The Effects of Confinement on Domestic Violence

Confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on domestic violence.

The pandemic has brought with it a health crisis that has necessitated serious measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

At the beginning of the crisis, confinement and mobility restriction measures were implemented, which led to a significant reduction in COVID-19 cases, but had the collateral effect of increasing another serious problem: domestic violence.

Over the last year, several studies have addressed the effects of confinement on domestic violence, trying to see what the effects of confinement on domestic violence have been.The study was conducted in an attempt to see what the links were between anti-covid measures and the occurrence of this type of aggression. Let's see it below.

What do we know about the effects of confinement on domestic violence?

On March 11, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was declared. Within days, in some cases hours, a multitude of governments around the world implemented measures to prevent the spread of the disease, restrictive measures that included confinement, minimizing all social contact with people outside the home, and travel bans to prevent the virus from spreading further and worsening the already serious health situation.

These measures proved to be effective in reducing the effects of the pandemic, but they brought with them problems such as stress and stress-related illness. brought with them problems such as stress and anxiety as the average citizen was placed in a situation of high emotional stress.. With this in mind, if people who were not psychologically vulnerable began to manifest mental problems, we can imagine how difficult it was for people who were already part of a risk group, such as victims of domestic violence.

While all the measures to stay at home made sense from a health point of view, it is clear that it was the worst possible situation for people who received domestic violence, either at the hands of a partner or in the form of child abuse. Confinement forced people to stay in the place where they received such violence, without access to outsiders who could detect the signs of abuse and violence, and made it more difficult for them to receive assistance from specialized associations.

That violence against women has increased is a fact. Several global organizations, including WHO, UN Women and UNICEF, warned of the need to pay special attention to women and children locked up with their abusers. the need to pay special attention to women and children locked up with their abusers and to seek measures that would prevent the spread of the virus but not put the most vulnerable groups at risk. and to seek measures that would prevent the spread of the virus but not put the most vulnerable groups at risk. Although confinement was necessary, it was clear that it was going to become a trap for victims of domestic violence. Decades of progress against domestic violence have been undone.

Given this situation, hundreds of researchers around the world conducted studies to address the relationships between the COVID-19 crisis, confinement and the increase in domestic violence. The objective was not only to look at the specific effects behind domestic violence attributable to the health crisis, but also to look for the answer to create policies to prevent the exposure of potential victims to this type of violence, either by better detecting cases in a confinement situation or by preventing them from staying at home with their abuser.

There are several effects of confinement on domestic violence, both directly and indirectly, increasing it. Confinement measures, together with the economic impact of the pandemic, have increased the factors associated with this type of violence. These include increased unemployment in the male population, stress from having to care for children for longer periods of time, increased financial insecurity, and the application of maladaptive coping strategies. maladaptive coping strategies. when he found himself in a situation that no one expected him to be in.

Recent research

Recently, Piquero's group and colleagues have conducted a systematic review in which they have pooled research that has addressed the links between domestic violence and confinement, trying to find out what specific effects confinement has had on domestic violence worldwide. Their work compares the results obtained from all parts of the world, which puts into perspective how the phenomenon has occurred in a multicultural and multistate way.

From this systematic review, it emerges that the global economic impact of COVID-19 has implied an increase in several factors that have traditionally been associated with domestic violenceThis is evidence of and explains the increase in this type of aggression. The health crisis has increased unemployment, adding stressors to the home. In addition to this, as children have stopped going to school, their parents have had to take a more active role in their formal education as well as having to support them at home for longer periods of time.

There have been many cases of people who have not lost their jobs, but have had to telework at home with the rest of the family, something that can cause tensions. If the job was not stable and, therefore, there was a possibility of losing it during the pandemic (e.g., catering), the stress was increased by the fact that the job was not stable. the stress was increased because of the uncertainty and financial instability which has been the background to the entire health crisis.

Another explanation for the increase in domestic violence due to confinement is that there has been more social isolation among women because they have not been able to establish contact outside the domestic nucleus. Added to this, there have been more opportunities and attempts by abusers to exercise their power and coercive control over their partners and there have also been more cases of marital conflict. Nor can one ignore the fact that, because of emotional distress, many men have fallen into substance abuse.

In addition to all these factors mentioned here, we cannot ignore the main fear of a health crisis: getting sick. Many people were truly terrified of the possibility of catching COVID-19, since the mere possibility of getting sick could mean losing one's job and losing income, having to undergo lifelong treatment, or dying. All of this has worsened overall mental health, which has led to tension in the home and increased domestic aggression.

Disasters and victimization of women

But all this is not really new. There was already a suspicion even before the pandemic that, in the event of a health crisis, women's physical and mental health would worsen as a result of an increase in cases of domestic violence due to the increase in the factors behind it. It was already known that cases of domestic violence were more serious and common after natural disasters and epidemics, as they involve a situation of physical and mental distress.The situation was already known to be more severe and common after natural disasters and epidemics, since they involve a situation of high stress.

Although women have been gaining rights over the last decades and there has been a greater awareness to prevent cases of domestic violence, the pandemic situation in which we still find ourselves has thrown years of progress to the ground. As this is a completely new situation for the majority of society, in which psychological abuse has increased, it is not unusual (but neither is it justifiable) that aggression has occurred in the home, whether occasional or systematic.

This situation should help governments, associations and any organization that has the capacity to protect victims of domestic violence to draw up plans so that, in the event that we again have a health crisis in the near future, measures can be implemented to prevent the spread of domestic violence. measures to prevent the spread of the disease but without trapping the women victims of this type of aggression with their abusers. with their abusers.