The development of violence research database and the synthesis of research on violence issues in Thai society

Abstract

The body of knowledge regarding violence issues in Thai society is significant for the socio-political movements and law reform to cease any form of violence against Thai people. The existing research papers on violence issues conducted in Thailand, so far, were distributed in various institutions and have not yet been systemically complied and effectively utilized. This study aims to analyze and synthesize research on violence issues conducted in the last twenty years (1981-2001) and to place the information into the violence research database initiated on the World Wide Web, http://www.violence.au.edu The 190 research papers were reviewed and classified according to WHO violence classification and subsequently analyzed using qualitative data analysis methods. The content analysis was done and the essence of the research was synthesized by applying the concepts of violence research and women’s health research as the frameworks.The results reveal that most of the existing researches are quantitative and repetitive studies on the causes and factors contributing to the violence occurrences. The survey of incidence and prevalence of the issues, and the attitudes toward violence perpetrators and survivors as well as the characteristics of available services or resources are substantial. Self directed violence research was mainly focused on suicide and attempted suicide cases. Stress from unsolved family problems is the major factor contributing to the rising of suicide among teenagers and adult women. These research findings also reveal that the Thai people lack effective coping skills and seek no assistance when facing with crisis. The limitation of available resources is also problematic. The studies on child abuse and neglect found that children who are witness violence or were raised by abusive parents are likely to be abusers. Thai society lack knowledge and awareness toward this issue and have no effective legal system to isolate children from abusive family and concretely protect children’s rights. The research on violence against women in intimate relationships and/or domestic violence especially those were conducted in 1997 to date reveal that researchers have more insight about gender based violence. Nevertheless, the studies affirming the impact of sex role stereotype and gender double standard that is rampant in Thai patriarchal society are very rare although the concepts were mentioned in certain domestic violence studies. The study to develop problem solving solutions, the improvement of resources and legal systems must be sponsored as priority. Sexual violence research is the most prevalent especially on the issues of stranger rapes. The sensitive nature of this issue kept the researcher from studying about acquaintance rape and misled the extent and characteristics of the problems. Although the empirical research reveals that acquaintance rapes are more common in Thai society, the numbers of scientific research in this area are limited. The results of existing research on sexual violence reflect researcher’s rape myth acceptances and bias attitudes toward rape survivors because of the influence of sex role stereotype and gender double standard socialized in Thai patriarchal society. Gender based violence research and the study of empowerment the women to flight against violence must be continuously supported. The research on adolescent violence, social violence and other forms of violence reveal the common root of problems regarding the limitation of appropriate social and legal system in preventing, diminishing and/or eliminating of the violence issues. Beside the research findings, ethical consideration and principle of human subjects protection in violence research should be seriously enforced among research scientists and constantly pronounced by Thai scientific research community.