”As mentioned in chapter four, visual media can influence a person’s attitudes toward violence. Choose a violent movie or television show that you watched recently. What impact, if any, did it have on your feelings about violence? Did those feelings cause you to act out in any way ?
Chapter 4
Violence and
Abuse
Violence and Abuse
• Every society tolerates certain controlled
uses of force. For example:
– Spanking misbehaving children
– Playing contact sports
• Violence refers to the interpersonal uses of force that
are not socially sanctioned.
• No gender or life stage is exempt.
• Hate crimes target certain groups of people.
Violence and Abuse
• Assault—intentional use of force to injure another
person physically
– For example: shoving, slapping, punching,
kicking
• Abuse—taking advantage of a relationship to
mistreat someone, often using frequent threats of
force
– For example: spouse abuse, child abuse, elder
abuse
How Violence Affects Health
• Physical injuries range from minor cuts or bruises and
lost teeth to broken bones and firearm or knife
injuries.
– Rape victims may need immediate treatment to
reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections or
unintended pregnancies.
• Psychological damage (i.e., anxiety and depression)
and strained family relationships are also
consequences.
What Causes Violent Behavior?
There is no single cause of violence.
• Contributing factors:
– Exposure to violent media
– Substance abuse
– Frustration
– Psychological problems
– Violence in the home/neighborhood
• Learned behavior—home and media
– Children witnessing acts of abuse or violence
between parents
– Visual media (TV, movies, computer games) often
glamorize violent people.
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Sexual Violence
– Sexual activity gained through force, threat of force,
or coercion
– Rape—sexual intercourse by force or with a person
incapable of legal consent
• In the United States, 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33
men have been victims of an attempted or
completed rape.
• Most female victims are raped by someone they
know.
• Most male victims are raped by strangers and
acquaintances.
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Sexual violence
– Marital rape—refers to the use or threat of
violence against one’s spouse to force sexual
activity
– Acquaintance rape—forced sexual activity that
occurs between unmarried adults who know
each other
– Date rape—forced sexual activity that occurs
between those who are dating
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Sexual violence
– Reporting sexual assault
• Sexual crimes are underreported.
• Shame, embarrassment, and feeling partially to
blame prevent victims from reporting sexual
assaults.
• Victims may fear further victimization and
negative reactions from others.
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Sexual violence
– Reporting sexual assault
• Preservation of all evidence, obtaining medical
attention, and notifying the police is crucial for
prosecuting perpetrators.
• Rape crisis centers assist victims in this process.
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Family Violence
• A pattern of behavior characterized by physical
assaults, psychological abuse, or threats between
family members, intimate partners, or unrelated
people who live together
• Includes spouse, child, and elder abuse
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Family violence
• Intimate partner violence
• This includes actual or threatened physical or
sexual violence as well as emotional abuse by a
current or former intimate partner.
• Acts range from slapping, shoving, and punching
to beating and murder.
• Verbal and emotional abuse usually accompany
physical violence.
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Family Violence
• Intimate Partner Violence
• Contributing factors
– Having a low income
– Being unemployed or in a low-status occupation
– Witnessing violence between parents as a child
– Using alcohol and other drugs
– Having low self-esteem and being highly
dependent on intimate partner
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Sexual harassment
– Intentional use of unwelcome and offensive sexually
related comments or behaviors to intimidate or coerce
others into sexual activity
• Unwelcome requests for dates
• Sexually offensive jokes, lewd comments
• Touching and fondling
– The person should be confronted and told to
discontinue the behavior.
– Legal action can be taken.
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Stalking
– Willful and repeated following and harassing of
another person.
– Most stalkers are lonely men who are emotionally
unstable and have been rejected by their partners.
– Victims experience severe emotional distress and
are at risk of being physically attacked by stalker.
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Community Violence
– Occurs in public settings (i.e., street corners, bars)
– Gangs attract adolescents whose safety,
belonging, and self-identity needs are met by
associating with the gang.
– Gang association increases a member’s risk of
being murdered.
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Institutional violence
– Schools
• Most acts of institutional violence occur in schools.
• Involve attacks on peers, teachers, and school
administrators
• Efforts are underway to identify potential
troublemakers in schools.
• Youth prone to become violent tend to have
difficulty controlling anger, are impulsive, bully
others, and defy authority figures.
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Institutional violence
– Violence on college campuses
• Majority of rapes, robberies, and assaults occur
to students living off campus.
• Associated with use of drugs, especially alcohol,
and the availability of guns
• Security measures may include call boxes, escort
services, improved lighting on campus, and
limited visiting hours in residence halls.
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Institutional violence
– Violence on college campuses
• The Student Right to Know and Campus Security
Act requires administrators of colleges and
universities that receive federal funds to report
information concerning the number of murders,
assaults, rapes, and other specific crimes that
take place on their campuses.
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Workplace violence
– Acts of violence directed towards individuals who
are performing their jobs.
– Psychiatric hospitals and prisons are the most
dangerous workplaces.
