Domestic Violence and Children

“Abuse is still seriously under reported. I was told by leading British social worker that when they hold training courses for employees, they find that a third of the females and slightly less of the males come forward to talk about their childhood experiences of being abused. Over ninety percent of parents as some time hit their children – and some people hit them several times a week – so there is a great deal of emotional hurt, fear and physical pain in the world today” (Davis 251). For this reason alone it makes perfect sense why violent crime rates are so frighteningly high.

There is no real way to tell if a child exposed to intimate partner violence will one day grow up to abuse his or her significant other but there are indicators which will be presented later on in this paper. As well as the short-term and long-term effects that witnessing intimate partner violence can have on children. First off we’ll delve into what intimate partner violence is and some of the national statistics.

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.

Violence in any form can have a lasting effect on a person. Children who witness violence are permanently scarred because of what they are seeing. Children who witness family or domestic violence are affected in ways similar to children who are physically abused. Children are often unable to establish nurturing bonds with either parent and are at a greater risk for abuse and neglect if he or she lives in a violent home. Statistics show that an estimated 3.3 million children are exposed to violence against their mothers or female caretakers by family members in their home each year (Ackerman & Pickering, 1989). When a spouse, woman or male is abused, and there are

In 2006, an estimated 905,000 children were victims of child abuse or neglect. Statistically, the amount of children that suffer from such abuse is 1 in 10. Younger children are the most vulnerable to the maltreatment that is performed by their parents or guardians. Over 25% of abused children are under the age of 3 and 45% are under the age of 5. The rate of child mortality is higher for boys than girls and 85% of fatalities are caucasian children (Child Abuse Facts 1).

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

Domestic violence has come to be quite the normal for both genders, but more recurrent for women and children. The National Council on Child Abuse and Family Violence has stated that, “It is a crime committed every 15 seconds, against a woman and possibly her child” (National Council on Child Abuse & Family Violence). From 1994 to 2010, about 4 in 5 victims of partner violence were female, and nearly half of all women in the United States have experienced a form of psychological aggression from their partner in their lifetime (The National Domestic Violence Hotline). Unfortunately, the child or children living in the household are also in high risk of being neglected as well. Most children are aware of the violence occurring in the household, but

As mentioned before and regarding gender, women are far more likely than men to be victims of domestic violence (Kimmel and Holler, 2011, 375). Sev’er (2002) suggests an interesting finding regarding men and women who have fallen victim or have witnessed domestic abuse in their childhood. In her findings, Sev’er concluded that in comparison to non-violent men, violent men were three times more likely to have witnessed violence as a child, meanwhile, women who were raised in violent homes were twice as likely to fall victim to a form of domestic violence as opposed to women who were not raised in non-violent homes (109). As a child, if their role models, such as their fathers, got away with violence, they would assume that violent behaviour was acceptable (Sev’er, 2002, 109)

Department of Health and Human Services confirmed over 754,000 cases of child maltreatment; nearly 18% were victims of physical maltreatment or child physical abuse (Tucker & Rodriguez, 2014). Stress is a major contributor to child physical cruelty possibility. Parent-child aggression can be characterized along with a selection, where physical discipline alternates at some point to become physically violent, contributing to the difficulty in unique physical discipline switches at some points to become physically abusive. Physical abuse often occurs within the environment of a parent administering physical discipline. The concept of child abuse potential includes beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors identified in abusive parents to estimate the likelihood that a parent will engage in physical discipline that becomes abusive. Family dysfunction alone has long been recognized as insufficient to lead to abuse. Abusive families are more likely to display an unstable and unpredictable family structure. Larger family size was associated with greater abuse

Children who witness domestic violence in their home often experience a multitude of mental and emotional difficulties. Many studies have shown childhood violence is associated with depression, incarceration and committing domestic violence themselves Buckley et al. (2007) and Katz, Settler & Gurtovenko (2016). Scholars also found that children who are both witnesses and victims both have increased levels of aggression and behavior problems Sternberg, Lamb, Guterman & Abbott (2006). Not only are children prone to aggression and behavior problems, witnessing domestic violence makes children susceptible to post traumatic stress disorder. Meltzer et al. (2009) found children who have witnessed domestic violence to be fearful and show more anxiety and depression than other children who did not experience domestic violence.

Children who are exposed to violence/abuse have a higher risk of having emotional and behavioural problems

Young boys in the family who grow up watching their father mistreat their mother are more likely to abuse their spouse as they grow older. Past family history of domestic violence gives young boys the idea that women are weak and are not to be respected during their relationship. Young girls who eyewitness their family going through domestic violence are likely to be victimized by their spouse (Goldsmith 1).

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.

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.

Domestic violence affects 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men (NCADV, 2015). Although the devastating effects that domestic violence has on women are well known, there is a population of domestic violence victims that we tend to overlook. These are the children of the women and men who are in domestic violence situations. Children are the invisible victims when it comes to domestic violence. There are many statistics being thrown around when it comes to the number of children who are exposed to domestic violence; they range from as little as 200,000 to even 3-18 million (Sousa et. al., 2011). A 2001 study discovered that in 75% of the cases in their study, children were present in the home during the assaults (Hutchison & Hirschel, 2001).