Karen Kenney's Domestic Violence

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

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.

I am not a scholar in psychology. I am however the mother, aunt, friend, and widow of five suicide victims, all of which were victims or witnesses of either child abuse or domestic violence as a child. According to (Bragg, H L.), “Children who have been exposed to domestic violence normally fall into one of three categories; the first one is behavior, social, and emotional problems. The second category includes cognitive and attitudinal problems and the last category is long-term problems.” (2003). This research is reinforced by (Children’s Bureau/ACYF/ACF/HHS), which states that”

PTSD is defined as moments where a person feels extreme terror, horror, or even when they could feel hopeless. Children, who may already feel like they can’t do anything, can have worse reactions to situations like domestic violence. A child witnessing or even being a victim of domestic violence can feel hopeless, useless or really any of the traumatic feelings from above and can develop PTSD. In a study about domestic violence exposure to kids they found that when boys encountered abuse they reacted more strongly than the girls did, even if girls reacted differently in other non-violence related instances (Evans). A different study in South Africa showed that kids who witnessed or who were the victims of domestic violence were more likely to get married later on in their life, and what they had went through as a child, could haunt them or their families for their entire life. It could even transfer over to their kids, and keep the cycle going for generations to come. These kids were also more likely to not graduate from high school. Which can keep them from getting important jobs to be able to take care of their families. These kids suffered from depression as well as PTSD. The danger of suicide is present in the lives of some of these children (Marais). It isn't right for them to go through this, especially while they are so young and impressionable. Adults have

There is a social assumption regarding cases of domestic violence which are often stigmatized by the media and by the overall perception of the impact on the victims. The abuser is often stereotyped as a man who is a crazed psychopath with violent tendencies. This stereotype, while correct in the physical impact of what occurs in most violent perpetrators, does not include the mental health impact on all parties involved when domestic violence occurs. This impact is not only influential on the survivors and children of domestic violence; it is also important to recognize the impact of domestic violence on the mental health of the abuser.

A child who was exposed or, experienced violence suffers multiply negative physical and mental health outcomes. Violence is especially distressing for smaller children, because they spend more time with their parents. Since, smaller children rely more on their parents to protect them and make their environment safe. Violence at home creates a stressful environment and also health problems that carries on into their adulthood. Exposure to violence at home may teach a child to learn to be more aggressive, fight and have antisocial behavior. Children who are exposed to violence at home have lower levels of self-esteem and social skills. “Research shows that the exposure to family violence during the early years when the capacity for emotion regulation is growing and children attachment to parents is strongest. It is important for children to feel wanted and can trust parents. If the trust is broken it’s disrupt child’s attachment and brain development. The plasticity of a child’s brain development have both negative and positive outcome. Positive in which a child is open to learn new things, but is also negative because the earliest stage is “vulnerable to development problems should their environment prove especially impoverished or un-nurturing.” Even though a child is exposed to traumatic events, they can be help by confronting.

A child, for example, may go through a traumatic experience that may consist of either exposure to verbal or physical violence between parents or physical abuse towards the child (Kozlowska & Hanney, 2001). Young children tend to be more vulnerable to the negative effects of domestic violence (Webb, 2007). For example, children who live in a home with domestic violence that includes physical assault, mental humiliation and degradation, are likely to have lower interpersonal sensitivity, empathy and also lack appropriate interpersonal problem solving skills (Thompson & Trice-Black, 2012). As a result, when children who are exposed to this, they are at a greater risk for developing violent behaviour, criminal activity, and poor parenting practices when they transition into adulthood (Thompson & Trice-Black,

