ABSTRACT
Within the term ‘family abuse’ are included family practices involving emotional, psychological, sexual and physical abuse of family member(s) by other family member(s). Levinson lists some forty distinct types of family violence (Levinson, 1989, p. 26). Included is child sexual abuse, marital rape, elder abuse, physical child abuse, physical violence towards and between partners. One of the clearest and broadest definitions was proposed in 1993 by Penhale in a review of elder abuse but is applicable elsewhere, ‘Most definitions of abuse, however, include the following categories: physical abuse; sexual abuse; psychological and social abuse (e.g. emotional and verbal abuse and harassment; isolation or abandonment); and financial (or material) abuse and exploitation’ (1993, p. 96).
