It is a complex process involving psychology, personal finance, and often religion.
It is the breach of domestic anticipation, often leading to a divorce or dissolution of the marital relationship.
The famous 1989 movie The War of the Roses depicts an extremely violent marital breakdown, where two otherwise reasonable people break down into violent fits of anger directed at one another.
In most states, a domestic violence restraining order (also sometimes called an Order of Protection) is routinely granted when one domestic partner proves that the other has caused violence.
In Hausa culture, divorce refers to the wife receiving an agreement that the husband has rejected the marriage; she is expected to return to her father's house.