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Domestic Violence (Frequently Asked Questions!)
Questions and Answers
Q: Is there very much family violence in the United States?
A: Incidents of violence: This is difficult since violence occurs "behind closed doors." However, a national random sample of households (Strauss, Steinmetz, 1980) shows that almost 4% of American families experience violence, which has the statistical probability of inflicting injury or death upon the victim (stabbed, gun used, beat up, punched). 4% of all American households equals over two million persons per year. To date, 1994, statistics show four million victims per year.
If more "common" forms of violence are considered (slapping, scratching, punching, shoving)
then the estimate is 26% of American households experience this (Richard Gelles, 1974).
Such violence often accounts for 50% of calls to police on late-night shifts.
A study in Kansas City showed "domestic disturbance" to be the largest category of police calls. There were 16,000 police contacts for "domestics" in Oakland, California during 1968.
In Santa Barbara, there are around 150 domestic violence calls to police EACH MONTH.
Q: Is this violence "really" serious?
A: Information from the National Victimization Survey indicates that assault by a family member is more likely to cause injury than assault by a stranger.
23 % of stranger assaults involved injury to victim; 57 % of spousal assaults involve such injury. 7 % of stranger assaults require medical attention; 24 % of spousal assaults require such attention.
Information from 256 women who contacted SSW shows women's injuries included: black eyes, bruises, broken teeth, cracked ribs, broken nose, fractured jaw and two women had miscarriages due to violence.
Q: Does a "marriage license" lead to violence?
A: While it is common to hear that a "marriage license is a hitting license," having or not having a marriage license is no protection against violence.
Information from 139 women who came to SSW: 72% married; 14% live-in but not married; 6% separated or divorced.
Q: Do battered women have a lot of kids?
A: Here again there is a common stereotype that battered women have many children. Information from women residing in SSW concluded that 79 % had children, 21 % did not. Of those women who had children, the average was 1-2 children per woman. The stereotype of a woman coming into the Shelter with 6 or 7 children does not hold.
Q: Does violence only happen among poor people or among persons of a specified race?
A: In an effort to "distance" themselves from this problem, many persons will try to make violence the problem of a specific class of persons, e.g., it is just minority persons involved or poor people , involved.
Of the women who have resided in the Shelter: 63 % were Caucasian, 25 % were Latina, 9 % were Black. In relation to the proportion of these individuals in the general Santa Barbara population, there is no difference.
Analysis of 800 police reports from Santa Barbara County 1979-80 concluded the same thing. Representation of each ethnic group was not significantly greater than the proportion in the general population. Also from this information coded from police reports, there is a very small percentage of inter-racial couples represented.
It is clear that women who use the Shelter have "nowhere else to go. " A woman with an independent income might have resources to get out of town, go to a motel, etc. While we would expect that only poor women would use the Shelter, do not mistake it for the two following factors:
1. Yes, women are poor when they are in the Shelter.
2. This does not mean that they have always been poor. Of the 139 women who used the Shelter recently, over 1/4 stated their partners earned over $1,000 per month. While this does not mean that the women were wealthy while living with their mate, it is not correct to imagine that all batterers are unemployed alcoholics. Again, it is a convenient fiction which allows people to dismiss problems which would not pertain to them or their friends.
Q: Do all battered women come from homes where they saw their mothers being hit by their fathers?
A: This is an area where research is just beginning. The "cycle of violence" theory has received great amount of press coverage. In relation to women who are battered, the theory states these women grew up in violent homes and came to "expect" that men would be violent. While this theory makes intuitive sense, it is only a theory.Recent research (e.g., Lenore Walker, Mildred Pagelow, Barbara Star) has been finding that many battered women come from environments where they were protected.
Q: Do all battering men come from homes where they saw their mothers being hit by their fathers?
A: Research concerning men who hit is minimal and inconclusive. Men who hit are not the most helpful of research subjects. Therefore, all that is available is "speculations" and "personal experiences" -- not hard data. What is available, however, seems to heavily support the cycle of violence theory for men.
Finally, the first question of a "hostile" group will be:
Q: You're assuming women are the victims. Don't women hit?
A: Yes, indeed women use assaultive behaviors. Recent research on a national, random sample of households (Strauss, Steinmetz, Gelles, 1980) seems to show that women are as equally likely as men to hit. However, when you look at who gets "hurt" the story changes. Analysis of police reports in Santa Barbara, California indicated that in 90% (in instances where injuries were noted) the injuries were women only. In the remaining 10%, both parties had injuries. In all cases where both parties had injuries, the woman's injuries were more severe than the man's.
Second, there are issues of long-term victimization. When a relationship breaks up, the general finding is that the man will keep his job, the woman will keep the children. 1978 research indicates: 42% of the men who are court-mandated to make child support payments never made one payment; by the end of the first year, fully 62% of men did not make support payments. Interestingly enough, research indicates that poor men are more likely to make continuing child support payments than men with higher incomes.
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