Domestic Violence: The Role Of Parenting

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.

Anderson, S.A. & Cramer-Benjamin, D.B. (1999). The Impact of Couple Violence on Parenting and Children: An Overview and Clinical Implications. American Journal of Family Therapy, 27(1), 1-19.

(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.

Buckner, J.C., Beardslee, W.R., & Bassuk, E.L. (2004). Exposure to violence and low-income children’s mental health: Direct, moderated and mediated relations. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 74, 413.

That being said, the biggest issue within the parent-child relationship in regards to violence is the “normalizing of isolation”. This term addresses parents ignorance towards their child’s actions. For the betterment of society, all parents need to gain a better understanding of their child’s development in order to detect any red flags that may persist within their youth. These red flags are anything that could lead the parent to believe that their child is leading down the path of being antisocial, because there has been a strong correlation in that many mass shooters in the past have suffered from being antisocial. If a child does not develop a strong and social relationship with their parents it can eventually lead them to having a tougher time responding to certain circumstances they will eventually face when they grow older, as they will be obligated to make decisions for themselves. “The mother's strong affectionate attachment to her child is the child's best buffer against a life of crime.” (Fagan). Obviously, it is difficult to recognize or predict which people will commit an act of mass violence in the future, but there are definitely many ways parents could prevent their children from potentially being the ones to do so.

This reading evaluate the trends for violence, crime, and abuse in the lives of children. This study provides updated estimates for exposure to a wide variety of offenses, including violence, crime, and abuse. This exposure is wide spread in the short term and over the developmental life course. Children and youth are exposed to violence, abuse, and crime in varied and extensive ways, which justifies continued monitoring and prevention

According to the United States department of Justice, Over sixty percent of American children are exposed to a type of violence every year (Finkelhor, D., Turner, H., Ormrod, R., Hamby, S., and Kracke, K. 2009). These forms of violence can be perpetrated by a victims home, community or school, with majority of children knowing the perpetrator(s). These experiences with violence whether primary or secondary, can cause serious psychological trauma to a child and in worst case scenarios death. The 2009 survey by the Department of Justice also found that children exposed to any form of violence were more likely to engage in violence in the future and almost forty percent of these children were exposed to multiple acts of violence ( pg.2). The

The exposure to community violence exists among various socioeconomic, cultural, and racial groups. But, African American low-income youth in urban communities has displayed to be substantially in jeopardy of being exposed to violence in their community compared to other populations in the United States (Stein et al. 2003). Furthermore, adolescents were more commonly exposed to community violence than younger children. Children tend to navigate close to home where a parent or caregivers are shadowing them. Nonetheless, adult supervision can be inconsistent and portray negative behaviors or influences in the home or daycare, which can influence a child through observation. Especially, if a child is unsupervised and/or positioned in an unstructured setting, he or she is more susceptible to violence (Goldner et al.

Recently, there has been an emphasis on the adverse effects of children 's exposure to violence between their adult family members and the

Whenever we talk about the subject of domestic violence, the first concern that we have is on adults who have experienced it. However, little attention has been paid to children who were exposed to domestic violence. The tragic reality of a long term effects for who have experienced domestic violence is not only to adult but their children. The younger the children is the harder for them to understand violence and coping with it. Therefore, children who witness their parents being abused are more likely to growing up thinking hurting people is a way to protect themselves or that is okay to being hurt by other. According to a study, nearly “4.8 million acts of physical or sexual aggression are perpetrated against women while 2.9 million physically

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

It is common for parents and their children to have disagreements and to have arguments but sometimes these disagreements can turn into abuse. Children usually use violence to try to “control or bully them” (Parenting and Child Health, n.d.) This violence usually occurs when the child “frightens, threatens or physically hurts them. It can involve using abusive language, pushing, shoving, kicking, throwing things, or threatening with knives or other weapons” ((Parenting and Child Heathen’s.) Children may abuse their parents due to the normalization of that parent getting abused by the other parent within their household. The child may use the parent that abusing the other parent as a model for the way they should act towards their parent as well and justify their actions simply as something that they observed in their household. The violence that children commit against their parents affects that subsystem because it leaves it broken. There is a strain within the parent and child relationship that forms a direct result of constant conflict and abuse between the child and parent. Sometimes, in child-child relationships, an older sibling may become “more aggressive” with their younger sibling because of the abuse that they have witnessed and been exposed to. (Fantuzzo, Mohr, 1999) The children can become socialized by the parents to believe that

Statistics indicate many aggressors at some point or another have witnessed acts of violence. During childhood, these observed behaviors can have a major impact and influence on adolescent and adult attitudes, perception of self and others. "Children become more susceptible and prone to negative and dangerous behaviors which can

Throughout the course of one’s lifetime, there are countless events that shape the personality, actions and mentality of that individual. Some of these events will affect the individual in a positive way allowing great life opportunities, while other events will unfortunately affect the individual in a negative way which can lead to disorders. Among the various events that can affect a person, one of the most common occurrences that some children witness early on in their lives that deeply affect their long-term mental health is being a witness to domestic violence. Research and observations that were studied revealed that there are multiple factors that can contribute to a child witnessing domestic violence. The more categories that the

Children learn very early about right and wrong. The exposure to violence at a young age can have an effect on a person’s development and behavior as an adult. Children who witness violence often are more aggressive. Those rejected by their parents are more likely to experience PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and problems with social information processing, which can lead to violence toward their intimate partners. A violent upbringing and a lack of early positive experiences, increases a child’s tendency to become violent in the future.