Violence in Childhood

    My mother -in -law experienced violence through most of her childhood and teenage years. Her father was a police officer, a gambler, and an alcoholic. Any money he earned was spent on gambling and drinking, and when he hit his wife or his children, the police would never do anything because they were friends with him. She does not talk about if often, but she has mentioned a few instances when she was a teenager. She was the oldest of four, two brothers and a sister. The brothers eventually followed in their father's footsteps and my mother-in-law tried her best to protect her sister and mother from the violence, once getting hit so hard blocking her mother that she flew across the room. The minute she was able to work, she did, to get out of the house. That was really the only way any of them could cope with the situation. After doing some research, there is a greater risk for a male partner in a relationship (with a drinking problem and a "blue collar" job) to partake in intimate partner violence than for a woman in the same situation (Cunradi, Ames, Duke, 2011).

    I chose to look into Mexico because in doing one of my previous blogs, I remember seeing that there was an increase in alcohol use and violence in Mexico and South American countries in recent years. I found an article, although it's over 10 years old, about some studies that were conducted to see why there was such a connection between alcoholism and violence in Mexican families. This article talked about the oncoming economic issues and religious beliefs, as well as lack of jobs adding stress to families (Natura, Tiburcio, Villatoro, 1997). More recently, E. Mot has discussed the problems with drugs as being the biggest issue with violence in the communities, not just the homes. The community will go more to the people dealing with drugs before the police, because the those are the people that can offer more help. If someone needs protection for their child, they will go to the gangs or drug lords. At the same time, if the drug lords come to someone and offer them money for a service, the economic stress may cause the person to take them up on the service (personal communication, July 22, 2011). One of the main effects of the violence in Mexico is the infant and child mortality rate. Then there are many illnesses and injuries that cause children to suffer physical as well as mental developmental delays. It seems from what I've read, they are still trying to figure out how to solve all of these many problems.

Cunradi, C.B., Ames, G.M., Duke, M. (2011). The relationship of alcohol problems to the risk for undirectional and bidirectional intimate partner violence among a sample of blue-collar couples. Violence and Victims, 26, 147-158.

Natura, G.R., Tiburcio, M.S., Villatoro, J.V. (1997). Marital violence and its relationship to excessive drinking in Mexico. Contemporary Drug Problems, 24, 787-804.