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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & ITS EFFECTS SINCE THE COVID-19

Domestic Violence and its Effects Since the Covid-19 Outbreak

Megan J. Nestor

Seton Hill University

SPY 130 Professional Seminar in Psychology

Professor Jesky

November 2, 2020

Author Note

Questions regarding this article should be addressed to Megan J. Nestor, 1 Seton Hill

Drive, Greensburg PA, 15601. Email: m.nestor@setonhill.edu

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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & ITS EFFECTS SINCE THE COVID-19
Abstract

This paper addresses domestic violence and its effects since the COVID-19 pandemic. Stay at

home orders have been put in place across the nation to protect individuals from the virus.

However, these same stay at home orders have put those that live in domestic violence

households in great risk. Domestic violence rates have increased dramatically across the world,

but also specifically in the United States, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. With

closure of nonessential businesses, victims have been left in the dark with nowhere to go.

Shelters and support services were all shut down at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

These shutdowns are causing more and more victims and individuals to not only experience a

spike in stress, but also an increase in safety risks.

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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & ITS EFFECTS SINCE THE COVID-19
Summary

Domestic violence has had dramatic effects since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The

coronavirus (COVID-19) first broke into the United States in March 2020. Shortly thereafter, a

nationwide shut down began to occur. Businesses and schools were shut down and employees

were laid off or began to work from home. Since the beginning of the pandemic, researchers

have been able to pinpoint a set of symptoms that are commonly found in those who have tested

positive for the virus. These symptoms include things such as cough, shortness of breath, a lack

of sense of taste and smell, fever, congestion, sore throat and fatigue. The loss of sense of taste

has become a hallmark symptom of COVID-19. Researchers have also been able to determine

that there are select population groups that can be at a higher risk for developing a severe illness

or even death. It has been said that those 65 years of age and older are considered to be at the

highest risk for developing a severe illness if they have been infected with COVID-19 (Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). After more research has been able to be completed,

while those that are 65 years of age and older are at high risk, those that are of the age of 85 or

older are the absolute highest risk. It has been found out that those out of every 10 people that are

infected with COVID-19 and are 65 years of age or older, 8 of those individuals will be

hospitalized (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). This pandemic has led to

everyone staying home, avoiding or limiting social gatherings and a rise in domestic violence

cases across the world. While staying home has been emphasized over the course of 2020 as

being a safety measure, those that are victims of domestic violence this is their worst nightmare.

Domestic violence can be physical, emotional or sexual abuse (Kofman, 2020; Bagwell-Gray,

2020). 96% of domestic violence is thought to be emotional (Sabrine et al., 2020). The remaining

4% comes from physical and sexual abuse. It is thought that 1 in 3 women will experience some
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & ITS EFFECTS SINCE THE COVID-19
form of domestic violence at least once in their lifetime (Sabrine et al., 2020). These numbers

have only gone up since the start the pandemic. Social isolation is a well-known tactic by abusers

(Amalesh & Sourav, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has made it easier for abusers to isolate

their partners or victims. In the United States alone, 9 metropolitan cities have seen an increase

of 20% to 30% in domestic violence calls and cases. It has been found out that some areas are as

high as a 62% increase (Kofman, 2020). In other countries, such as Brazil, there has been a 40%

to 50% increase in domestic violence. When looking at Spain and Cyrpus there has been a 20%

increase in just the first week of their shutdown. The United Kingdom has faced a 25% increase

in domestic violence cases in just the first week of the shut down as well (Amalesh, & Sourav,

2020). With the alarming rates of domestic violence increasing, there has been a decrease in

hotline calls in the United States (Kofman, 2020). Coercive control has been seen to be a

manipulation technique by abusers to their partners. It is known as when the abuser has

manipulated their victim through fear or intimidation tactics (Bagwell-Gray ,2020; Kofman,

2020). In relation to the shut down in the United States of all nonessential businesses, support

services for domestic violence victims were in the category of nonessential businesses. These

services help to provide victims with counseling, places to stay and even escape plans. With

these services being shut down, it has made escape plans virtually impossible for victims

(Bagwell-Gray, 2020). This leaves victims with helpless and stuck in severely stressful

situations. An online study done showed that since the start of the pandemic, woman that are

victims of domestic violence reported having feelings of severe stress, anxiety and depression

(Sabrine et al., 2020). Leguizamon put out an article stating that domestic violence should be

decreasing as a result of unemployment (2020). This idea was explained by stating that the loss

of a job, can leave a person with feeling a lack of power and control. Thus, resulting in the
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & ITS EFFECTS SINCE THE COVID-19
decrease in domestic violence prevalence during the pandemic (Leguizamon, 2020). Research

that has been completed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, has shown that that is not the

case. While stay at home orders were put in place for the safety of individuals overall, these

same stay at home order are putting others in great danger. While putting them in danger, the

closure of nonessential businesses has left victims with nowhere to turn to.
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & ITS EFFECTS SINCE THE COVID-19
Indication of how sources were found

To find my sources for this assignment, I was able to use EBSCO databases. For the majority of

the sources, they came from APA PsycInfo (Amalesh & Sourav, 2020; Kofman, 2020;

Leguizamon, 2020; Sabrine et al., 2020). To find my first source (Leguizamon, 2020), I searched

“domestic violence.” From there, I searched “COVID-19.” Not many articles relating to the

direction I wanted to go in for this assignment appeared. To find the remainder of my APA

PsycInfo articles, I search “domestic violence and COVID-19.” I next used APA PsycArticles to

find my last journal article (Bagwell-Gray, 2020). I was able to search “domestic violence and

COVID-19” here as well to find this article. Lastly, I simply looked up the CDC on google in

order to find those that are most at risk for virus (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

2020).
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & ITS EFFECTS SINCE THE COVID-19
References

Amalesh, S., & Sourav, B. B. (2020). Covid-19 and domestic violence: An indirect path to Social

and economic crisis. APA PsycInfo.

http://dx.doi.org.setonhill.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s10896-020-00188-8 

Bagwell-Gray, M. E. (2020). Safety and services for survivors of intimate partner violence: A

researcher-practitioner for dialogue on the impact of COVID-19. APA PsycArticles.

http://dx.doi.org.setonhill.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/tra0000869 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). People at increased risk.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/index.html

Kofman, Y.B. (2020). Home is not always a haven: The domestic violence crisis amid the

COVID-19 pandemic. APA PsycInfo.

http://dx.doi.org.setonhill.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/tra0000866 

Leguizamon, J. S. (2020). Revisting the link between economic distress, race, and domestic

violence. APA PsycInfo.

http://dx.doi.org.setonhill.idm.occlc.org/10.1177/0886260517711177

Sabrine, S., Yosra, Z., Sami, O., Uta, O., Soumaya, B., Rabaa, J., & Fethi N. (2020). Women’s

mental health: acute impact of COVID-19 pandemic on domestic violence. APA

PsycInfo. http://dx.doi.org.setonhill.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s00737-020-01082-4 
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & ITS EFFECTS SINCE THE COVID-19
Screenshots
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & ITS EFFECTS SINCE THE COVID-19