Throughout history and in all nations, family members have experienced violence and abuse. Family violence is a multi‐causal phenomenon that develops as people interact in many contexts and thus can be described in ecological terms. This chapter uses human ecology as a framework to examine how individual actions and contextual influences contribute to violence and can be treated at each level. These ecological contexts include (a) social and cultural influences such as patriarchy, legal, and economic structures; (b) community factors of isolation, dependence, silence, and substance misuse; (c) relational modes, including anger, revenge, indignation, control, and antisociality; and (d) physiological, including diffuse arousal, chronic dysregulation, emotional contagion, synchrony, and neurobiology. Implications for research, policy, and clinical intervention are discussed.