DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AMONG IMMIGRANTS IN USA

Domestic Violence among Immigrants in USA

Domestic Violence among Immigrants in USA

Domestic violence

Domestic violence includes child abuse, elder abuse and intimate partner violence (IPV). It represents both a major human rights abuse and a significant public health challenge, directly affecting millions of immigrant's living in U.S and contributing to violence, adverse health outcomes, lost economic opportunities and substance abuse problems across the nation. Although gang conflict and stranger violence make headlines, the majority of interpersonal violence is domestic violence. IPV is the leading cause of nonfatal injuries among immigrants women in the United States; more than half of women's visits to emergency departments result from domestic violence, and the lifetime risk of IPV for American immigrant women is as high as 50%.

Child and elder abuse represent criminal aggression against dependent infants, children and elderly adults, respectively. IPV is criminal aggression occurring between married or unmarried partners and is defined as physical, sexual or psychological harm by a current or former intimate partner or spouse. In the public health and medical literature, IPV generally excludes dating violence and acquaintance sexual assault. However, some suspected risk factors for dating violence especially in immigrants and IPV (such as age and sex) overlap, and it therefore appears likely that victim populations also overlap. Because intimidation and threats are commonly integral to the pattern of domestic violence, victims are frequently reluctant to speak out. Domestic violence among immigrants includes verbal coercion and the threat of violence, physical assaults and attempted or completed murder. Domestic violence is often systematic a prolonged pattern of violence rather than an isolated incident and frequently is perpetrated in an effort to exert control over the victim (Darves, 1997).

Prevalence and Incidence

There are two ways to measure how common domestic violence is: incidence and prevalence. In the case of domestic violence, incidence is best thought of as the number of acts of domestic violence during a given time in a given population (like immigrants living in U.S). Prevalence is best thought of as the proportion of a population that has experienced domestic violence in a specified time period. If every victim experienced only one act of domestic violence in a year, incidence and prevalence numbers would be the same for that year. However, typically incidence figures are higher than prevalence figures when based on the same data. These are typically calculated on an annual and lifetime basis, so both are presented here (Chang, 2003).

Yearly national estimates of domestic violence are taken from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), an annual national survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2008, the NCVS estimated that there were 593,100 incidents (69,100 against men and 504,980 against women) of violent victimization by an intimate partner in the United States, which translates to an annual incidence rate of less than 1 victimization per 1,000 men age 12 and older and 4 victimizations per 1,000 women age 12 and older. The National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) was a one-time national survey focused on physical violence, sexual assault, stalking, and threats of violence. The NVAWS (conducted from 1994 to 1996) estimated there were ...