Domestic violence and anger.

• Author: Christopher, Catherine

What is the relationship between domestic violence and anger? It is commonly thought that people who commit acts of domestic violence against their spouses or intimate partners do so because they are angry. This is not entirely accurate. Anger is not the cause of domestic violence, any more than mental illness, alcohol, or substance abuse is the cause of domestic violence. The presence of anger, mental illness, alcohol or substance abuse is a contributing factor at most. Isolated acts of abuse may appear to take place in anger; however, domestic violence occurs as a result of a complex set of behaviours. Research has confirmed that, for some people, that complex set of behaviours was learned during a childhood in which domestic violence was witnessed. Male children who either directly experienced or witnessed domestic violence are more likely to become perpetrators themselves as adults than male children who had no exposure to domestic violence. Female children who either directly experienced or witnessed domestic violence are more likely to become involved in relationships as adults where they are abused than female children who have had no exposure to domestic violence.

If we accept that people who commit acts of domestic violence are angry at their spouses or intimate partners, the logical question that arises is to ask what the abused spouse or intimate partner did to make the spouse or intimate partner angry. By framing the discussion about domestic violence in terms of anger, the responsibility for the abusive conduct is shifted from the abuser to the abused. The real question is, why does a person who professes to love or care for another person, engage in abusive conduct? (This question was posed by Ann Jones in a documentary entitled When Women Kill, National Film Board of Canada, 1994)

Domestic violence is also referred to as domestic conflict, family violence, spousal assault, or wife abuse, among other terms. Domestic violence may consist of acts of physical, emotional or financial abuse, or any combination of these acts. If an act of abuse occurs more than once in a relationship, then the abusive acts are considered to establish a pattern of abuse. A 1996 survey conducted by Statistics Canada found that one in four women surveyed had been abused by their spouses or intimate partners. The situation is even more dire for Aboriginal women; a 1990 survey conducted by the Ontario Native Women's Association found that eight out of...