S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (2003) reports that nearly 31 percent of American women report being victims of domestic violence at some point during their lives. Estimates range from 960,000 incidents of violence against a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend each year to 4 million women who are physically abused by their husbands or live-in partners each year. Further, child abuse is said to occur in 30 to 60 percent of domestic violence cases with about 93 percent of all domestic violence incidents being committed by men.
Rennison (2001) reports that substance abuse (usually alcohol) often occurs concurrently with incidents of domestic violence. However, this does not mean that substance abuse causes the violence. Indeed, Fazzone, Holton and Reed (1997) report that while substances such as drugs and alcohol can increase the risk and severity of domestic violence as well as how often it occurs, alcohol and drugs are not causative factors in domestic violence. As to causative factors, Deaton and Hertica (2001) state that research indicates that domestic violence is a learned behavior. Specifically, the authors report that about 85 percent of those convicted of domestic violence grew up in households where they witnessed their mother being abused by a male partner.
Deaton and Hertica (2001) also note that those who batter their spouse are likely to batter their children as well. However, the authors also report that there is a certain psychopathology involved as well in that men who commit domestic violence tend to have low self-esteem, are very insecure, and tend to be emotionally manipulate. In addition, they have poor verbal communication, a need to dominate, dual personality, lack of assertiveness, strong adherence to traditional
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