Family violence defined in migrant communities

Definitions of family violence are not universally understood or accepted by CALD families, for example, when asked to define abuse; over a third of Chinese American women surveyed associated abuse only with physical violence. Most mentioned hitting and striking, beating and fighting but fewer mentioned sexual, emotional, and verbal abuse (Senturia et al., 2000).

The forms of psychological abuse used in cultural contexts have specific meanings and consequences, for example in the Sri Lankan Tamil community being threatened with being a “castoff wife” and sent back to a war-torn country has significant implications (Mason et al., 2008).