Violence as a Reason to Conflict

OAD-30364

Ottawa University

Victoria Peters

September 24, 2016

 Violence as a Reason to Conflict
Victoria Peters
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Violence consists of any verbal or physical strategy that attempts to convince, control,

or compel others to your point of view. Violence occurs when conflict interactions move

beyond threats to verbal abuse and verbal aggressiveness. Violence occurs in the home,

on dates, and in the workplace. (Hocker, J. L., & Wilmot, W. W. (2014).) Why does

violence occur? No one really knows why people use violence during conflict, however

knowing steps to help during conflict will help others not result to violence during

conflicts.

Some examples of violence are, Threw something at my partner that could hurt.

Twisted my partner's arm or hair. Pushed or shoved my partner. Had a broken bone from

a fight with my partner. Used force like hitting, holding down, or using a weapon to make

my partner have sex. Grabbed my partner. Used a knife or gun on my partner. Punched or

hit my partner with something that could hurt. Choked my partner. Slammed my partner

against a wall. Beat up my partner. Kicked my partner. (Hocker, J. L., & Wilmot, W. W.

(2014).) If someone does any of these to you or you witness them being done to someone

else, report it to authorities. No one should ever have to go through these because

someone does not know how to handle conflict.

Although acute childhood stressors, such as separation from a parent, hospital

admission, or birth of a sibling, have been the primary focus of the child stress literature

(Rutter, 1981), there are indications that chronic stressors, such as family conflict, merit

further research attention. Convergent evidence suggests that family conflict, including

both marital conflict and parentchild conflict, is stressful for children. (O'Brien, M.,

Margolin, G., John, R. S., & Krueger, L. (1991, March 12).) Childhood stress in
 Violence as a Reason to Conflict
Victoria Peters
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someones childhood can cause his or her chances of violence due to conflict to be higher

than someone that did not have childhood stress.

Why does violence occur in personal relationships? One explanation is that

violent responses to conflict are learnedthose who experience violence have

experienced it Page 180before, have witnessed it in their family of origin or in previous

relationships (Hocker, J. L., & Wilmot, W. W. (2014).) When children see their parents

using violence during conflict their whole life that is what they are going to also do. They

do not know of any other ways to handle conflict other than to act in violence. Schools

should teach students at a early age the right way to handle different conflict to help

prevent violence. Teaching children to talk to each other when there is a conflict is the

best thing to do. Show the children many different options of how to handle a conflict

and always tell a child that violence is never the answer.

A second explanation for violence centers on the elements of a patriarchal

culture that insists the man is always right. It has been found that the more discrepant the

power between the husband and the wife, the greater the violence (Hocker, J. L., &

Wilmot, W. W. (2014).) The rate of violence tends to be higher in the male range,

however that does not mean that a female cannot cause violence. Anyone can cause

violence, violence does not pick the gender of who is creating or receiving.

In conclusion, violence is everywhere around us. It doesn't matter who it is or

where it is but it is there. Hopefully by teaching children the different and right ways to

handle conflict can make the conflict related violence go down. Violence is never a

answer and should always be reported.

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Victoria Peters
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Resources:

Hocker, J. L., & Wilmot, W. W. (2014). Interpersonal Conflict 9th(ed). New York:

McGraw Hill Companies, Inc.

O'Brien, M., Margolin, G., John, R. S., & Krueger, L. (1991, March 12). Mother's and

Sons' Cognitive and Emotional Reactions to Simulated Marital and Family Conflict.

Retrieved September 24, 2016, from

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