22SP_SO205A-Sociology of the Family

Also, for those who may not know what I mean by PV, it stands for Partner Violence

Females are more effected by domestic violence than men because of the power imbalance between men and women in society. I believe the patriarchy theory, and this are directly correlated. Wiley describes how violence against women, "largely stems from women's subordinate status in society with regard to men" (Wiley 325). A child could experience many issues after witnessing PV from their parents. Some include poor mental health, disobedience, defiance, and aggression. The common types of mental health issues these children experience are depression and anxiety. Some effects tend to lean on the more physical side such as poor brain development, high heart rates and high cortisol levels. Some resources that can help victims of PV are domestic violence shelters and hotlines/helplines.

A child watching PV play out can be really detrimental for their development. We model our own relationships based of our experiences watching our parents and seeing an unhealthy relationship may give people an unhealthy model to base their own relationships off of. I do not think it would affect one gender more than the other, but I do think that whatever role a parents takes, their child of the same gender could likely model their behavior. For instance, if a woman is constantly verbally abusing her spouse, then her daughter could copy that later in life. We tend to mimic what our parents do, especially when we grow old enough to align ourselves with one of their gender identities.

I think that PV is more focused on helping women more so than men because that is the stereotypical case. However, I do not doubt that PV stems from women abusing men as well. In regard to men being victimized, I feel that they are less likely to reach out for help for a few reasons. One of these being that it might be embarrassing for them. Men are thought to have to be the stronger sex who is more dominant. I think this is why it is so hard for them to get help when they do reach out. I think that more females are victimized because it is an easier story to believe. The women are less scared to speak the truth and I think the world expects it to be women who are victimized. I think that Patriarchy theory could be a cause for this. The men typically make more money, which we have learned makes them have power over the women in the household. This makes sense to be correlated to women being more abused than men.
Issues that could arise from children witnessing PV could be the way that they view relationships. Children who witness PV are more likely to be more aggressive and be involved in PV later on in their own life. For example, a little girls who sees her father abuse her mother might be more likely to get into an abusive relationship with a male. This is because to her, this is normal. A little boy who see his father abuse his mother will be more likely to be the abuser in the relationship because he grew up with that and, again, will think it is normal.
I don't know that it affects either gender more directly, but if I had to choose, I would say men get more mental trauma from watching their mom being abused (for example). I say this because in society today, women are told to speak up and are more welcomed when they are going through something. But men are told to shut up and not say anything. They are told to "Man up" and such, so they internalize their problems, which leads to trauma not being resolved. Women are more likely to get help when they reach out for it, which makes their issues less internalized and manageable.
Some sources to help victims of PV are the police, hotlines, and shelters.

The effects of a child witnessing PV at a young age can result in multiple issues surrounding their psychological development, personal relationships, physical health, and many other aspects that has an impact on their life as they mature. Once older, the effect of witnessing PV at a young age can effect their overall relationships or marriages with their partners, leading to higher chances of them implementing PV in their relationships. Researchers have show that men who witness PV at a young age are triples their chances of resulting to PV, however, research has also shown that women who witness PV at a young age increases their victimization rate. Some resources available to victims of PV are domestic violence shelters, hotlines and helplines, and health professionals and mental health professionals.

I feel females are more victimized than males because males could take advantage of females, and more violence can happen to them. If victimized, I think males are more complicated to be physically assaulted. It would be more psychological damage to them. For children witnessing PV, I feel it depends on what they see and by which parent. Boys can be messed up psychologically if their mom is harming the father, and if the dad is harming the mom, he could gain a bad image of what marriage looks like. For a daughter, she could learn not to trust anyone and fear relationships in the future.

I feel like the act of PV for males is highly unreported which could be a factor in the domestic dispute data collection. However, physical abuse towards females is the majority of physical abuse recorded. There is also more focus as a society to help females with their PV rather than looking into the males side of PV.

Children being exposed to PV can result in multiple long lasting affects. some could be psychologically damaging towards the child's view on relationships. The child could have also been abused in the process and developed anger as a side affect.

There are multiple ways that you can report PV and that can be through family, police, therapy, and many other outlets. even though it is still a very difficult conversation to have its very important to have it.

One of the issues that could arise from a child witnessing partner violence is the belief/assumption that this behavior is normal between two partners. As a child develops, they see and imitate the vast majority of what their parents do. If a child grows up in a household where partner violence is prevalent, they might believe that it is acceptable behavior, as it is what they have grown up with. I don't think one gender would be affected more than the other, but either way the child is exposed to an unhealthy relationship from an early age.

As I study in the psychology class, Bandura's Bobo doll test examine about child's exposure to violence. It said that after an adult punched, kicked, and hit the Bobo doll with hummer, children who had watched that started to do the same actions regardless of gender, the girl was a little bit more than boys. I think the reason why girls are more affected is their way of thinking. As we can see in their way of playing like talking and playing with their doll. It means the media including violence might also be the cause of their violence. For a child, it is the only way to learn how to behave to see what their surrounding person does.

Women are victimized in more domestic violence cases because of their place in society, but that does not mean that men are not and cannot be domestic violence victims. However, I do think the Patriarchy Theory is directly related to this issue. I think both genders would be directly affected by witnessing PV from an early age, but they would be affected in different ways. Female teens are more likely to be depressed and withdraw and male teens are more likely to do things that will get them into trouble. There are both short and long-term effects of children being exposed to PV. Many children will be diagnosed with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or anxiety. In the long run, children who witness PV are more likely to get into abusive relationships.

What i think could arise of children watching PV within any household can bring either a negative or postive aspect. But i think it is more negative than postive because that is all they will know and think that is the way life is supposed to be, more so within their relationships and homes. I think it affects both girls and boys, because for girls they will go find that kind of person to be with and endure the treatment because it is normal. For boys they will turn out to be those men who bring in the violence. But it can be vice versa. But the postive aspect is that they the children turned out to be the opposite of their bring up.

The National Statistics of Partner Violence says that "1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men experience severe intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner contact sexual violence, and/or intimate partner stalking with impacts such as injury, fearfulness, post-traumatic stress disorder, use of victim services, contraction of sexually transmitted diseases, etc. 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. This includes a range of behaviors (e.g. slapping, shoving, pushing) and in some cases might not be considered "domestic violence." I think that women are more victimized than men because it is more heard of, because I feel like women are more likely to tell their story than men, because a man may feel embarrassed. Children who witness partner violence are at risk for long term physical and mental health problems. Children who witness violence between parents may also be at greater risk of being violent in their future relationships. They are even at risk for repeating the cycle as adults. These children may enter into abusive relationships or may even become abusers themselves. For example, a young boy who sees his mother being abused is more likely to abuse his female partner as an adult. And a young girl who grows up in a home where her father abuses her mother is more likely to be sexually abused as a girl who grows up in a non-abusive home.

I think females are victimized more in domestic violence cases more than men because of the Patriarchy Theory. Society pushes men to feel dominate and strong and when they loose these feelings of power they tend to take it out on their female partners in heterosexual relationships. This abuse isn’t always physical. Emotional or mental abuse is more common and less talked about because they are less visible or noticeable to others.

A child who witnesses domestic violence can have a harder time in relationships. This can occur as they juggle the ideas of not wanting to continue the same relationships they have viewed, while that also being the main relationship idea they have encountered.