Although family violence has received much attention since the 1970s, families were violent long before scholars began studying family violence and the public began hearing about it. We can divide family violence into two types: violence against intimates (spouses, live-in partners, boyfriends, or girlfriends) and violence against children.

Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence – or violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner – is a pervasive issue in the United states that shows little sign of abating. Intimates commit violence against each other in many ways: they can hit with their fists, slap with an open hand, throw an object, push or shove, or use or threaten to use a weapon. When all of these acts and others are combined, we find that much intimate violence occurs. While we can never be certain of the exact number of intimates who are attacked, the U.S. Department of Justice estimates from its National Crime Victimization Survey that almost 600,000 acts of violence (2016 data) are committed annually by one intimate against another intimate; 85% of these acts are committed by men against women (Rand, 2009). According the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 27% of women and 11% of men have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime (2018). These figures indicate that intimate partner violence is very common and affects millions of people.

Some observers claim that men are just as likely as women to be beaten by a spouse, and there is evidence that mutual violence does occur. Yet this “gender equivalence” argument has been roundly criticized. Although women do commit violence against men, their violence is typically less serious (e.g., a slap compared to using a fist) and often used in self-defense.

Why do men hit their partners? As with rape, sociologists answer this question by citing both structural and cultural factors. Structurally, women are the subordinate gender in a patriarchal society and, as such, are more likely to be victims of violence, whether it is rape or intimate violence. Intimate violence is more common in poor families. Economic inequality may lead men to take out their frustration over their poverty on their partners (Martin, Vieraitis, & Britto, 2006).

Cultural myths also help explain why men hit their wives and girlfriends (Gosselin, 2010). Many men continue to believe that their wives should not only love and honor them but also obey them. If they view their wives in this way, it becomes that much easier to hit them. In another myth many people ask why women do not leave a violent household. The implication is that the violence cannot be that bad because they do not leave home. This reasoning ignores the fact that many women do try to leave home, which often angers their partners and ironically puts the women more at risk for being hit, or they do not leave home because they have nowhere to go (Kim & Gray, 2008). Battered women’s shelters are still few in number and can accommodate a woman and her children for only 2 or 3 weeks. Many battered women also have little money of their own and simply cannot afford to leave home. The belief that battering cannot be that bad if women hit by their husbands do not leave home ignores all of these factors and is thus a myth that reinforces spousal violence against women.

Dating Violence on Campus

Because intimate partner violence is so common, it is no surprise that much of it occurs among college students. Some studies suggest that one-fifth of intimate relationships on campus involve at least some violence. Young people (aged 16–24) report the highest rates of domestic and dating violence in government surveys. As one advocate of programs to end dating violence observes, “It’s incredibly common both at the high school and college levels” (Kinzie, 2010, A9).

Child Abuse

One of the hardest behaviors to understand is child abuse, which can be both physical, psychological, or sexual in nature. Children can also suffer from emotional abuse and neglect. It is especially difficult to know how much child abuse occurs. Infants obviously cannot talk, and toddlers and older children who are abused usually do not tell anyone about the abuse. They might not define it as abuse, they might be scared to tell on their parents, they might blame themselves for being abused, or they might not know whom they could talk to about their abuse. Whatever the reason, they often remain silent, making it very difficult to know the rate of abuse.

Using information from child protective agencies throughout the country, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found in 2015, that over 680,000 children were victims of child abuse and neglect, or 9.2 per every 1000 children (2017). Victimization falls primarily into the category of neglect, with 75.3% of child victims experiencing neglect. Of the remaining child victims, 17.2% were physically abused, 8.4% were sexually abused and 6.9% experienced other forms of maltreatment (U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, 2017). The youngest children are the most vulnerable, as shown below in Table 12.9 “Victims by Age, 2015.”

Table 12.9 Victims by Age, 2015

Source: Data from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau (2017). Child Maltreatment 2015. Retrieved from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/research-data-technology/statistics-research/child-maltreatment

Obviously this is just the tip of the iceberg, as many cases of child abuse never become known. A 1994 Gallup Poll asked adult respondents about physical abuse they suffered as children. Twelve percent said they had been abused (punched, kicked, or choked), yielding an estimate of 23 million adults in the United States who were physically abused as children (Moore, 1994). Some studies estimate that about 25% of girls and 10% of boys are sexually abused at least once before turning 18 (Garbarino, 1989). Whatever the true figure is, most child abuse is committed by parents, step-parents, and other people the children know, not by strangers. In 2015, 91.6% of victims were maltreated by one or both parents (U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, 2017).

Why does child abuse occur? Structurally speaking, children are another powerless group and, as such, are easy targets of violence. Moreover, the best evidence indicates that child abuse is more common in poorer families. The stress these families suffer from their poverty is thought to be a major reason for the child abuse occurring within them (Gosselin, 2010). As with spousal violence, then, economic inequality is partly to blame for child abuse. Cultural values and practices also matter. In a nation where many people think spanking is sometimes necessary to discipline a child, it is inevitable that physical child abuse will occur, because there is a very thin line between a hard spanking and physical abuse. As two family violence scholars once noted, “Although most physical punishment [of children] does not turn into physical abuse, most physical abuse begins as ordinary physical punishment” (Wauchope & Straus, 1990, p. 147). In addition, alcohol and drug abuse by parents are significant risk factors for children. For instance, of child victims less than a year old, 2.5% were reported with the alcohol abuse child risk factor and 9.8% were reported with the drug abuse risk factor (U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, 2017).

Key Terms

Child abuse — physical, psychological, or sexual mistreatment of a child, which can include harming a child through neglect.

Intimate partner violence – violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner.