Family Abuse and Crime

The major social and demographic risk factors for family violence appear to be the following:

Age. One of the most consistent risk factors is the age of the offender. As with violence between nonintimates, violence is most likely to be perpetrated by those between eighteen and thirty years of age. Relative youth is not a risk factor for elder abuse, although the rate of elder abuse is lower than the rate of the other forms of family violence.

Sex. Similarly with nonintimate violence, men are the most likely offenders in acts of intimate violence. However, the differences in the rates of offending by men compared to women are much smaller for violence in the family than with violence outside the home. Men and women experience similar rates of child homicide, although women appear more likely to be offenders when the child victim is young (under three) and males are the more likely offenders when the child victim is older.

Income. Although most poor parents and partners do not use violence toward intimates, self-report surveys and official report data find that the rates of all forms of family violence, except sexual abuse, are higher for those whose family incomes are below the poverty line than for those whose income is above the poverty line.