Family violence.

Family violence occurs in many forms; the most prominent are domestic violence, child abuse, and elder abuse. Family violence affects many persons at some point in their life and constitutes the majority of violent acts in our society. Although there has been considerable study of the patterns, risk factors, and interventions for each form of family violence, great controversy still exists within each area. There is growing recognition of an overlap in the patterns, causes, and effective interventions across types of family violence. There is also an increasing awareness of the value of greater integration of theory and research across areas into a family violence approach through an ecological perspective. This review focuses on current knowledge related to these problems and suggests integrative steps to advance knowledge.