Long-Term Physical And Mental Health Effects Of Domestic .
Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and ForensicScienceVolume 2 Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studiesand Forensic Science, Spring 2014Article 55-2014Long-Term Physical and Mental Health Effects ofDomestic ViolenceKavita AlejoSan Jose State UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/themisPart of the Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons,and the Other Legal Studies CommonsRecommended CitationAlejo, Kavita (2014) "Long-Term Physical and Mental Health Effects of Domestic Violence," Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studiesand Forensic Science: Vol. 2 , Article 5.Available at: s Peer-Reviewed Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Justice Studies at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion inThemis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science by an authorized editor of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contactscholarworks@sjsu.edu.
Long-Term Physical and Mental Health Effects of Domestic ViolenceAbstractDomestic violence is an issue affecting people of all ages, races, genders, and sexual orientations. Violenceagainst men and same-sex domestic violence are often considered less of a threat to society and to the peopleinvolved, but it is important to understand that male-on-female violence, female-on-male violence, and samesex violence all involve serious consequences to the victim’s and batterer’s short- and long-term health. Thispaper determines whether men or women suffer from more long-term health problems caused by domesticviolence by comparing the currently published statistics on the prevalence of domestic violence inheterosexual and homosexual relationships, and analyzing the results of existing studies on the short- andlong-term health effects of domestic violence. The findings indicate that although men and women sustainmany of the same injuries, women suffer from more long-term health problems caused by domestic violence.Keywordsdomestic violence, intimate partner violenceThis peer-reviewed article is available in Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic ss1/5
Alejo: Long Term Effects of Domestic Violence82Long-term Physical and Mental Health Effects ofDomestic ViolenceKavita AlejoAbstractDomestic violence is an issue affecting people of all ages,races, genders, and sexual orientations. Violence against menand same-sex domestic violence are often considered less of athreat to society and to the people involved, but it is important tounderstand that male-on-female violence, female-on-maleviolence, and same-sex violence all involve seriousconsequences to the victim’s and batterer’s short- and long-termhealth. This paper determines whether men or women sufferfrom more long-term health problems caused by domesticviolence by comparing the currently published statistics on theprevalence of domestic violence in heterosexual and homosexualrelationships, and analyzing the results of existing studies on theshort- and long-term health effects of domestic violence. Thefindings indicate that although men and women sustain many ofthe same injuries, women suffer from more long-term healthproblems caused by domestic violence.THEMISPublished by SJSU ScholarWorks, 20141
Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science, Vol. 2 [2014], Art. 583IntroductionDomestic violence, also called intimate partner violence,is the verbal, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse of one’spartner. Some define it as violence against women (Kishor &Johnson, 2006). Women are generally perceived as the solevictims of domestic violence and men as the perpetrators (Abbot& Williamson, 1999). However, domestic violence encompassesall genders, races, ages, and sexual orientations. With society’sgrowing acceptance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, andtransgender (LGBT) community, and the increasing awarenessof violence perpetrated by women, the traditional perception ofdomestic violence is slowly diminishing.Gender theories of domestic violence, which describemale dominance and violence through the sociological aspects ofa patriarchal society, were introduced by feminists in the 1960sand continue to be the basis of most people’s views on domesticviolence (Robertson & Murachver, 2007). The gender symmetrytheory of domestic violence, however, states that women are justas likely as men to be violent (Robertson & Murachver, 2007).However, people are reluctant to believe that women are capableof perpetrating such violence, regardless of whether it is in ahomosexual or heterosexual relationship (Tesch, Bekerian,English, & Harrington, 2010). Both men and women can be theperpetrators or victims in heterosexual or same-sex relationships;gender theories of domestic violence are outdated and biased.Domestic violence can cause a number of short- andlong-term physical and mental health problems. Some of thephysical injuries that can occur include cuts, bruises, bite marks,concussions, broken bones, penetrative injuries such as knifewounds, miscarriages, joint damage, loss of hearing and vision,migraines, permanent disfigurement, arthritis, hypertension,VOLUME II 52
Alejo: Long Term Effects of Domestic Violence84heart disease, and sexually transmitted infections includinghuman papillomavirus, which can lead to cervical cancer andeventually death (Abbot & Williamson, 1999; Coker,Hopenhayn, DeSimone, Bush, & Crofford, 2009; McCaw,Golding, Farley, & Minkoff, 2007). Some of the mental healthproblems that can occur from domestic violence includedepression, alcohol or substance abuse, anxiety, personalitydisorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, sleeping and eatingdisorders, social dysfunction, and suicide (Abbot & Williamson,1999; Gerlock, 1999; Howard, Trevillion, & Agnew-Davies,2010; McCaw et al., 2007).Victims of domestic violence, however, are not the onlyones to sustain injuries; their perpetrators sustain self-inflictedinjuries and defense wounds. Taking into consideration bothmale-on-female violence and female-on-male violence, same-sexdomestic violence, and batterers’ injuries, it is likely that bothmen and women sustain a comparable number of physicalinjuries. In heterosexual relationships, women are likely tosustain the more severe physical and psychological injuriesbecause they are the primary victims of domestic violence. Insame-sex relationships, both men and women are likely toexperience similar levels of physical and mental healthproblems. Considering the totality of all relationshippermutations, domestic violence likely causes more long-termhealth problems in women than in men.The goals of this paper are to explore the presence ofdomestic violence in heterosexual and homosexual relationships,examine the effects of domestic violence on short- and long-termhealth, and present potential policies and procedures to combatdomestic violence. These goals will be accomplished byidentifying domestic violence statistics in heterosexual andTHEMISPublished by SJSU ScholarWorks, 20143
Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science, Vol. 2 [2014], Art. 585homosexual relationships, examining the effects of domesticviolence on short- and long-term health of victims andperpetrators, and exploring possible domestic violence treatmentand prevention programs.Prevalence of Domestic ViolenceIn 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO)conducted a worldwide study to determine the prevalence ofdomestic violence against women (Garcia-Moreno, Jansen,Ellsberg, Heise, & Watts, 2006). It aimed to estimate theprevalence of different forms of violence, to assess the healthoutcomes of domestic violence, to identify risk and preventionfactors, and to document the women’s coping strategies.According to Garcia-Moreno et al. (2006), surveys weredone from 2000 to 2003 at 15 sites in 10 countries. Clusters ofsamples were chosen from each site and a total of 24,097women, aged 15 to 49, were interviewed. Each participant wasasked a series of questions about domestic violence: whether apartner had physically, sexually, or emotionally abused them, thelevel of violence involved, and when the abuse occurred. Apsychometric analysis, which assesses a study’s design, validity,and reliability, was then performed. In most sites, they found that30% to 60% of women had been the victims of domestic abuse;the absolute range was from 15% to 71%, with physical andsexual violence being the most common. They determined thatdomestic violence against women is common across the world,that women are more likely to be abused by a partner than by anunknown perpetrator, and that a large amount of domestic abuseis considered to be severe and frequent (Garcia-Moreno et al.,2006).While the WHO study was important, it only focused onVOLUME II 54
Alejo: Long Term Effects of Domestic Violence86women; other studies aimed to determine the rates at which bothmen and women are victimized. The Domestic ViolenceResource Center estimates between 600,000 and six millionwomen, and between 100,000 and six million men, were victimsof domestic violence in 2003. Tjaden and Thoennes (2000)found in the National Violence Against Women Survey that25.5% of women and 7.9% of men self-reported havingexperienced domestic violence at some point in their lives.Unfortunately, only a small percentage of abused men arewilling to speak out in fear of ridicule, social isolation, andhumiliation (Barber, 2008). Therefore, because of the limitedavailability of information pertaining to female-on-maledomestic violence, the statistics are likely underestimated.Fontes and Gelles (as cited in Barber, 2008) suggest thatviolence against men is as prevalent as violence against women,but more research would have to be conducted to verify thoseclaims.Domestic Violence in Same-Sex RelationshipsOwen and Burke (2004) conducted a study to determinethe prevalence of domestic violence in same-sex relationships.They expected to find data supporting other studies, which implysame-sex relationships are more at risk for domestic violencethan heterosexual relationships. They issued 1,000 surveys togay and lesbian residents of Virginia. Only 68 surveys werereturned and 66 were used in the analysis; equal numbers of menand women were sampled. They found that 56.1% of theparticipants had experienced domestic violence in their lifetime;the most common forms of violence were verbal abuse, physicalabuse, and destruction of property. There was no control sample,but they compared their data to that of the National ViolenceTHEMISPublished by SJSU ScholarWorks, 20145
Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science, Vol. 2 [2014], Art. 587Against Women Survey. They determined that domestic violenceposes a bigger threat against men in homosexual relationshipsthan those in heterosexual relationships, but is equally serious forlesbians and heterosexual women (Owen & Burke, 2004).This study could not be generalized because of the lowresponse rate, but other sources, such as the National CoalitionAgainst Domestic Violence, estimate that 25% to 33% of samesex relationships include domestic violence (Peterman & Dixon,2003). Two common impressions of same-sex domestic violenceare that lesbian violence does not occur because women are notviolent, and that heterosexual abuse is more severe than samesex domestic violence (Tesch et al., 2010). Thesemisconceptions can lead people to believe that same-sexdomestic violence does not exist. In fact, many same-sexdomestic incidents do not get reported because of the lack ofsocietal support and for fear of being ridiculed by lawenforcement (Peterman & Dixon, 2003). However, with thegrowing acceptance of the LGBT community, current studies arelikely to be more accurate. Therefore, more studies should beconducted to determine the validity of past studies and to getmore accurate statistics on violence against men.Health Consequences of Domestic ViolenceMany people believe victims of domestic violence arethe only ones to sustain injuries, but their batterers do as well.Gerlock (1999) conducted a study to determine the healthconsequences of domestic violence on victims and theirbatterers. He was also interested in how the participantsperceived their injuries in relation to the violence. For this study,domestic violence was described as the abusive behavior a manuses on his female partner; it included physical andVOLUME II 56
Alejo: Long Term Effects of Domestic Violence88psychological abuse. Gerlock recruited 62 perpetrators and 31 oftheir victims to participate in the study revolving around abatterers’ rehabilitation program. The batterers were asked ifthey had ever received treatment for injuries related to theirviolence and if they felt like their health problems were relatedto their violence. The victims were asked if they had everreceived treatment for injuries caused by domestic violence andif they felt like their health problems were related to the violencethey had experienced. They were all given a mental and physicalhealth questionnaire pertaining to their health care visits in theprevious six months (Gerlock, 1999).Gerlock (1999) found that 63% of the batterers hadbetween 1 and 20 health care visits in the previous six monthsfor physical health problems and 90% for mental healthproblems; 29% believed their health problems were related totheir domestic violence. They were diagnosed with a plethora oflong-term health problems: 50% were diagnosed withmusculoskeletal issues, 8% pulmonary, 10% dermatological,13% gastrointestinal, 14% cardiovascular, 10% neurological,27% with mood disorders, 42% anxiety, 2% psychosis, 2% withpersonality disorders, and 45% with substance abuse. Ei
of domestic violence in 2003. Tjaden and Thoennes (2000) found in the National Violence Against Women Survey that 25.5% of women and 7.9% of men self-reported having experienced domestic violence at some point in their lives. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of abused men are willing to speak out in fear of ridicule, social isolation, and humiliation (Barber, 2008). Therefore, because of .
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