Domestic Violence, Maternal Depression, And Home Environment

Violence affects a healthy family’s relationship, state of mind and well-being, in other words, it’s normal functions. Because of violence, children are forced to endure and cope with mental, physical and emotional trauma leading to a display of impacts on health, development, and wellbeing. The effects build up over time and can impact on every aspect of their life.  How many children and innocent lives must suffer from something unnecessary? Imagine walking into a home late at night to find a child hiding in a corner, with a bloody face and cuts all around their body saying they were self-inflicted or making up other silly excuses like falling down the stairs out of extreme fear. Up to 75% of all acts of domestic violence occurs between the ages 18-24. No child should ever see domestic violence as normal because the moment that happens a future perpetrator has been born. We need to take a stand and refuse to let domestic violence become something we ignore.

This article provides a good introduction for practitioners working with children who witness family violence. The article summarizes the effects domestic violence can have on children such as; aggressiveness, depression, anxiety, learning disabilities, and sleep deprivation. The author stresses the importance of proper identification and assessment of children exposed to domestic violence. There are four goals of intervention described in this article: reducing the child’s sense of isolation, helping children to understand their

(Brescoll & Graham-Bermann, 2000, p.2). Another mental health problem that children who have witnessed domestic violence experience is adjustment problems. There appears to be a wide spread belief that children who witness violence between their parents are at a greater risk of later adjustment difficulties that may include behavior problems (Fergusson & Horwood, 1998, p.3). Young people reporting high levels of exposure to inter-parental violence had elevated rates of adjustment problems by age eighteen (Fergusson & Horwood, 1998, p.1). It is suggested that there are elevated rates of behavioral, emotional, and other problems in children exposed to inter-parental violence (Fergusson & Horwood, 1998, p.3). There seems little doubt that children reared in homes characterized by inter-parental violence were at greater risk of later adjustment difficulties as young adults (Fergusson & Horwood, 1998, p.11). It is quite apparent that there is a link between the witnessing of domestic violence and the mental health problems of the children who witness it.

Mullender et al. (2002) highlighted the fact that although most children manage to remain strong throughout the violence, their mothers were highly aware of the psychological and behavioural consequences it had had upon their children, such as being left with a trauma disorder (Chemtob and Carlson, 2004) along the lines of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (McCloskey and Walker, 2000). Whilst the children were able to display large amounts of ingenuity and adaptability, many children showed signs of being “withdrawn; fearful and anxiety; nightmares and disturbed sleep; becoming overly compliant or aggressive” Mullender et al. (2002, pg 78), with Thiara (2010) acknowledging that ‘selective mutism’ was another common effect that domestic violence had upon children. It was also observed that the children who dealt the least well were the ones where they have experienced longer term violence, where there was a “severe depletion of the mother’s physical and emotional resources” (Mullender et al., 2002, pg 94) and where the family had moved house many times.

Children react to their environment in different ways, and those reactions can vary, depending on the child 's gender and age. Children exposed to family violence are more likely to develop behavioral, emotional, psychological, and social problems than those who are not. Recent research indicates that children who witness domestic violence show anger and temperament problems, depression, low self-esteem, and more anxiety than children who do not witness violence in the home. The trauma they experience can show up in behavioral, physical, social, and emotional disturbances that affect their development and can continue into adulthood.

The formative experiences that define a child's home life will have a lasting impact on the individual as he or she enters the later stages of childhood, adolescence and adulthood. The degree to which one's family life is loving, nurturing, supportive and attentive is a substantial determinant in emotional, social and intellectual development. Accordingly, a home which is abusive, violent, negative and neglectful is more than likely to have deleterious effects for the child both while and well after maintaining residence there. This turns us toward the focus of the present study, which is the impact levied by domestic violence on children.

Domestic violence effects everybody in a family. Patterns of abuse from one parent to another, between both parents or directed toward a child all have a composite effect of inflicting potentially severe emotional damage upon the child. The research outlined here identifies domestic violence as a serious sociological problem and consequently provides a usable definition of domestic violence for the present study. This is followed by a discussion on the various psychological consequences of exposure to domestic violence for a developing child. This includes acknowledgement of the manner in which this exposure may damage the ability to formulate healthy social relationships later in life as well as a greater proclivity toward behavior problems, learning difficulties, substance abuse and a learned pattern of violent tendencies.

