Theories And Deficit Analysis

It is theorized that men who are violent have deficits to their ego structure (Peters, Shackelford & Buss, 2002). Their violent outbursts are linked to issues with maternal figures in their lives which they express by controlling other women in an act of transference. Another theory suggests that their anger stems from other deficits such as the inability to control their own feelings or to have a functional relationship with their partner. In each of these aforementioned situations, the abuser is attempting to compensate for their deficit by gaining control of their relationship and their partner (Peters et al., 2002). Other theories eliminate the deficit assumptions and rely heavily upon the abusers explicit intentionality (Peters et al.,
2002). Claiming abusers know exactly what they are doing, and why they are doing it. This theory says violent men simply want to control their partners, and so they do (Peters et al., 2002). Kervin and Obinna (2002), discuss a World Health Organization report which claims that males are more likely to be perpetrators of domestic violence if they believe in traditional gender norms. Traditional gender norms include the man being the primary breadwinner, a wife taking on the role of a stay-at-home mom or housewife, or the man making all the decisions for the family. Therefore, growing up in a home with unhealthy ideas of gender roles is a risk factor for future violence (Kervin & Obinna, 2002).