The woman is often frightened into staying - the man may do anything from threatening suicide to threatening to kill her. Many women feel it is their own fault if they are getting hit and assaulted and they are ashamed to admit it to people around them. He is despite all the man she has loved and shared her life with. He is often the father of the children. Walking out is not an easy thing to do.
Children also suffer in a family with a violent father.
Children react in very different ways. They feel bad and become unsettled. Some of them become silent, others become troublemakers. Many children, too, take the blame for the violence on themselves. Children who have grown up in a family in which violence is prevalent tend to believe that this is the only way to solve conflicts.