Violence and the Family Life Cycle

This paper presents special issues that are present when working with a violent family. Violence in the home affects family relationships, family cycles, and social interactions. When working with this population, the practitioner faces issues such as the social acceptance of violence and its intergenerational transmission, interrupted interpersonal relationships, and safety issues with the prevalence of referring to the legal mandate to report child abuse.

Interventions aimed at assisting families with this type of violence must begin by addressing social accountability, since it is the social tolerance of abuse that is handed down from one generation of families to another. McGoldrick, Nose, and Potenza (?) pointed out that while violence is a danger faced by everyone, the irony is that the real danger lies in the home. There is a greater likelihood of being physically assaulted, beaten, or killed in the home, than anyplace else, and this injury is inflicted by a loved one.

Practitioners must also be aware of the tendency for family violence to be passed from one generation to the next. Heyman and Slep (2002) noted that the cycle of violence is generational. Their study showed that frequency of family-of-origin violence was a predictor of adulthood child and partner abuse. Thus victimized children tend to grow up and victimize others.

Interpersonal violence and abuse between relatives is a cause of morb

. . .
. While much of this abuse does not result in serious injury, 50% of homeless women and children are fleeing abuse and it is estimated that two million reports of child abuse are noted each year. Five children in the United States are estimated to die each day due to the abuse and neglect of parents. Men who batter their wives may abuse their children. Thus in battering marital relationships, child abuse is a danger that must be particularly assessed. In fact danger to the child is frequently cited as the reason that the battered woman finally left their abusive husband (McGoldrick, Nose, and Potenza ). The assessment of a child's safety requires a particular set of skills as well as knowledge related to working with this type of family. For example, since parents may not always be upfront with information regarding the dangers that their children face in the home, the therapist must be aware of norms regarding child behavior and must be aware of behaviors that may be an indication of sexual victimization or physical abuse. A detailed history of the child's behavior will need to include reports from schools and previous medical visits. Confidentiality issues and their limits must be discussed with families from the begi
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Nose Potenza, Heyman Slep, Life Cycle, Potenza Beyond, Potenza Considering, Potenza Family, Potenza Treatment, Eyler Cohen, McGoldrick Eds, mcgoldrick nose, nose potenza, McGoldrick Nose, mcgoldrick nose potenza, violent family, family violence, child abuse, family life cycle, family life, life cycle, eyler cohen 1999, relationships family, abuse children, cohen 1999, practitioner dealing violent, nose potenza family,
Approximate Word count = 1426
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Violence and the Family Life Cycle