Conclusions

Abstract

Domestic violence continues to be a serious social problem in our society. Though there is evidence that within the past ten years there has been a decrease in husband-to-wife violence, the decrease is small, with approximately 1.6 million wives still experiencing abuse (Straus & Gelles, 1986). Early in this book, I indicated that we need to understand the nature (dynamics) of violence in relationships and that in order to do this, we should analyze violence as part of an ongoing interaction. By conducting longitudinal, in-depth interviews, with men and women involved in violent relationships, this research has attempted to identify the processual nature of violence over time. Having found the notion of control as a central and reoccurring theme in descriptions of violent behavior, I have explained how control relates to violence by generating a symbolic interaction model of domestic violence.