Student Research Report: Make a Difference and Stop the Violence
In Spring 2021, students in Dr. Emily Stark’s Research Methods and Design course completed multiple hands-on data collection projects. They were also assigned a blog paper where they discussed one of the topics they chose to research and explained their findings to a general audience. The goal of this was to give students an opportunity to explore a different form of writing from APA-style research papers. Some of these blog papers will be featured here throughout the summer to showcase the students’ findings. Please feel free to contact Dr. Stark through the contact form on this site for additional information about this course or the assignments used.
By Brooke Odland
Domestic violence can be defined as a pattern of coercive behaviors within a relationship that is used against another in an attempt to control or maintain power in a relationship. There are many forms of domestic abuse including physical, emotional, financial, sexual, and psychological actions or threats that influence an individual to act a certain way. When people think of domestic violence, they typically think mainly of physical abuse. This only covers a fraction of what domestic abuse victims go through and many experience multiple forms. The goal of the abuser is to intimidate, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, and/or frighten their victim. Domestic violence occurs across all races, ages, sexual orientations, classes, and genders, as well as all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels, which is why it should be spoken about more.
Domestic violence is not something that is openly talked about, especially if you have experienced it. It is estimated that as many as 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men have experienced some extreme form of domestic violence within a relationship, which may cause psychological disorders, injury, and many other devastating results (Domestic Violence Statistics 2020). The U.S. Department of Justice estimated that the number of domestic violence cases is potentially double the amount of what is reported because of the lack of men reporting their abuse and the fear of what the outcome may be if they do report it (Halket et al. 2014). This is why it’s so important to be aware of what domestic violence is and what the warning signs are so that you can potentially save a life.
In my Research Methods course, some of my fellow students and I conducted a research experiment at Minnesota State University, Mankato to determine college students’ knowledge levels on the topic of domestic violence, personal experiences with domestic violence, and an attempt to decide which gender experiences more domestic abuse. To gather our data, we created a survey with multiple choice and free response questions to see if the participants know what domestic violence is and to get more insight into how common or uncommon domestic violence is in our own communities. We also wanted to spread awareness about domestic violence because it can be hard sometimes to decipher a rare incident from repetitive abuse. We believed straight women were the most likely to experience domestic violence, but there are many factors we didn’t include in our research. Our results concluded that most people believe women experience more domestic violence, but our results also showed that from personal experiences of the participants, there is not one specific gender or sexual orientation that experiences domestic violence more than the others. We did include free response options for some questions, such as why they didn’t report the abuse if they had experienced it, and some of the responses were shocking. Many of the responses were because they didn’t know it was abuse, that they were afraid, and that it would create more problems.
One problem with our research was that the majority of the people who took our survey were straight women, so it was hard to truly compare our results to the rest of the population. Research shows that women are more likely to experience domestic violence, but there are still thousands of men who experience it as well. There is also the problem with under-reporting, in which straight women are far more likely to report a case of domestic violence than men, and domestic violence across all sexual orientations has not been studied enough.
Becoming knowledgeable about domestic violence is important because it can happen to anyone at any time in their lives. It is also important to know the signs because you or someone close to you may be experiencing domestic abuse without even knowing it. Domestic violence does not always happen where we can physically see it, such as physical violence. It can also be hidden and hard to identify at first, even to the victim, and it might just seem normal to them. If you know someone or suspect that someone you know is suffering from domestic violence, you may feel lost on what you can do to help. Knowing what to do in these situations can help to save someone’s life. Some ways you can help a domestic violence victim is by first starting a conversation. An important thing to note is that you should not try to force someone to tell you what is going on. Let the person know you are there for them and that you will be discrete about disclosing what they tell you to others. It is important to remember not to push the potential victim to tell you what is going on because this may result in them not feeling comfortable talking about their situation.
Domestic violence usually gets progressively worse as the relationship goes on. An abuser will rarely quit the abuse because they will do whatever they can, including manipulation and convincing you they will change and that they care about you. If you are in an abusive relationship, there are many resources out there that can help, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. It is important to remember that others want to help you with your situation and to keep you safe. Even if it may feel like things won’t get better, there is always a chance of a brighter future ahead.
Resources
DomesticShelters.org. (2021, February 25). Domestic Violence Statistics. DomesticShelters.org. https://www.domesticshelters.org/articles/statistics/domestic-violence-statistics
Domestic Violence Statistics. Domestic Violence: It's EVERYBODY'S Business. (2020, April 15). https://domesticviolence.org/statistics/
Halket, M. M., Gormley, K., Mello, N., Rosenthal, L., & Mirkin, M. P. (2014). Stay with or leave the abuser? The effects of domestic violence victim’s decision on attributions made by young adults. Journal of Family Violence, 29(1), 35-49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-013-9555-4
Patrick, W. L. (2018, April 9). How Social Stigma Silences Domestic Violence Victims. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/why-bad-looks-good/201804/how-social-stigma-silences-domestic-violence-victims