Summary of Domestic Abuse

Jessica Sewell, Trecia Mayo, Julia Morin, Dionne Spencer, and Amanda Wing

Throughout our research on domestic violence we've discovered that the cycle of abuse is actually a funnel that slowly gets smaller and smaller which represents the positive stages (calm & make up stages) becoming less frequent and the negative stages (tension & explosion) becoming more frequent to where eventually, only the negative stages remain and increase in severity. The issue of domestic violence effects millions of men, women and children everyday. We've learned that a child that witnesses or experiences domestic violence in the home is at risk of enduring a lifetime of psychological, emotional, behavioral and physical impairments -that is- if they survive. Children who experience domestic abuse are also extremely likely to become abusers themselves towards siblings, friends and eventually their adult intimate partners. We are aware that there are certainly exceptions to this point but the fact remains that in order to prevent new generations of abusers, the abuse in the home must cease and children need to be protected. Domestic violence by women towards men and same sex partnerships are becoming more prevalent as well and we believe that education, reporting abuse, and sensitivity training for the authorities in dealing with other types of intimate partner violence are necessary in order for domestic violence to experience a decline in America. We are thankful that there are at least a few online resources that support these groups that are often overlooked but we would also like to see more of a focus on getting help for the abuser; to understand their thinking in order to determine how they can be helped. It was most interesting for us to find that the reasons abused men and women stay with their abusers are fundamentally the same despite their gender.