Family Violence: An Overview

This brief program looks at the subject of domestic abuse in the U.S., combining dramatizations with comments from professionals at the Children's Institute in Los Angeles and the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect in El Monte, CA. Divided into chapters covering definitions, effects over generations, diversity issues, prevention, and treatment, Family Violence describes how situations can escalate from emotional to physical abuse and eventually enter the typical recurring pattern of violence, remorse, and forgiveness. Viewers learn that this kind of behavior can occur in any family situation, with perpetrators and victims running the gamut: young and old, gay and straight, male and female. Special attention is paid here to problems within immigrant and military families. Immigrant families, especially those from Hispanic cultures, may struggle with different standards for male/female roles in the U.S., while enlisted men and women taught that obedience to power structures is critical to survival may carry that philosophy over into their home lives. Treatment options are briefly discussed, noting the reasons some people might not want to leave an abusive situation for a shelter. Throughout, the tone is compassionate toward those on both sides of the issue, pointing out that abusers typically grew up in abusive situations and their efforts to be controlling may stem from fear of abandonment. Two other volumes are also available in the series, Impact on Children: For Educators and Caregivers and Impact on Children: For Teens. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Puffer-Rothenberg)