but their adult behavior might differ. This is because their experiences are subject to change due to injuries, experiences, hormone activity, and psychoactive chemicals.
Even with all those findings, the explanation for violence is still a mystery. The mix of experiences during upbringing will differ from one culture to another. Besides one’s childhood, different cultures punish or reward violence differently considering its purpose and the pre-existing relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. Therefore, my theory believes that domestic violence is a product of diverse factors emanating from an individual’s hormonal and neurological differences, psychosocial development, and social processes. It is paramount for stakeholders to identify possible root cause of domestic violence and their respective preventive interventions stage by stage just in the same manner as above.
Conclusion
The examination of different causes of domestic violence mirrors domestic violence as a manifestation of historically uneven power relations between females and males. The trend has led to discrimination against or domination over against females by males or vice versa. Domestic violence, especially against women throughout the life cycle, stems from cultural configurations. These include the harmful effects of some sex, religion, language or race which propagate the subordinate status accorded to females in the society. This study has provided numerous theories, as well as, some studies that have tried to explain the development, existence, sustenance, and interventions of domestic violence. It is vividly clear that no single research or theory of and in itself can claim that it is sufficient to address this occurrence. Diverse factors can claim responsibility in Domestic violence, which includes complex thinking patterns and behaviors, interactions among individuals, personal psychologies and interaction among systems.
References
Firestone, L. (2012). Why domestic violence occurs and how to stop it. Psychology Today . Retrieved on 16 February 2019, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/compassion-matters/201210/why-domestic-violence-occurs-and-how-stop-it
Laws. (2017). Possible anthropological causes for domestic abuse. Laws.com . Retrieved on 16 February 2019, fromhttps://marriage.laws.com/domestic-violence/domestic-abuse-studies/possible-anthropological-causes-for-domestic-abuse
Bartolomei, M. R. (2015). Domestic violence and human rights: An anthropological view. University of Macerata . Retrieved on 16 February 2019, fromhttp://www.scielo.mec.pt/pdf/aeq/n31/n31a08.pdf
Weaver, D. J. (2001). Violence in Christian theology. Cross Currents, 51 (2).
Sandlin, A. (2016). Marriage: Communion, community, cosmology. Christian Culture . Retrieved on 16 February 2019, fromhttps://docsandlin.com/2016/08/07/marriage-communion-community-cosmology/
Nazi, S. & Malik, N. I. (2018). Domestic violence and psychological well-being of survivor women in Punjab, Pakistan. Journal of Psychology and Clinical Psychiatry, 9 (2), 184-189.
Sarkar, M. (2010). A study on domestic violence against adult and adolescent females in a rural area of west Bengal. Indian J Community Med. 35 (2), 311–315.
