Family violence: an illustrated guide to the terminology

Although there is an increasing awareness of the severity of health consequences of family violence, there is little standardisation of terminology within the national and international literature. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners recognises physical, emotional, economic, social, sexual, psychological, verbal and spiritual abuse as forms of family violence. Family violence includes any violence or abuse that occurs within a family, including between partners, parents, children, siblings, uncles or aunts, cousins, grandparents and in-laws. Complexities arise because of the pervasive nature of violence when trying to differentiate the types of violence and individual victims. For example, studies show that 50% of children who experienced physical abuse and 40% of children who experienced sexual abuse have a mother who experienced intimate partner violence.