While domestic violence is a growing epidemic in the world, inequality is another issue that all nations continue to suffer from. Socioeconomic status heavily influences the family as a group as well as the individual. The gap between the rich and the poor is expanding rapidly in today’s society. Inequality can have various negative aspects on the family including poor health and stress, domestic violence is an issue that also common in these low-income families. Overall domestic violence is an issue within all classes, however different qualities of low-income families tend to make family violence far more ordinary.
Families living in poverty tend fairly different issues from the wealthiest. From the living quarters and neighborhood, to one’s health and how to afford the care one needs. These constant stressors that affect families have been known to lead to other behaviors such as drug use, alcohol abuse and violence. These same stressors that lead to poor health can be associated with domestic violence. In a study, performed by Yoo and Huang in 2012, results show that poor women were more likely to experience domestic violence. However, poor women and children were less likely to be affected by the abuse. Although further research is needed, theorists believe this is due to the fact that children living in poverty are more commonly introduced to other difficulties.
Another article talks about the close intertwined categories of ethnic groups and socioeconomic status. Often times race or ethnicity have been closely connected with socioeconomic status. Therefore, Hispanic women as well as African American women in low income families are more likely to be victimized. Domestic violence in this case could be correlated with the man’s work. Traditionally, men were known for bringing in the money and working extreme jobs, while women were more of homemakers and had more domestic duties. If the man is not bringing in as much money or is not as highly ranked at work, then the man may have the need to exert more power at home using violence (Frias & Angel, 2005).
Furthermore, another study performed Cunradi et al (2000), researchers found that overall in white, black, and hispanic couples, those who live in impoverished areas are more likely to experience domestic violence. Further research was performed to distinguish whether these results hold true for both male to female violence as well as female to male violence. It is commonly known that more females are victimized than males however both types of abuse have been known increase in areas of lower income families.
Overall, socioeconomic status is correlated with many challenges that may contribute to domestic violence. The stressors of the low income environment only contribute to the risk of domestic violence. Studies show that although domestic violence is common in all cultures, low income areas have very high statistics. Regardless of gender, whether the abuse being male to female or female to male, abuse is abundant in any culture. This does not necessarily mean that poverty or any issues with money cause the issue of domestic violence, yet this can be considered a risk factor.
1. Cunradi, Carol B, Raul Caetano, Catherine Clark, & John Schafer. “Neighborhood Poverty as a Predictor of Intimate Partner Violence Among White, Black, and Hispanic Couples in the United States: A Multi Analysis.” Elsevier Science Inc. 10-5 (2000): 297-308.
2. Frias, Sonia, M & Ronald J. Angel. “The Risk of Partner Violence among Low-Income Hispanic Subgroups.” Journal of Marriage and Family 67-3 (2005): 552-564.
3. Hague, Gill, Ravi K Thiara & Atuki Turner. “Bride-price and its Links to Domestic Violence and Poverty in Uganda: A Participatory Action Research Study.” Women’s Studies International Forum 34 (2011): 550-561).
4. Naeem, Farooq, Muhammad Irfan, Qaiser A. Zaidi, David Kingdon, & Muhammad Ayub. “Angry Wives, Abusive Husbands: Relationship Between Domestic Violence and Psychosocial Variables.” Women’s Health Issues 18 (2008): 453-462.
5. Yoo, Jeong Ag & Chien-Chung Huang. “The Effects of Domestic Violence on Children’s Behavior Problems: Assessing the Moderating Roles of Poverty and Marital Status.” Children and Youth Services Review 34 (2012): 2464-2473.
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