As a survivor of domestic violence, they are still at risk for several mental health issues. These mental health issues include, but are not limited to, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. There are not a lot of studies on the impact of domestic violence, but (Symes, Maddoux, McFarlane, Nava, Gilroy, 2014) states, Emerging evidence suggests an intergenerational effect of abuse to the mother on behavioural functioning of the child (p. 2910). There are lasting consequences for children who witness domestic violence whether it’s visibly or audibly. Seeing your mother, father, or guardian being abused has a huge impact on their lives as adults. Some see domestic violence as a cycle. Some children get stuck in a cycle and grow up repeating the actions of the perpetrator. These children tend to have elevated levels of aggression, hostility, depression, anger and some just withdraw from those around them. Some children tend to suffer from boughts of anxiety, develop sleep disorders, and start having nightmares. According to (Young, Lehman, Faherty & Sandefer, 2016), because domestic violence can have serious negative consequences for children, it is essential that professionals who serve children receive training to help them better understand the dynamics of these relationships and how to identify and respond to child victims. (p. 672). According to (Triplett, White, Gainey, 2013), ‘‘A premise is that faith-based groups will be better able to enlist and

Domestic violence impacts individuals and their relationships in a huge way. Studies show that children who have witnessed domestic violence, in any way, are most likely to continue the cycle and abuse their future children, wife or anyone close to them Not only that, but domestic violence causes children to develop phobias and insomnia, experience depression, have diminished self-esteem, demonstrate poor academic performance, have reduced social skills (including low levels of empathy), show emotional distress, and/or have physical complaints/ailments. This can affect any future relationship that the child might have, or even their current relationships with their friends. Adults who find themselves in these violent situations can suffer from

In the United States, it is said that approximately 1.5 million women and 830,000 men experience some type of physical or sexual assault every year by intimate partners; this type of abuse is widely called domestic violence. Furthermore, more than 15 million children live in families in which domestic violence occurs in the United States. With the massive amounts of children who are exposed to domestic violence, we as a society need to understand that children who are exposed to domestic violence can be damaged not only physically but can also indirectly including the suffering from an unhealthy emotional development. Exposure of children to domestic violence can have long lasting or even permanent harm to the child. With more and more research

What else plays a role into this is that it effects the family and by that it affects the kids drastically. Children of victims often witness the abuse. This exposure to domestic violence is harmful and can cause an age-dependent negative effects to the children’s psychological health. Such negative effects could become fearful and anxious (Katz, 2016). The children are always on guard, watching and waiting for the next violent event to occur. The children that experience the even would never know what will trigger the abuse. For this they would never feel safe. They will always be worried for themselves, their mother or father, and their siblings. They also may feel worthless and/or powerless because they couldn’t do anything to prevent the violent event from happening.

Domestic Violence is a problem sweeping the nation. This problem can affect anyone from anywhere but is generally acting out upon children and adult women in abusive relationships. Domestic violence is emotionally and physically scarring for anyone involved, and as a result could take multiple intervention meetings to begin to understand the issue, alleviate the associated problems, and to assist the victim in getting back on his or her feet. The consequences of abuse include anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and self-harm. Children may begin to act differently to their usual behavior - withdrawal is very common, as is self-harming (Khan, 2012). There are two ways that people can consider interventions for victims of

Domestic violence is a widespread social problem affecting women, men, and children. This phenomenon cuts across cultures and social strata, increasing the likelihood for psychological and emotional issues for the victim and family members. Waldman, Finzi-Dottan, and Weintraub (2013, p. 57) affirm from their findings, "Abused women are not a homogenous group, and the repeated traumatic events throughout their lives may result in formation of insecure attachment patterns and PTSD which consequently, may impact their perceived parenting." In other words, domestic abuse victims may suffer long-term consequences, which can ultimately affect their parenting as well.

research conducted by Edleson shows the findings that children that are expose to domestic violence have negative psychological impact, those children are at high risk for depression, anxiety, and attachment disorder. To add, they also demonstrated aggression, not being able to follow rules, and delinquency. Overall, this research revels in depth the psychological effects that happen after a child being expose to domestic violence in comparison with children that have not been exposed to domestic violence.

Children of domestic violence are 3 times more likely to repeat the same cycle in their adulthood, as growing up with domestic violence is the most significant predictor of whether or not someone will be engaged in domestic violence later in life (Childhood Domestic Violence Association). Think about how many children are living in a situation just like this, really picture yourself in the life of these children. Some children are forced to hide the thing that happened to them or the family around them, they are suffering because things that happened to their parent/guardian.