[Is there a social consensus which defines and understands the problems of conjugal violence?]

Why is that some relationships, initially harmonious, tip into violence and abuse? Many studies have examined the phenomenon to attempt to circumscribe the incidence and seize its dynamics. These studies seem to bring out a social phenomenon of quite serious amplitude. Thus, according to a study conducted by MacLeod and Cadieux in 1980, one in ten women is battered on a regular basis. According to Statistics Canada, in 1993, 25% of Canadian women have been victim of violence by their partner since the age of sixteen. Among this group, 15% are still living with the same partner. Moreover, despite programs destined to help victims of conjugal violence, the number of cases declared appears to have diminished. Such alarming results have brought many researchers to study the problem further. In the last ten years, some progress has thus been realized in the understanding of the phenomenon of violence against women. Programs of intervention, government involvement, judiciarization of certain forms of abuse, sensitization of the public regarding conjugal violence as well as denunciation of cases of violence have marked this progress. In spite of a rising conscience regarding conjugal violence, research sometimes runs up against obstacles. In spite of complex modelization of concepts and factors of prediction of the phenomenon, results sometimes appear disappointing. Thus, is there a social consensus on a definition of the problem and its dynamics? The authors will try to answer this question by reviewing different theoretical approaches used to define conjugal violence. They will then attempt to make a critical analysis of these theories by examining different empirical studies realized in this field.