Psychological Impact Of Domestic Violence On Gay Couples

Prevalence of Domestic Violence in Gay Couples

The focus of this research lies on identification of the psychological impact caused due to domestic violence in gay couples. The concept of domestic violence is prevalence in all types of relationship. It is present between the couples of opposite sex, gay couple, lesbian couple or even among the transgender couples. Domestic violence have impacts on both physical and psychological grounds (Ford et al 2013). However, the most commonly identified domestic violence is the one that occurs between the opposite sex couples; especially the violence brought upon the woman by their male counter part. Domestic violence occurred in same sex or transgender couples are less known, hence, impact of the violence is also largely unknown. Despite the legalisation of same sex marriage in a number of countries around the globe, the countries fail to identify the need of legislative guideline for safeguarding the interest of the couples involved in that kind of marriage. This can be attributed as one of the significant reasons that limits the awareness or same sex domestic violence. Less availability of legislative guideline for identifying domestic violence between gay couple causes in increased severity of the cases. Effects are likely to be similar to the ones that occurs between the couple of same sex, if not more intense due to the absence of legal notification (Cannon 2015). The proposed research will work towards identification of life lasting psychological impact caused by the domestic violence among gay couples. The proposal examines the existing literature on the topic identifies the research methodology required for generating desirable outcomes.

Primary aim of the research is to identify the psychological effect of domestic violence among the gay couples. This can be considered as a sever issue as the gay couple receive less legal safety from any government that can identify the violence. Hence, lack of evidence supplements in increasing the intensity of the violence. Secondly, research will focus on identification of common psychological issues faced by the victims. Third aim is to identify the intensity of the psychological impact will also be determined in the research and lastly to understand the occurrence of the issue in different age groups. Experience of the individual involved can help in understanding their perception.

• To identify the psychological impact of domestic violence among the gay couple
• To identify the commonly occurred psychological issues among the victims
• To identify the severity of the issue among the gay population
• To identify the occurrence of the issue among different age group

• What are the psychological effect of domestic violence in gay couples?
• What are the commonly psychological issues faced by the victims caused by domestic violence?
• What is the severity of these issues among the gay population?
• What age group suffers the most from domestic violence?

Domestic violence as defined by Oram et al (2013) is the unhealthy atmosphere faced by the victims in their homes caused by their partners of any other family member who so ever. The odes of violence can vary over a wide range; however, the consequences are mainly physical injury or the mental harm. The authors also stated the psychological severity greater compared to the physical one and identified it as long lasting compared to the physical one. Dillon et al (2013) on the other hand prioritised both as one results into another. Mental issues can lead to poor health condition. They additionally identified that the major psychological issues among the victims are depression, PTST, anxiety, self-harm or ever insomnia. Many of this results in to fall of physical health conditions of the victims.

Psychological Impact of Domestic Violence on Victims

Domestic violence among the same sex couples and transgender is equally devastating in the society as in case of the opposite sex. However, this is less prioritised in the society. This statement can be supported by the work of Ahmed, Aldén and Hammarstedt (2013), which had been conducted on the undergraduate students of Sweden University students. Results evaluated in their study reveals that the people perceive negative attitude towards the domestic violence brought upon the above mentioned that result into less concern about the issue. Milletich et al (2014) on the other hand argued that the violence is the result of the perpetration of dominance. This greatly takes place as physical violence that leads to the psychological issues faced by the victim in the relationship. Psychological tortures are also prevalent among the couples from the same sex that is the result of homophobia and/or dominance. Another study conducted by Finneran and Stephenson (2013) on gay and bisexual men reveals that the perception of the target population towards the usefulness of police is minimal. According to their experience, the domestic violence issues communicated by the gay victim to the police is stereotyped and less prioritised compared to the opposite sex couples. The study further expresses concern about the available laws fro safeguarding the individuals involved in the violence.

Lagdon, Armour and Stringer (2014) conducted their secondary research to identify the impact of intimate partner violence in general. The results identified that severity of the psychological impact on the victim from domestic violence is far greater compared to the physical one and considered to be long lasting. The results also communicates that the psychological trauma associated with IVP are largely restricted into the sever form of anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder, which are more intense and long lasting compared to other causes of the same. Moreover, a number of variables like prior experience of violence or gender also plays active role in determining the intensity of the violence. Calton, Cattaneo and Gebhard (2016) on the other hand identified that one in every five same sex couple go though IPV; whereas one in every four opposite-sex couple face the similar issue. The number however, does not communicates the actual intensity of the issue as the LGBT couples undergo various barriers in seeking shelter to overcome the issue. This is because the issue faced by LGBT are less known by the commoners to provide help to the victims, which results into sever mental health issue among the sufferers. The major barriers identified and discussed by the authors are limited understanding, systematic inequities and stigma that restricts the gay couples from receiving necessary support of overcoming the situation that results into growing psychological concerns.

Existing Legal Guidelines for Same-Sex Marriage

As put forwarded by Buller et a (2014), the psychological issue occurring due to the domestic violence among the gay partners are related with various other factors that ultimately result into increased depression. The authors identified that this can be considered as the most common mental disorder faced by the victims in gay relationship as seeking guidance or treatment is not as vast as in case of people having sex with opposite gender. They receive limited options for treatment that result into greater severity.

