Domestic Violence And The Need For Adequate Social Support

The COVID-19 pandemic has led the world into a frenzy. Practicing safe hygiene, social distancing, and travel restrictions have become common sights throughout the globe.

However, the effects of COVID-19 also include a spike in domestic violence and is presumed to be seen continually across the globe as stress continues to mount. Many victims of domestic violence are still trapped with the perpetrators, with no means to report it. Studies have shown that women are more likely to face violence when confined with little or no support of law enforcement agencies due to the pandemic.

The accumulation of stressful events poses a risk of significant physical and emotional harm to these victims of domestic abuse. These adverse effects may extend for long periods due to continued abuse, ongoing psychological effects of abuse, or fear of the abuser.

It is a frequently reported behavior in abusers to try to isolate and control their victims so as they may not report violence. As the mobility of the victim is restricted and the perpetrator can easily control access to social media and other means of possible reportage, it is next to impossible for the victim to reach out for help.

Places of worship and communal places of congregation that were used for finding emotional reprieve have limited access currently. As a consequence of controlling behaviour by the abusers, mental distress increases and may range from heightened stress, frustration, and anger to severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Recently, an Apapa Magistrate’s Court in Lagos sentenced one Promise Iwuala to 15 years imprisonment for raping a girl (names withheld) in Tedi community, Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State.

The convict, a gateman at 15, Samous Street, Tedi, Ojo-Alaba, was arrested by policemen attached to Festac Police Station with the support of Lagos State Domestic and Sexual and Violence Response Team, DSVRT and Family Support Unit and charged to court on a three-count charge.

The victim’s mother said that the convict lured the child with candy and biscuits to his apartment, whenever she was at work.

This has prompted the Lagos State Government to commence the publication of details of sex offenders in the state to serve as deterrence to others.

The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State DSVA, Mrs Titilola Vivour- Adeniyi said that the measure was also in furtherance of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s zero tolerance to all forms of domestic and sexual violence.

In Nigeria, domestic violence is a societal problem that affects women and girl-child in form of rape, maltreatment, deprivations and physical and emotional punishments. It is often supported by culture and religion therefore making women suffer in silence. Domestic violence against women in Nigeria has caused miscarriages, maternal death, psychological trauma and broken marriages with negative consequences on children. Compounding the problem of domestic violence is the issue of women’s perception and level of awareness of what constitutes domestic violence in the society.

New data from the Centre for Social Justice on Sexual and Gender Based Violence and the Budget (A Review of Federal Capital Territory: 2016-2019) shows that the FCT has more women who have experienced physical violence than the national average. In fact, a proportion of men and women still justify domestic violence.

This is partly because oftentimes women are socialized into accepting some form of domestic violence as normal by culture and family members. Such women believe that they are the problem and not their abusive partners. So, women have come to accept beating by their partners or husbands as normal.

The study equally revealed that there is a relationship between level of education and perception of domestic violence among rural women in FCT. This means there is the need to increase girl-child education among the rural populace in Nigeria. Education builds women’s capacity for economic self-dependence and awareness of what constitutes domestic violence in their community and culture. With education enlightenment and advocacy will be more effective and rural women will be given a voice in the society

For victims, social support has been found to both mediate and moderate the relationship between intimate partner violence and mental health.

Social support can be interpreted as social capital. It is an important intervention during stressful events in the family and the individual’s life. Under undue stress, social support is key in relieving the victim’s distress.

Research has identified the beneficial effects of social support on women’s overall mental health. Having stronger family support increases the strength to deal with psychological distress as well as with the abuse. A woman staying with an abusive husband and his family is twice more likely to develop psychological distress compared to a woman having the support of her parents. Adequate social support decreases the risk of violence in a relationship and its negative impacts if present.

The perception that one has access to informational, emotional, psychological, financial or instrumental aid has been associated with positive health outcomes. Emotional support by friends and family prevents deterioration of mental health by them acting as a buffer or moderator to provide a positive impact regardless of the severity of abuse.

The truth is, the interactions and dynamics of social support are complex, but they always show a positive correlation with the quality of life and negative correlation with the extent of depression in the victims.

Other research carried out among the abused women in an Australian shelter have shown that social support in the lives of women causes a substantial reduction in posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety whereas ongoing abuse and the absence of social support contributes to psychological distress. Another study found that higher social support was related to decreased abuse and higher quality of life at multiple points in time of the study.

Abused women who receive emotional, tangible, and institutional support are less vulnerable to psychologically damaging effects of violence and their physical safety is also maintained. Social support influences coping strategies and provides greater perceived options that contribute to increasing the feasibility of a battered woman’s ability to deal with abusers. Earlier studies have reported that social support works in both ways, directly promoting recovery from stressful experiences and crises experienced in the family as well as the protective role of a buffer against the effects of life stressors.

A study conducted by Mahapatro and Singh in 2019 revealed that women who were supported by their parental family moved on to engage in active coping. It was also reported that they needed more social support, particularly from their parental family. They said that an institution could only provide temporary relief from fear and anxiety, but support from the parental family was permanent. In India, the concept of a woman seeking formal support and institutional help is not welcomed by the community. Therefore, the government-designed and implemented institutional programs have often not been utilized optimally. It is only the natal family that extends support to the abused women.

On the whole, it is established that the psychological impacts of lockdown and being trapped with the abusers are wide-ranging, long-lasting, and unabating. The implication of this is that the government should take the initiative to ensure their safety and well-being. This may be achieved by means of awareness campaigns and of dissemination of coping and stress management techniques to combat boredom, activation of social networks, and emotional help and counseling through telecommunication.

Another concern is that of bystanders and neighbors. Instilling a sense of moral and social responsibility will improve reportage. Frontline workers such as postal workers, garbage collectors, food delivery persons, and home appliances repair persons, and people who visit the family and discern DV, should come forward and report violence in the current times. Social groups, state and non-state actors like the Centre for Social Justice must continue in interventions to further rebuild social networks of women to address the conflicts and reduce vulnerability with timely access of rights while seeking justice.