Domestic violence occurs across the world, in various cultures, and affects people of all economic statuses; Worldwide, domestic violence against women is most common in Central Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Sub-Saharan Africa, Andean Latin America, South Asia, Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa, Northern Africa and the Middle East. The lowest prevalence of domestic violence against women is found in Western Europe, East Asia and North America. In diverse countries there are often ethnic and racial differences in victimization and use of services. In the
United States,
white women and
black women were more likely to be victims of domestic violence assault than were
Asian-American or
Hispanic women, according to a 2012 study. Non-Hispanic
white women are twice as likely to use domestic violence services as compared with Hispanic women. In the United Kingdom there is also much research to suggest that income is closely associated with domestic violence, as domestic violence is consistently more common in families with low income. The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in the United States, 41% of women and 26% of men experience domestic violence within their lifetime. In the United Kingdom, statistics show that 1 in 3 victims of domestic abuse are male. This figure comes from the office of National Statistics, which also states that 1 in 7 men and 1 in 4 women will be a victim at some point in their lifetime. A significant share of domestic violence is committed by
repeat offenders, which were previously released by the
criminal justice system despite posing a risk to the
public safety.
By country The annual reported serious assaults per capita against intimate partners or family members is shown below by country for last available year. Definition of sexual assault differs between countries.
Underreporting Domestic violence is among the most underreported crimes worldwide for both men and women. Financial or familial dependence, normalization of violence, and
self-blaming were found to reduce the likelihood of self-reporting victimization in women. By contrast, fear and avoidance of legal consequences, the tendency to blame their partner, and a narrative focus on their own needs and emotions reduced the likelihood of self-reporting perpetration in men. A 2009 report on domestic violence in
Northern Ireland found that "under-reporting is a concern and domestic abuse is the least likely of all violent crimes to be reported to the police". Male victims are less likely to report domestic violence than female victims, and may face additional gender-related barriers in reporting due to
social stigmas regarding male victimization and an increased likelihood of being overlooked by health-care providers. During lockdown for
COVID-19, some victims were inside their homes with their abusers. They were left without an escape during this period, which further led to underreporting. Activists in China have stated that 90% of domestic violence cases have resulted because of the lockdown. The situation was the same in several European countries struggling with the virus. context (e.g. motivations, fear), disparate
sampling procedures, respondent reluctance to self-report, and differences in
operationalization all pose challenges to existing research.
Normalization of domestic violence in those who experience covert forms of abuse, or have been abused by multiple partners, for long periods of time, reduces the likelihood of recognizing, and therefore reporting, domestic violence. Many organizations have made efforts to use gender-neutral terms when referring to perpetration and victimization. For example, using broader terms like
family violence rather than
violence against women. Findings often indicate that when committing domestic violence, women are more likely than men to be motivated by self-defense and/or retaliation or fear. A 2010 systematic review of the literature on women's perpetration of I.P.V. found that the common motives for female-on-male I.P.V. were anger, a need for attention, or as a response to their partners' violence. It also stated that while self-defense and retaliation were common motivations, distinguishing between self-defense and retaliation was difficult. Another review found than men and women commit equal levels of physical or psychological aggression, and men are more likely to commit sexual abuse, coercive control and stalking. Other research supports Straus's conclusion about female-perpetrated I.P.V. but adds that men are more likely to retaliate for being hit. Straus's research was criticized by Loseke et al. for using narrow definitions of self-defense. Sherry Hamby states that sexual violence is often left out of measures of I.P.V. When sexual violence is accounted for, female perpetrators make up less than 10%. It is generally perpetrated by men against women, and is the most likely of the types to cause trauma bonding and require medical services. A 2011 review by researcher Chan Ko Ling from the
University of Hong Kong found that perpetration of minor partner violence was equal for both men and women but more severe partner violence was far likelier to be perpetrated by men. Hamberger's review in 2005 found that men tend to respond to female partner-initiated I.P.V. with laughter and amusement. Researchers report that male violence causes great fear, "fear is the force that provides battering with its power" and "injuries help sustain the fear." A 2013 review examined studies from five
continents and the correlation between a country's level of gender inequality and rates of domestic violence. The authors found that when partner abuse is defined broadly to include emotional abuse, any kind of hitting, and who hits first, partner abuse is relatively even. They also stated if one examines who is physically harmed and how seriously, expresses more fear, and experiences subsequent psychological problems, domestic violence is significantly gendered toward women as victims. Laws on domestic violence vary by country. While it is generally outlawed in the
Western world, this is not the case in many
developing countries. For instance, in 2010, the United Arab Emirates's Supreme Court ruled that a man has the right to physically discipline his wife and children as long as he does not leave physical marks. The social acceptability of domestic violence also differs by country. While in most developed countries domestic violence is considered unacceptable by most people, in many regions of the world the views are different: according to a
U.N.I.C.E.F. survey, the percentage of women aged 15–49 who think that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife under certain circumstances is, for example: 90% in
Afghanistan and
Jordan, 87% in
Mali, 86% in
Guinea and
Timor-Leste, 81% in
Laos, 80% in
Central African Republic. Refusing to submit to a husband's wishes is a common reason given for justification of violence in developing countries: for instance 62.4% of women in
Tajikistan justify wife beating if the wife goes out without telling the husband; 68% if she argues with him; 47.9% if she refuses to have sex with him.
