Why Families are Vulnerable to Violence in Family Violence Across the Lifespan, Ola W. Barnett

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To begin with, macro-theories recognize broad features that make families vulnerable to violence. In “Family Violence Across the Lifespan,” Ola W. Barnett provides several factors that may accumulate to violence: cultural factors (e.g., acceptance of violence, patriarchy), social-structured variables (e.g., poverty), structural characteristics of the family (e.g., age, family stresses), the inadequacies of deterrence (e.g., punishment and costs of family violence), situational impetus (e.g., a gun in the house), and even evolutionary theory (Barnett, 2011). On the other hand, micro-theories explain behaviors in a personal level. Micro-theories help to understand the violence in the family, but they do not justify the behavior. They primarily serve as an intervention. The main difference between these two theories is that macro-theories look at the broader perspective (e.g., groups of people or large groups); whereas, micro-theories look at individual motivation. Thus, although macro-theories aid to explain why certain families are violent due to their surroundings, micro-theories ex...

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