Younger children do not have the ability to express or show their emotions which can cause behavioral problems. Even a child who witness domestic violence between their caregivers is more likely to suffer from emotional consequences from seeing violence. The long-term effects of exposure in young children can have negative effects in their later years. These outcomes have been documented as leasing to behavioral problems that include school dropout, violence, teen pregnancy, substance abuse, eating disorders, and even suicide attempts. In conclusion, when parents engage in any type of dynamic of domestic violence or aggression, their children, can be at an extreme disadvantage when it comes to emotional development. There are a variety of risk factors that can affect a child

Exposure to domestic violence can impact the behavioral, social-emotional, and cognitive development of children. Children who are exposed to domestic violence tend to exhibit more aggressive behaviors with their peers, show signs of depression, and have a difficult time forming relationships (Brown & Bzostek, 2003). Cognitively, studies have shown that children exposed to domestic violence may have difficulties learning and concentrating in school, have difficulties with conflict resolution skills, and may believe in male privilege, (Brown & Bzostek, 2003). Concentration is difficult for children exposed to domestic violence because of how unsafe they may feel in their surroundings. They may be preoccupied with the violence that is

When faced with domestic violence these children sometimes carry on violence when they become adults or blame themselves. This article explores theories and situations that show the long term and short term effects of domestic violence. They identified 41 studies that provided relevant and adequate data for inclusion in a meta-analysis. Forty of these studies indicated that children 's exposure to domestic violence was related to emotional and behavioral problems, translating to a small overall effect (Wolfe, Crooks, Lee, McIntyre-Smith, & Jaffe, 2003).

Domestic violence has grown to become a prevalent issue within households in the United States. Being such a great issue, we come to question the percentage of children affected and the impact it has on their social development and interaction with others. It is crucial for us to understand and recognize the long term effects that domestic violence can have on adolescents.

Many women stay with an abusive partner for five main reasons: social background, financial problems, lack of family support, traditions and values (Gharaibeh & Oweis, 2009). Violence against women is a severe problem that creates a negative environment. As a result, other individuals living in the family are also negatively affected when there are sudden changes in a household. Moreover, society needs to acknowledge these negative impacts that occur within the household against women. When violence is perpetuated within families, children often observe their parents and thus reflect violent characteristics in their behaviours; thereby, such features can be passed on for generations. In addition, a positive environment must be enforced for families that are affected by domestic violence; understanding the negative effects is the first

In introduction this paper is going discuss, based on psychological theories, what impact and effects witnessing domestic violence can have on children. The purpose of this paper is to further an understanding on explaining its consequences based on a few psychological theories. It will begin with defining what domestic violence in order to get a clear indication on what it actually involves and further presenting a sample papers studying the question, on its impact and effect, it is suggested to have on children, in order to produce a paper with both high validity and reliability. Then moving onto presenting various psychological theories which on could considered relevant to the topic in question. By further engaging in a discussion in attempt to highlight and acknowledge several aspects regarding its consequences.

Through this article, we learn that infants who experience domestic violence have trouble sleeping and eating, while older children develop a change in behavior and anxiety (McFarlane et al. 2003; Hornor, 2005). Boys who experience violence in the home tend to be more aggressive and disobedient. While on the other hand, girls who experience violence in the home tend to be more introverted and depressed. Nonetheless, both genders are impacted negatively by domestic violence.

Until recently, there have been limited studies focused on the effects of exposure to domestic violence on children. This paper will review various literatures that identify the effects of domestic violence exposure on children. There were many trends in the literatures that were studied but there were two common trends worth mentioning. The first trend was the participants that were used in the studies. Many of the literatures mention that previous studies mainly gathered information from women and children who resided in battered women shelters. The second trend was the methods used for the studies. Many of the studies used surveys and interviews where women and children self-reported on their experiences.