Women and girls The
UN Population Fund found violence against women and girls to be one of the most prevalent
human rights violations worldwide, stating that "one in three women will experience physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime." Violence against women tends to be less prevalent in developed Western nations, and more normalized in the developing world. Wife beating was made illegal nationally in the US by 1920. Although the exact rates are disputed, there is a large body of cross-cultural evidence that women are subjected to domestic violence significantly more often than men. In addition, there is broad consensus that women are more often subjected to severe forms of abuse and are more likely to be injured by an abusive partner, and this is exacerbated by economic or social dependence. The DEVAW classifies violence against women into three categories: that occurring in the family (domestic violence), that occurring within the general community, and that perpetrated or condoned by the State. Similarly with the DEVAW, it classifies violence against women into three categories, one of which is domestic violence – defined as violence against women which takes place "within the family, domestic unit or within any other interpersonal relationship, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the woman". The Istanbul Convention states: violence against women' is understood as a violation of human rights
and a form of discrimination against women ..." (Article 3 – Definitions). According to one study, the percentage of women who have reported being physically abused by an intimate partner vary from 69% to 10% depending on the country. In the US, it is estimated that intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime. Research by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2017 found that over half of all female homicides are committed by intimate partners, 98% of whom are men.
Femicide is usually defined as the sex-based killing of women or girls by men, although the exact definitions vary.
Feminist author
Diana E. H. Russell first defined the term in 1976 as "the killing of females by males because they are female." Femicides often occur in the context of domestic violence, such as honor killings or dowry killings. For statistical purposes, femicide is often defined as any killing of a woman. The top countries by rate of femicide are
El Salvador,
Jamaica,
Guatemala,
South Africa and
Mexico (data from 2004 to 2009). However, in El Salvador and Colombia, which have a very high rate of femicide, only 3% of all femicides are committed by a current or former intimate partner, while in
Cyprus,
France, and
Portugal former and current partners are responsible for more than 80% of all cases of femicide. Domestic violence against men includes physical, emotional and sexual forms of abuse, including mutual violence. Male victims may be reluctant to get help for various reasons. One study investigated whether women who assaulted their male partners were more likely to avoid arrest even when the male contacts police, and found that, "police are particularly unlikely to arrest women who assault their male partners." The reason being that they "assume that the man can protect himself from his female partner and that a woman's violence is not dangerous unless she assaults someone other than her partner". Another study concluded there is "some support for qualitative research suggesting that court personnel are responsive to the gendered asymmetry of intimate partner violence, and may view female intimate violence perpetrators more as victims than offenders."
Age groups Parents Abuse of parents by their children, also known as child-to-parent violence (CPV), is one of the most under-reported and under-researched subject areas in the field of
psychology. Parents are quite often subject to levels of
childhood aggression in excess of normal childhood aggressive outbursts, typically in the form of
verbal or
physical abuse. Parents feel a sense of
shame and
humiliation to have that problem, so they rarely seek help. Parental abuse has been defined by Cottrell as "any harmful act of a teenage child intended to gain power and control over a parent. The abuse can be physical, psychological, or financial", and often takes places during the teen years (often from 12 to 17), but it can happen earlier than that. The effects of experiencing abuse from one's child can be profound. In the short term, ongoing parent abuse has been found to impact on a parent's and other family members' physical and psychological health, with specific negative emotions such as fear, shame, guilt and despair commonly reported. A child may become abusive if they have suffered some form of abuse themselves, although this may not always be the case. Parent abuse may derive not only from individualized issues, but also from structural societal and cultural factors.