– Cab drivers, convenience store clerks, police, and
security guards have a high risk of being murdered
while working.
– Work-related homicides are most likely to occur
during armed robbery in grocery stores, restaurants,
bars, and gas stations.
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Workplace violence
• People who have a high risk of becoming violent in
workplaces include those who have been laid off,
fired, or not promoted, as well as men who:
– Are between 25 and 40 years of age
– Are loners
– Have marital and other family problems
– Appear angry and paranoid
– Abuse alcohol and/or other drugs
– Blame others for their problems
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Terrorism
– Terrorism is intentional violent acts against civilians
to produce extreme fear, property damage, and
numerous deaths.
– Major purpose is to frighten people and make them
feel vulnerable and helpless.
– Arsenal includes bombs, poisonous chemicals, lifethreatening infectious agents, and hijacked airplanes
as missiles.
Major Types of Violence and Abuse
• Terrorism
– Survivors of a terrorist attack often experience
physical as well as long-term psychological
consequences such as post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) and depression.
Assessing Your Risk of Violence
• Family disruption (i.e., separation, divorce, desertion)
• Presence of criminal or drug-addicted parents
• Neighborhood conditions (i.e., high rates of
unemployment)
• Social isolation
• Large number of children in family or presence of
children with special needs
• Schools with poor discipline and low expectations for
student performance
• Availability of alcohol, illegal drugs, and guns
Assessing Your Risk of Violence
• Age (under 25 years)
• Sex (women vs. men)
• Race and ethnicity
– An objective of Healthy People 2020 is to reduce
the homicide rate from 6.1 per 100,000 (the rate in
2007) to 5.5 per 100,000 Americans by 2020.
Preventing and Avoiding Violence
•
•
•
•
•
•
Improved street lighting
Neighborhood watch organizations
Surveillance by closed-circuit cameras
Avoidance of “risky” situations
Avoiding unsafe places
Avoiding use of destructive responses such as angry
verbal exchanges, including insults and name calling,
to manage interpersonal conflicts
Preventing and Avoiding Violence
•
•
•
•
Don’t go out alone at night.
Lock car doors upon entering the car.
Avoid dangerous people.
Display friendly attitude, good manners, tact, and
diplomacy.
• Consider taking self-defense lessons.
Preventing and Avoiding Violence
• Home security measures
– Always lock windows and doors.
– Use the peep hole.
– Get a dog.
– Leave lights and a radio on when you leave the
house.
Preventing and Avoiding Violence
• Community security measures
– Consider moving to a safer neighborhood.
– Avoid isolated places.
– Do not walk, jog, or bike alone, especially at night.
– Wear a whistle to signal an alarm or carry of can of
pepper spray to use if threatened.
– Look alert.
– Park in a well-lit, busy area.
Preventing and Avoiding Violence
• Reducing the risk of violence while in a car
– As soon as you enter your car, lock the doors.
– If you are involved in a minor accident, stay in your
car; call the police, and keep the doors locked and
the windows rolled up until they arrive.
– If someone demands that you surrender your car,
get out of the car and quickly move away from the
area.
– If someone is following you, drive to the police
station.
Preventing and Avoiding Violence
• Workplace safety measures
– Learn your company’s security measures, for
example, the locations of fire alarms so you can
activate one in case of any trouble.
Preventing and Avoiding Violence
• Self-protection
– Attract as much attention as possible if you are
attacked.
– Run away if you feel overwhelmed and frightened.
– Some may choose to fight back.
Reporting Violence
• You should report any attempted or completed crime
of violence by strangers or acquaintances to the police.
• Consider reporting the incident to an agency, such as a
rape crisis center that can assist you in dealing with
legal authorities and medical establishments if you feel
uncomfortable reporting to police.
Across the Life Span
• Child physical abuse
– This includes beating, squeezing, burning,
cutting, suffocating, binding, or poisoning a
child.
– Most acts of violence against children are
committed by parents and other adults the
victims know.
– Children under age 2 are most at risk of dying as
a result of physical violence.
Across the Life Span
• Child physical abuse
• Abusive parents often:
• Have unrealistic expectations and distorted
notions about the causes of their child’s
behavior.
• Are under stress and isolated from others who
could help.
Across the Life Span
• Child physical abuse
– Pedophiles are sexually attracted to and fantasize
about having physical contact with children.
– The child molester acts on sexual urges by having
sexual activity with children.
– Most molesters are heterosexual males who
generally target 8- to 10-year-old girls they
already know.
Across the Life Span
• Child physical abuse
– The abuser is usually known and trusted.
– Incest is sexual abuse by a family member.
– Preventing child sexual abuse involves teaching
children how to recognize and report sexual
abuse.
– Very young children need to learn which parts of
their bodies are private.
Across the Life Span
• Elder abuse
– Elder abuse is physical, sexual, and/or
psychological abuse that occurs in family
settings, hospitals, and nursing homes.
– Abusers are most likely to be spouses or adult
children who care for victims.
– Report situations of elder abuse or neglect to a
local adult protective services agency.
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