Conclusions

Conclusions

This exploratory study is my first research in relation to domestic violence.During the process of this study,I discovered how to obtain knowledge in this field,how to conduct practical investigations and how to explore research results.These three steps have developed my research knowledge and skills in the field of domestic violence,specifically of psychological violence.

1.Getting knowledge

In respect to obtaining knowledge,through reviewing the literature on domestic violence,I have concluded that different social systems,different cultures and the different histories of research on domestic violence will influence research methods in relation to definition,research reporting style and research methods.For example,as discussed in Chapter 1,British definitions of domestic violence tend to emphasise the relationship of intimacy,or sexuality.These relationships cover couples and cohabitants (whether heterosexual or of the same sex).By contrast,Chinese definitions focus on the relationship of all family members,including couples but also other family members.British data is normally expressed within the framework of individual relationships,whereas Chinese data is within the structure of the family,as summarised in Chapter 2.

I also conclude that no matter whether the victims are either in the UK or in China,they have similar general experiences of domestic violence.For example,as compared in Chapter 2,76 per cent of women,in Mooney's (2000) study,thought that forcing sex by men should be seen as a part of domestic violence,while in a Regional Study Report (2000),79 per cent of the Chinese respondents also thought that this behaviour belonged to domestic violence.Similarly,both Hanmer et al.(2000) and Tong's studies (2000) showed that the female victims blamed themselves and excused and tolerated their partners within the context of suffering domestic violence.

2.The research methods

With regard to 'conducting investigation',I conclude that feminist methodology is more appropriately used in exploring domestic violence.As emphasised in Chapter 5,such methodology centres on gender and gender inequality,and particularly on the understanding of women's worlds (Harding,1987;Skinner et al.,2005) and research on and into women's lives (and men's too) (Letherby,2003;Maynard&Purvis,1994).This methodology instructs the researcher to think about and investigate research questions within the context of society.For example,why wives are the main victims in domestic violence is not a simple problem in relation to men and women,but it is an issue in relation to gender inequality between them,which is constructed by society,culture and history.

Feminist methodology suggests that pluralistic research methods should be utilised in research.As explained in Part II,both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in this research project.Through the use of both approaches,having some experiences,I concluded that 'topic coding' is very useful for a new researcher because it helped me to complete my interview data analysis,and more easily to obtain a new understanding of marriage,family and domestic violence,and also to orient my themes to my research aims,as described in Chapter 7.I also concluded that the researcher should try to grasp every opportunity to collect research data if a project is as limited in time and scope as a PhD project.For example,I collected my in-depth interview data through networks (the Hubei Women's Federation) and snowballing (my colleagues,my classmates and my friends in China).Through their help or recommendation,I was successful in collection of the data (53 individuals within two months and a half).

3.The findings

My research aimed to focus on investigating experiences of psychological violence principally between wives and husbands,on investigating types of psychological violence such as verbal and non-verbal behaviour that are used by wives and husbands,on investigating how this violence impacts on the victims,and on investigating whether psychological violence occurs differently between intellectual and non-intellectual families.

3.1　A gender issue

From the literature and through the analysis and discussion of my research,I concluded that psychological domestic violence occurring between wives and husbands may be closely linked to gender inequality.As shown in the results of Chapter 9 to 11,this gender issue has been reflected in the use/experiences of psychological violence in relation to verbal and non-verbal behaviour by wives and husbands.For example,in respect to verbal behaviour,the interview data suggested that wives were the main victims who suffered 'ridicule' from their husbands both inside the home and outside it.The questionnaire data suggested that wives were more likely to ridicule their husbands in the home,while husbands were more likely to ridicule their wives in public.Both the interview and questionnaire data suggested that husbands used 'dirty language' to abuse their wives in conflict more than wives.The female interviewees described this abusive principally but only one man talked about his experience.Looking at the questionnaire data,we can see that there was a significant difference in this between wives and husbands:18.1 per cent of the female respondents reported that they used 'dirty language' in domestic conflict,while 46.5 per cent of the male respondents reported that they did so.

With regard to non-verbal behaviour,there was also a difference in such behaviour between wives and husbands.For example,the interview data showed that wives suffered non-communication by their husbands in the home.W1's^[1] former husband waged a 'cold' war to torture her:no communication and no quarrel with her.F2's^[2] husband shut off communication with her through sleeping and watching TV.F7's^[3] former husband also punished her through his non-communication because there was a conflict between them.The questionnaire data also suggests that wives might communicate with their husbands more positively than their husbands in the home as suggested by a comparison between the female and male's proportions of answering'yes'to the question 'Do you have communication with your spouse? [See Pie Charts 9.2.1 (a) and (b)].There was also a difference in facial expression and body gesture between wives and husbands in conflict.According to the survey,the male respondents reported that they might be likely to use 'positive' non-verbal behaviour such as 'glaring' and 'threatening with fists' to their partners,while the female respondents reported that they might be likely to use 'passive' non-verbal behaviour-stamping of foot – to their partners.Another non-verbal behaviour 'involvement of third party' also showed that there was a difference in this between wives and husbands.The female interviewees narrated their experiences of 'third party' relationships by their husbands.Wives were the main victims in suffering this emotional abuse.