Adolescents and young adults Among adolescents, researchers have primarily focused on heterosexual Caucasian populations. The literature indicates that rates are similar for the number of girls and boys in heterosexual relationships who report experiencing intimate-partner violence (I.P.V.), or that girls in heterosexual relationships are more likely than their male counterparts to report perpetrating I.P.V. Ely et al. stated that unlike domestic violence in general, equal rates of I.P.V. perpetration is a unique characteristic with regard to adolescent dating violence, and that this is "perhaps because the period of adolescence, a special developmental state, is accompanied by sexual characteristics that are distinctly different from the characteristics of adult." Wekerle and Wolfe theorized that "a mutually coercive and violent dynamic may form during adolescence, a time when males and females are more equal on a physical level" and that this "physical equality allows girls to assert more power through physical violence than is possible for an adult female attacked by a fully physically mature man." While the general literature indicates that adolescent boys and girls engage in I.P.V. at about equal rates, females are more likely to use less dangerous forms of physical violence (e.g. pushing, pinching, slapping, scratching or kicking), while males are more likely to punch, strangle, beat, burn, or threaten with weapons. Males are also more likely to use sexual aggression, although both sexes are equally likely to pressure their partners into sexual activities. In addition, females are four times more likely to respond as having experienced rape and are more likely to suffer fatal injuries inflicted by their partners, or to need psychological help as a result of the abuse. Females are more likely to consider I.P.V. a serious problem than are their male counterparts, who are more likely to disregard female-perpetrated I.P.V. Along with form, motivations for violence also vary by gender: females are likely to perpetrate violence in self-defense, while males are likely to perpetrate violence to exert power or control. Other research indicates that boys who have been abused in childhood by a family member are more prone to I.P.V. perpetration, while girls who have been abused in childhood by a family member are prone to lack empathy and
self-efficacy, but the risks for the likelihood of I.P.V. perpetration and victimization among adolescents vary and are not well understood.
Children There is a strong link between domestic violence and child abuse. Since domestic violence is a pattern of behavior, these incidences may increase in severity and frequency, resulting in an increased probability the children themselves will become victims. The estimated overlap between domestic violence and child abuse ranges from 30% to 50%. Today,
corporal punishment of children by their parents remains legal in a majority of countries, but in Western countries that still allow the practice there are strict limits on what is permitted. The first country to outlaw parental corporal punishment was
Sweden (parents' right to spank their own children was first removed in 1966), and it was explicitly prohibited by law from July 1979. As of 2021, corporal punishment of children is banned in all settings, including by parents, in 63 countries.
Same-sex relationships Historically, domestic violence has been seen as a heterosexual family issue and little interest has been directed at violence in
same-sex relationships, but domestic violence does occur in same-sex relationships as well. The
Encyclopedia of Victimology and Crime Prevention states, "For several methodological reasons – nonrandom sampling procedures and self-selection factors, among others – it is not possible to assess the extent of same-sex domestic violence. Studies on abuse between gay couples usually rely on small convenience samples such as gay members of an association." Timothy Laurie and Hannah Stark write that "There has been a persistent erasure of
LGBTQIA+ identities in
heteronormative framings of intimate partner violence, including the exclusion of sexual diversity from formative texts on coercive control." A 1999 analysis of nineteen studies of partner abuse concluded that "research suggests that lesbians and gay men are just as likely to abuse their partners as heterosexual men." In 2011, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the 2010 results of their National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey and report that 44% of gay women, 61% of bisexual women, and 35% of heterosexual women have experienced domestic violence. This same report states that 26% of homosexual men, 37% of bisexual men, and 29% of heterosexual men have experienced domestic violence. In 2014, national surveys indicated that anywhere from 25 to 50% of gay and bisexual males have experienced physical violence from a partner. Some sources indicate that gay couples experience domestic violence at the same frequency as heterosexual couples, while other state that domestic violence among gays and bisexuals might be higher than among heterosexuals, that gays and bisexuals are less likely to report domestic violence that has occurred in their intimate relationships than heterosexual couples are, or that
gay female couples experience domestic violence less than heterosexual couples do. One study focusing on Hispanic men indicated that gay men are less likely to have been perpetrators or victims of domestic violence than heterosexual men but that bisexual men are more likely to have been both. By contrast, some researchers commonly assume that female-female couples experience domestic violence at the same rate as heterosexual couples, and have been more cautious when reporting domestic violence among male-male couples. and these legal prohibitions prevent victims of domestic violence from reporting the abuse to authorities. People in same-sex romantic relationships face special obstacles in dealing with the issues that some researchers have labeled the
double closet. A 1997 Canadian study by Mark W. Lehman suggests similarities include frequency (approximately one in every four couples); manifestations (emotional, physical, financial, etc.); coexistent situations (unemployment, substance abuse, low self-esteem); victims' reactions (fear, feelings of helplessness, hypervigilance); and reasons for staying (love, can work it out, things will change, denial). Studies conducted by Emory University in 2014 identified 24 triggers for partner violence through web-based surveys, ranging from drugs and alcohol to safe-sex discussions. Lehman, however, stated that "due to the limited number of returned responses and non-random sampling methodology the findings of this work are not generalizable beyond the sample" of 32 initial respondents and final 10 who completed the more in-depth survey. Particularly, sexual stressors and an HIV/AIDS status have emerged as significant differences in same-sex partner violence. ==Management==