Domestic Violence Topics

Believe it or not exposure to violence affects children in many ways. Children are like sponges they absorb everything they see. Children who are exposed to violence in their homes become fearful, anxious, and never feel safe. They are always worried for themselves, their mother, and their siblings. They may even feel worthless and powerless. Many children will keep the abuse a secret and not tell anyone but as time progresses they will think that it’s their fault and that that’s why the violence is occurring. Children exposed to abuse can look normal to the

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

Many children are victims of violence; this violence may be physical, or emotional, direct or indirect. In certain situations, the child’s experience

Children need to be exposed to violence to understand it and to help prevent violent outbursts later on in life. Awareness is everything in this century, so better to prepare your children than to let them only experience violence when something bad happens. Violence is thanks to the human race and it is something that will be in our lives forever or until we can find peace within ourselves, so better have the knowledge than to be

When children become more aware of the violence and have a better understanding, they may take it upon themselves to intervene in the violence, something more common for older children (Mullender et al., 2002). This can come in the form of verbal distractions, such as

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.

Leaving children in an environment that puts them at risk for social emotional developmental problems has become a controversial issue among child protection workers. In cases where children witness violence there is no proof that they will all turn out to be resilient rather the children will be affected. Although resiliency does exist and a number of children who witness IPV have been able to develop without severe emotional problems that affect them directly however they may lead to the internalizing of problems (Holmes,

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.

For the children, they might be feeling guilty for the violence that is happening in the family (blame). Most times they start to withdraw from friends, there attitudes toward school might change, there grades can go from A’s to F’s. The children’s behavior might change, they might become aggressive, and become depressed. They might become a bully or be bullied because the violence they are witnessing at

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

For children living in violent and unsafe homes, they are learning that hitting and verbally abusing someone is the proper way of communicating love. According to Holt, Buckley & Whelan (2008), “as they learn a generational cycle begins in which children grow up to be victims and abusers as adults.” The effects that domestic violence has on children are heartbreaking. Some of the major effects are; increased risk of poor health, poor education, isolation, learned helplessness and decreased satisfaction in such family environment.

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

In addition to poverty, chaotic homes also correlated with behavior problems in children. Chaotic homes involve domestic violence, divorce, and substance abuse. Studies showed that three to four million children who are between the ages of three and seventeen are at risk of witnessing domestic violence each year (Domestic Violence Roundtable, 2008). Research has also shown that 80 to 90 percent of children who came from domestic violence families knew that there was violence taking place in the home (Pagelow, 1990). Children who witness and are exposed to domestic violence in their homes experience emotional, mental, and social harm that can affect development and behavior. Children who witness frequent domestic violence showed heightened levels

The purpose of this study is to see whether or not domestic violence causes a damaging affect on children. The study will included criminal justice students in College and the age range will be between 18 and 23 years old. The method is qualitative and will be an interview.