Chapters 9 and 10 have elaborated and discussed that this gender inequality issue is reflected in these verbal and non-verbal behaviours,as the forms of psychological violence used by wives and husbands because they cannot share the same power and status in the home and society.For example,the previous studies and my study revealed that wives were likely to blame themselves and tolerate abuse from their husbands because they feared divorce.In China it is generally said that wives have difficultly in remarrying if they divorce because few men would like to marry with such wives who had been wives before.The case of F7 may be an example of this because she did not remarry after her divorce for 11 years.By contrast,men may quite easily remarry if they divorce because some women would like to marry husbands who had previous experience of marriage.For example,this case of H8 showed that he remarried with a young girl (W8).Such gender inequality reflects patriarchal hierarchies of social construction (Jackson,1999).In such unequal relationships defined by history and culture,the women/wives are usually subordinate and controlled,while the men/husbands may dominate their partners through psychological or other violence in the home.

3.2　Health impacts

I also concluded that psychological domestic violence in relation to verbal/nonverbal behaviour impacts on victims' physical,psychological or emotional,and mental health.As shown in Chapter 11,both the interview and the questionnaire data showed that the respondents had strong and negative emotions about verbal abuse,e.g.dirty language.For example,the female interviewees^[4] described their feelings when they faced dirty language.These negative emotions were anger,sadness,insult and pain.The results showed that wives might be slightly more likely to suffer these emotions than their husbands.Wives' bodily and psychological health might be affected by these negative emotions because such emotions might lead to rapid heart rate,high blood pressure or mental disorder,as suggested by Ekman (2003) and Tiedens and Leach (2004).

Through this investigation,the results of Chapter 11 also provided specific symptoms in relation to bodily and psychological or mental health problems because of psychological violence.Both the interview and questionnaire data showed that psychological violence impacted on victims' headache,heart fast rate and pain,stomach ache,sleeplessness,going around in a daze,and reproductive health,e.g.failure of milk.As the WHO (1978) defines,'health refers to the physical,psychological and social aspects of all three to good condition,and not merely the absence of illness or physical robust'.Apparently,health of the respondents in this survey was threatened by psychological violence in their bodily and mental aspects as well as their social associations.

On the other hand,I also concluded that there was a difference in both bodily and mental health between wives and husbands.The interview data showed that the female interviewees might be more likely to experience these impacts of psychological violence,while the questionnaire data suggested that wives might be more likely to get the problems such as a fast heart rate,stomach ache,and sleeplessness,while husbands might be more likely to get problems such as headache and going around in a daze.Gender difference may appear in bodily and mental health issues.

3.3　Differences in the incidence of psychological violence between intellectuals and non-intellectuals

One of my research aims was to investigate whether psychological violence occurs differently between intellectual and non-intellectual families.Through this exploration,I concluded that there appears to be no significant difference in the use of such violence between the two groups.For example,in Chapter 10,the interview data showed that both intellectual and non-intellectual interviewees talked about their experiences and attitudes towards 'ridicule'.Some of them were victims and perpetrators respectively.The questionnaire data suggested that there was no significant difference in 'glaring' as a non-verbal behaviour between the respondents with different educational backgrounds.The results showed that 71.6 per cent of the respondents (121/169) at 'College Education' said that they used this behaviour in a conflict,whereas 69.4 per cent of the respondents (25/36) at 'School Education' said that they did so.However,there was sometimes a difference if gender was also taken into account.For example,there was a notable difference in the use of ridicule between women according to educational level but little difference between men(see Chapter 10).In this exploration,I conclude that psychological violence used by wives and husbands may be closely linked to a gender issue but not strongly linked to educational levels completely,namely,this violence may occur in any kind of families.

3.4　Summary

Importantly,in my research,I found that there was at times a big gap between the interview and the survey data,and that there was a difference between respondents of the same gender at different educational levels.However,there is a problem in explaining the differences because the respondents did not discuss these questions.Therefore,further work would be necessary to investigate these matters more fully.

My summary of conclusions is as follows:

·Psychological violence is actually a prominent issue in relation to the sample from South-Central China.This may tally with the previous Chinese studies.

·Psychological violence between wives and husbands may be linked to gender difference and gender inequality.

·Psychological violence may occur equally in different kinds of families:the intellectuals and non-intellectual.This is different from the previous views of Chinese academics,that psychological violence mainly occurs in intellectual families but physical violence occurs in non-intellectual families.

·A variety of forms of psychological violence may be used frequently by wives and husbands in the home and impacts of psychological violence in relation to emotions,bodily and mental health problems were experienced differently by wives and husbands.This is more detailed than the previous studies.

·Finally,after analysis and discussion of these results,I have found that the exploration of domestic violence,and specifically in this case psychological violence,cannot be separated from research into gender difference and gender inequality because both are　interrelated.

【注释】

[1]See Example 11 in Chapter 9 in Page 151.

[2]See Example 12 in Chapter 9 in Page 152.

[3]See Example 13 in Chapter 9 in Page 152.

[4]See Examples 14 to 19 in Chapter 9.