intimate partner violence chie maekoya

Chie Maekoya
Tokiwa International Victimology Institute

11th Asian Post Graduate Course on Victimology and Victim Assistance1












What is intimate partner violence (IPV)?
Who are the victims of IPV?
What is the dynamic between offenders and
victims like?
What are the impacts of IPV on victims and their

children?
How do victims respond to their victimization?
Unique aspects of IPV (Women who use violence
against their partners)
Effective psychological intervention

2

Definitions
A pattern of behaviors where one partner
tries to maintain control over the other
through the use of physical force,
intimidation and/or threats.
Intimate Partner: current or former
spouses, boyfriends, and girlfriends

3

Physical 　　
kicking, grabbing, punching, shoving,

slapping, pushing, burning, biting, choking,
use of weapons
 Sexual
forced or pressured sexual acts, criticizing
her/his body parts and rape (even if
married)
 Emotional
excessive jealousy, making the victims feel
crazy, isolation from family and friends,
making the victim feel worthless and
threatened


4

Verbal
name calling and put-downs, yelling,
blaming, minimizing, denying abuse
 Spiritual
attacking the victim’s spiritual or religious

beliefs or misquoting the scripture to justify
the abuse
 Financial/ economic
controlling the victim’s economic status and
basic needs, withholding money and
prohibiting the victim to work


5







Destructive acts
destruction of victim’s property,
vandalism and harming or killing pets.
Homophobic

threatening to reveal the victim’s sexual
orientation
Immigration
using fear of deportation

6

Males or Females?
Percentages of males and females who
report their experience as victims
 In the USA (in their lifetime):
7.3% males vs. 21.7% females
(Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000)

 In Japan (in their lifetime):
17.4% males vs. 33.2% females
　

(Gender Equality Bureau, 2006)

7

Female victims experience more negative impacts
by their partners’ violence compared to male
victims (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000).
Females are more likely to …
◦sustain injury
◦receive medical help
◦be hospitalized
◦receive counseling
◦loose time from work
◦report incident to the police
8

Countries?
 The World Health Organization (WHO)
(2005b) measured the prevalence of IPV
including physical, sexual and emotional
violence in 10 countries. They focused on
only violence against women.



Although there were some differences
among countries, the results revealed that
IPV was widespread all over the world.
9

(WHO, 2005)
10




Physical violence by a male partner: ranged from 13% in Japan to 61% in Peru.
Sexual violence by a male partner: ranged from 6% in Japan to 59% in Ethiopia.

(WHO, 2005)

11

(WHO, 2005)



In all countries, the interviewer was frequently the first person that the
abused women had ever talked to about their partner’s physical violence .
12



“My husband slaps me, has sex with me against
my will and I have to conform. Before being
interviewed I didn’t really think about this. I
thought this is only natural. This is the way a
husband behaves” (by women interviewed in
Bangladesh).



“I did not know where I could go for help. Now I

know where I can go. I was looking for such
places. It is good to address these types of issues
in a survey” (by women interviewed in Japan).
(WHO, 2005)

13



Cycle of violence (Walker, 1979)
It consists of three phases

 Tension building phase
 Acute battering phase
 Honeymoon phase
The dynamics of violent relationships between an
offender and a victim is complex and makes it
difficult for a victim to leave a violent situation.

14

Offenders

hitting, humiliating, rape,
verbal abuse etc.

Victims

Acute Explosion

protect self, call police,
try to calm offender,
try to reason, fight back, leave

Tension Building
Denial
Offenders

moody, nitpicking, put-down,
yelling, threatening,

withdraw affection, criticized

Victims

nurturing, stay away from
family/friends, agree, try to reason,
cook partner’s favorite foods,
feel of walking on eggshells

Honeymoon
Offender

“I am sorry”, “I‘ll never do it again”,
beg forgiveness, cry, declare love
Promise to get help

Victims

agree to stay, return to offender
attempt to stop legal proceedings

feel happy/ hopeful
15

Effects of violence on victims
◦ Depression
◦ Anxiety
◦ Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
◦ Suicidal ideation
(Pico-Alfonso et al, 2006)

Long term mental health risks
Five years later they are likely to have …
 greater degree of depressive symptoms
 functional impairment
 low self- esteem
 less life satisfaction
(Zlotnick et al., 2006)
16

Effects of violence on children
The effects on children who witness violence
between their parents are also serious and various.
Those children are likely to …
◦ withdraw, being depressed and get involved with
delinquent and aggressive behaviors (Clarke et al., 2007).
◦ Get involved with bullying behaviors which are both
offending and victimization (Baldry, 2003).
 Being maltreated & witnessing of IPV in childhood
can increase the risk of women being victimized later
in adulthood (Renner & Slack, 2006).
 Abused women tend to abuse their own children
(Coohey & Braun, 1997).

17





An abusive behavior is handed down from generation
to generation as an appropriate way to deal with
conflict
This theory does not suggest that battering tendencies
are inherited; rather, they are experienced.
Witness violence
between parents
Being abused by
parents
In childhood




Learn violence
Becoming an abusive
adult

In adulthood

Violence facilitates more violence.
Cycle of violence occurs across generations.
18












Fear
Low self-esteem
Recognition toward violence
Feeling toward partner
Lack of resources
Childcare need
Financial problems
Social embarrassment
Poor social support
Hopes things change
19

Battered women syndrome
Describe a pattern of psychological and behavioral symptoms
found in violent relationship.
Four psychological stages of battered women syndrome.
 Denial: refuse to admit that she has been victimized or there
is a problem.
 Guilt: acknowledge and recognize that there is a problem, but
still consider herself responsible for it.
 Enlightenment: no longer assume responsibility for her
husband. Recognize that no one deserves to be victimized.
 Responsibility: accept the fact that her partner will not/
cannot change. No longer submit to it and start a new life.
choose to take necessary step.

