Theories of Abuse in an Intimate Partner Relationship: A Critical Review

Theories are bodies of knowledge that help to describe the what, how, and why of the phenomenon. It helps to increase the understanding of the particular phenomenon the researcher is interested in and helps to accumulate the body of knowledge. It provides a useful direction to understand and explain the phenomenon. If theories fail to explain or predict, they are refined or rejected, or a new theory emerges. Most of the domestic violence theories are used to explain from women’s (victims) perspectives. The objectives of this paper were to describe the existing theories that are relevant to understand men as the victim and briefly introduce the core theme or assumptions of the theories and empirical pieces of evidence. A review method was applied to collect theories of domestic violence, and described with available works of literature. Social exchange theories, social control theory, power-control theory, social and cultural theories, intergenerational violence theory, and social learning theory were selected by assuming that these theories are not focused on individuals (victim or perpetrator) alone nor with a social and cultural concept that extrapolate men as a symbol of gender discriminator, hegemonic masculine, bearer of the patriarchal system, violent and stereotyped single authorial and dominant men. Instead, the selected theories focus on external (such as family, society, and culture) as well as internal (such as learning, motivation, and self-concept) dynamics that can explain the domestic violence phenomenon irrespective of the gender of the victim. Domestic violence has been largely projected as a unisexual phenomenon and women who are violent perpetrators are explained their behavior as the victim's self-defence act in response to the culture of asymmetrical violence. This bidirectional violence by women to men is justified in favor of women. There were fewer documented facts about men as victims as compared to women even though new researches on same-sex violence as well as intimate partner violence among men in a heterosexual relationship have begun to be published. The selected theories indicate that faulty social learning, specific behaviors of unequal relationships passed through the intergenerational process, relationships based on cost and reward, as well as role of dynamic social and cultural systems can lead to violent and abusive relationships. In absence of specific theories of domestic violence against men by women, the selected theories described in this paper were thought to be capable to examine the domestic violence phenomenon without being in favor of males or females. Scientific neutrality and objectivism are expected to pervade the empirical exploration of the phenomenon.