10.0 Introduction
10.0 Introduction
As discussed in Chapter 1,the phenomenon of psychological domestic violence appears to be widespread between wives and husbands in China (Yi,2006).Kirkwood (1993) conceptualises that psychological violence is at two levels.One arises from the effect of physical abuse on victims' emotional state,while another is'pure' psychological violence without physical behaviour/injury.The former means that physical violence leaves emotional scars for victims,whereas the latter is an attack on victims' personality and sense of self rather than their physical bodies.
From the definitions of psychological violence given by Chinese academics and practitioners,as outlined in Chapter 2,we can see that psychological violence used in relationships may be hidden and insidious and can take many forms.Noller(1984) suggests that communication can be seen as including both verbal and non-verbal behaviour.As discussed in Chapter 4,some kinds of verbal and nonverbal behaviour can be seen as psychological abuse.Aggressors may therefore use verbal and/or non-verbal abuse to their victims.Verbal abuse may include shouting,ridicule,nicknames,swearing,humiliation,and foul language.Non-verbal abuse may include non-verbal threats,such as facial expressions or gestures,and other non-verbal behaviours such as neglect,non-communication,giving the 'cold shoulder',isolation,and deprivation.
As discussed in Chapter 9,the interviewees talked about the importance of communication between wives and husbands as key for a happy marriage and family.However,some of them practised communication in a negative and abusive manner with their partners.In both interviews and questionnaires,respondents were asked about what communicative behaviour they used in the home or when there was a conflict between them.Through coding both data,I classified these different forms by the respondents into verbal and non-verbal behaviour.Through analysis of the interview data,I found that the perpetrators usually used swearing,shouting,silence,indifference,cheating,and reference to a 'third party' relationship to abuse their partners.From analysis of the questionnaire data,I found that wives and husbands used ridicule,dirty language,and facial expressions such as glaring and threatening gestures involving fists and feet,as well as indifference or ignoring the partner to abuse their partners when there was conflict between them.Thus the respondents used different forms of negative and abusive communication to their partners.
Because my research aim is focusing on psychological violence,physical violence will not be discussed in this thesis.Discussion of non-communication and dirty language took place in Chapter 9,and this chapter will mainly focus on other verbal and non-verbal forms of psychological violence used by couples.These behaviours are mainly ridicule,glaring,threats involving fists and feet,and use of 'third party' relationships.Analysis of these behaviours indicates that there is a difference in the use and experiencing of these behaviours between wives and husbands.
Additionally,exploration of psychological violence as used between husbands and wives in intellectual and non-intellectual families will be mainly discussed in this chapter,based on the literature on psychological violence in China.This will allow examination of the suggestion of some Chinese researchers that psychological violence occurs more in intellectual families than in non-intellectual families (Cui,2003;Hu et al.,2003;Li,2002;Ma,2003;Xu,2004;Yang et al.,2002).They also suggest that physical violence occurs more in non-intellectual families than in intellectual families,however,this will not be addressed in any detail here.In my investigation,I found that the professionals I interviewed similarly thought that psychological violence occurred more in intellectual families and physical violence more in non-intellectual families.Five interviewees (38.5%) among 13 professionals held this view based on their professional experience.Their views are as follows:
Example 20:P7[1] who was a Chairman of the Women's Federation in Jianghan District,age 46,said that:
[Some victims] with a high educational background also came to our reception room and complained they suffered psychological violence at home.Nevertheless,comparatively,the proportion that they suffered physical violence was lower than those who were with the low educational background.
Example 21:P8[2] who was a lawyer at the age of about 30 said that:
[As far as the clients] were concerned,some who were intellectuals mainly complained about psychological violence in the home,while others who were non-intellectuals mainly complained about physical violence at home.
Example 22:P9 said that:
[Victims] with 'School Education' experienced physical violence more,while victims with 'College Education' suffered psychological violence more.In respect to the latter,they ignore each other at home.
From Examples 20 to 22,we can see their opinions about this according to their work experiences,but we cannot see from their narratives how much this violence occurs within intellectual and non-intellectual families;and how this violence manifests in both types of families.Is there such a difference between them?
The results of my wider empirical investigation may provide more detail on these questions.Both the qualitative and quantitative data indicated that individuals with different educational backgrounds all used dirty language in conflict with their spouses.Specifically,Examples 14 to 19 in Chapter 9 have shown that three non-intellectual wives and also three intellectual wives suffered this behaviour from their husbands.In my survey,42.1 per cent of the female respondents (8/19) and 61.1 per cent of the male respondents (11/18) with'School Education' reported that they used dirty language,while among 'College Education' 34.1 per cent of the female respondents (31/91) and 60.5 per cent of the male respondents (46/76) reported this,too.Therefore the main difference appears to be between wives and husbands rather than between groups at different educational levels,as presented and discussed further below.