20



Learned helplessness (originally this concept
was created by Seligman)
it occurs when victims believe that they are
powerless and not able to escape from their
abusers and it results in them staying in
violent relationships.



Try to resolve these abusive situations by
separating, reporting the case and seeking
help (Ruiz-Perez et al., 2006).
Becoming aggressive (Hamberger, 1997; Richardson,



2005).
21




There is no single profile of a battered woman.
Each individual is different in…

◦ emotional reaction (fear, anger, sadness)
◦ beliefs and attitudes about self, other and the world
◦ symptoms of psychological distress or dysfunction.



Their responses depends on…

◦ victimization
◦ victims
◦ context or environment in which victimization
occur, victims respond to, heal from, and based on
social class, culture, social support (Dutton, 1996)

22



Historically, victims of IPV have been viewed
stereotypically.
Females → 　 helpless victims in IPV
Focus of research ： female victims ＆ male offenders
(Frieze, 2005; Robertson & Murachver, 2007).

IPV has been considered as violence from males to female
partners.
This perception begun to be changed after the 　　　
　　　　 first U. S. National Family Violence Survey in 1975.


“Females were as violent as males were.”
(Frieze, 2005; Carney et al., 2007)

23



Bi-directional violence
Violence is initiated by both partners.



Mutual violence
The more their partners use violence against
female victims, the more female victims use
violence against their partners and vice versa.
→ Violence is escalated.
(For example. Graham-Kevan & Archer, 2005; Hamberger & Guse,
2002; Hendy et al., 2003; Hughes et al., 2007; Swan et al, 2005;
Swan & Snow, 2003)
24

Here are some facts…
 Mutually mild violence was the most common form of
violence (Williams & Frieze, 2005).
 Females’ use of violence and their partners’ use of violence
appeared to be parallel (Orcutt et al., 2005).






Being involved with a violent male partner
→ 　 Reinforces females’ aggressive tendencies & amplify
their likelihood of being offenders of IPV
Being involved with a nonviolent male partner
→ 　 Reduces females’ violent tendencies
(Herrera et al., 2008)
Females experiencing both offending & being victimized
behavior are more vulnerable than females experiencing
only being victimized (Orcutt et al., 2005).

25



Both males and females likely use violence as a
means to achieve their goals, but females are
mostly unsuccessful in achieving their goals
(Dasgupta, 2002).

Motivations
 Both genders
◦ controlling their partners 　 (Hamberger et al., 1997;
Dasgupta, 2002)

26



Males
◦ trying to establish long-term authority (Dasgupta, 2002).
◦ punishment their partners’ unwanted behaviors
(Hamberger et al., 1997).



Females
◦ trying to establish short-term security (Dasgupta, 2002).
◦ Self-defense (Swan & Snow, 2003).
◦ Retaliation for prior physical and emotional violence from
their partners, and escape from their male partners’
violence (Hamberger et al., 1997).

27





Using violence for self defense:
◦ may be effective for some victims in stopping the violence
from their partners (Swan & Snow, 2003).
◦ makes their situations worse and they may end up being
more vulnerable.
 Offenders’ violence get worse
 Victims receive more severe injuries and injuries likely
to be sustained
(Bachman & Carmody, 1994; Langhinrichsen-Rohling
et al., 1995; Orcutt et al., 2005)
Even though females use minimal violence against their
partners who use violence, male partners respond with
much more severe violence (Downs et al., 2007).
28



Four non violent strategies that female victims can use to
protect themselves in violent situations (Downs et al., 2007)
◦ Separating themselves from their partners by running
away or locking themselves in a room
◦ Threatening to call for help such as to the police
◦ Talking the partners out of perpetrating the violence
◦ Obeying their partners’ demands.
↓ 　 If those strategies do not work…
◦ Use violence
 Usually, it results in the escalation of violence from their
partners.
 Nonviolence strategies generally appear to be the safest
and effective option.

29

Effective Intervention (Ananda et al., 2007)
Exposure therapy, cognitive therapy, anxiety management,
psychoeducation


Psychoeducation
Victims often have maladaptive coping strategies, confusion and
self-blame. 　
↓
◦ Provide accurate information about
 their victimization
 typical responses
 educate healthy vs. unhealthy coping strategies (teach
adaptive coping techniques.)
Empowerment
 Give appropriate referrals

30



A condition surrounding violence may be different in each
community and country because of different social
situation, economies, perceptions about violence and other
factors; however, it is true that violence is not an
acceptable behavior and it facilitates many negative
consequences.



Most of what I have mentioned about today is basically
based on facts that were found in the studies done in high
income and greater gender equality countries. There might
be something similar and different in your countries. I hope
you have found something you can apply to your
community/ country or come up with new ideas to help
victims.

31



I personally believe that education is really important in
order to raise the awareness that violence is not acceptable
as the first step to reducing this kind of victimization.

32

Thank you for your attention!!
Chie Maekoya (maekoya@tokiwa.ac.jp)

33