Consequence of domestic violence in psychological grounds is no doubt sever in both the cases of opposite and same sex couples that are likely to occur in the form of depression, anxiety or stress. However, the gay victims receives less opportunity in releasing or treating the consequence developed. Stiles-Shields and Carroll (2015) identified that being sexual minority in the society also facilitates in increasing the level of stress among the gay couples suffering from domestic violence. Domestic violence in this case creates vulnerabilities and expose the individual to greater risk of complex trauma. Finneran and Stephenson (2013) in their study argued that understanding of the true nature of psychological consequence of intimate partner violence among the men having sex with men is limited because of various reasons. First, a limited number of literatures identifies the true nature of psychological disorder caused by domestic violence among gay couple. Moreover, as put forward by Siemieniuk et al (2013) limited knowledge of the issue leads to the limited existence of legal norms to identify and validate the issue faced by the individuals.

Despite of existence of a wide range of literary works on domestic violence, only a few handful researches have been conducted that address the issue of domestic violence among the same sex couples, especially gay couples. Moreover, very few of them actually concentrates on the impact of this violence on psychology of the individual victimised. This creates a huge gap in the existing literature that creates opportunity for this research to identify the psychological impact of domestic violence on the gay population in various aspects such as common psychological issues, severity of the effect, and the age group associated with the issue.

H₁₀ – Severity of psychological issues among gay couple from IPV is low

H₁₁ – Severity of psychological issues among gay couple from IPV is high

H₂₀ – Psychological impact due to domestic violence among gay is not related with their age

Research Aims and Objectives

H₂₁ – Psychological impact due to domestic violence among gay is related with their age

This chapter of the report communicates the methodology selected to conduct the research that will help attaining the desired outcome. As argued by Taylor Bogdan and DeVault (2015) this can be considered as the backbone of the research and will give direction to it.

This section communicates the way in which the data on the related phenomena will be collected, analysed and utilised. This provides the complete picture of the entire research.

The research philosophy selected for the research is ontology, which will help on understanding the relation between domestic violence and psychological issues among the victims of the same. Ontology as defined by Ritchie et al (2013) is the interpretation of the constituents of a fact. In other words, it helps in understanding the social factors and its constituents. The primary ontology applicable in this case is the objectivism or positivism. This identifies social entities individually and studies them irrespective of social actors. This study will utilise this to establish the factors involved, which are domestic violence, gay couple and psychological issues separately from each other. This will help understanding the nature of individual factors separately from each other. Objectivism in this research will be supported by subjectivism or interpretivism, which according to Ormston et al (2014), believes social phenomenon is an outcome of the consequent actions of the actors involved in the process. In other words, subjectivism views the elements as the result of continuous actions of the social actors. Subjectivism in this research will help in understanding how psychological issues among the gay victims arises due to the domestic violence brought upon them.

Two possible research approach is deductive and inductive approach. Inductive research helps in formulating new theories that emerges from the data. Deductive approach on the other hand helps validating existing theories (Frels and Onwuegbuzie 2013). This particular research requires inductive approach to identify the psychological impact of domestic violence among gay couples. This will be supported with the deductive approach to validate the finding of the report.

The following research is based on primary data for which, both qualitative and quantitative approach is applicable. Qualitative method as put forward by Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault (2015) is the collection of unquantifiable data that are collected using open-ended interview schedules. In this case, it will help in collecting in-depth data regarding the psychological impact of domestic violence on gay couple and its severity noticed among the victims. Primary informants for this research will be the victims and the psychiatrics involved in their treatment. Face-to-face interview will be arranged for collecting qualitative data from the informants, for which appointments will be taken for the respondents involved. Quantitative method on the other hand defined by Neuman (2013) is the collection of statistical data that are possible to quantify and calculated. Data that will be collected using this method will help identify the common psychological issues faced by the victims and the age group of the victims exposed to the issue. Survey will be conducted on both psychiatrists and patients using closed-ended questionnaires that will be circulated personally and using internet. This will further help in validating the hypothesis formulated from the existing literature evaluation.

Definition and Consequences of Domestic Violence

Participants of the research will be the gay couples involved in the domestic violence. Moreover, the psychologists will also be included for getting better understanding the issue, as they are the doctors that helps them in recovering the situation. Age group considered for the research ranges from teenage to above for understanding its relation with age. The sampling method that can provide valid data in the case is stratified probabilistic sampling that randomly selects the sample population from the overall population that is stratified in multiple strata according to variables (Acharya et al 2013). Psychologists will be approached in their chambers and the rest will be approached in their homes.

The qualitative data collected will be analysed using thematic analysis method that will categorise the data under various themes. This further includes the identification of pattern among the themes (Vaismoradi, Turunen and Bondas 2013). This will help in understanding the psychological effect of domestic violence in the target population and the severity of the issue found. The quantitative data on the other hand will be analysed using regression model. This will identify the relationship between independent and dependent variables (Kleinbaum et al 2013). This will answer the common psychological issues and their relationship with age. The descriptive method will then be utilised for explaining the findings for the readers. Lastly, the findings will be put under hypothesis testing tool for validating the formulated hypothesis on psychological impact of domestic violence on gay couples.

The ethical consideration in this case is crucial, as the population under study is a vulnerable one. The primary ethical consideration in this case is the identity of the participants, which will be kept secret for safeguarding their interest (Ritchie et al 2013). Second issue as identified is the willingness of the participants in responding to the questions, which will be resolved by asking ethical questions without hurting their sentiments. Ethical in this stance are the questions that restricts itself from countering their sentiment or interest, which will be looked after to receive potential support from the respondents. Thirdly, prior approval from the respondents will be taken. On to it, voluntary participation of the respondents will be prioritised and no force will be implied on the respondents for gathering accurate data that will increase the validity. Data. Moreover, data alteration will be strictly avoided. Secondary data utilised in the literature review is properly cited to avoiding data theft issue. Moreover, raw data collected from he respondents will be stored in personal cloud space for avoiding data theft and safeguarding the interest of the respondents.

Society’s Perception towards Same-Sex Domestic Violence

Reference

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