The Effects Of Domestic Violence On Children

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.

Groves, B.M. (1999). Mental Health Services for Children Who Witness Domestic Violence. The Future of Children, 9(3), 122-132.

(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.

There are millions of examples of children who not only witness intimate partner violence (IPV) but also has been victimized. ( Christoff, Murrell & Henning, 2007) Children exposed to these kinds of violent behavior at such a young age also show signs of these behaviors, many violent, as adults. Evidence shows that witnessing violent behavior as a child correlates to patterns of abuse into adulthood as well. (Murrell et al., 2007) Over the years there has been a growing recognition that young people who witness IPV is has much of the same impact as a child victimized of abuse. This often damages their long term social and emotional well-being. Having a safe place outside of the home along with a supportive

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

The “estimated overlap of domestic violence and child abuse is 30 to 50 percent” of all cases (Henderson 321). As the child grows older and sees the violence in their household there is a possibility that the child will think that it is acceptable.

Domestic violence is a widespread sociological problem wherein women and children are most often the victims. This sociological problem is compounded by the fact that so much domestic violence goes under-reported, whether against women or children. Domestic violence may take a wide range of forms and may include a variant combination of battery, sexual abuse, verbal abuse or general violence. Targets of such behaviors may include a spouse, child or both. For the purposes of this research, there will be an interest in noting the impact on children who are exposed to violence both directly as the victims of abuse or indirectly as witnesses to spousal abuse. In either instance, the same findings are anticipated. Namely, the primary thesis driving 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

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.

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).

In their research, Said Pournaghash-Tehrani and Z Feizabadi intend to determine the predictability of physical and psychological violence occurring from early Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which they describe as either witnessing or being the victim of domestic violence. To determine this, they administer questionnaires to couples seeking divorce due to domestic violence and assess the types of physical and psychological violence and their history of abuse from their parents. They find that witnessing domestic violence as a child can effectively predict various types of physical and psychological violence such as hitting and cursing. The information they learn here is supported by multiple other research results that all show witnessing

Edleson (1999) describes adult-to-adult domestic violence as a wide range of events, such as the child directly viewing the violence, hearing it, being used as a tool of the perpetrator, and experiencing the aftermath of violence. For example, a perpetrator hitting or threatening a child while in his or her mother’s arms, taking the child hostage to force the mother’s return to the home, using a child as a physical weapon against the victim, forcing the child to watch assaults against the mother or to participate in the abuse, and using the child as a spy or interrogating him or her about the mother’s activities (pg. 4). As a result of the high prevalence of domestic violence and the increased likelihood that children will be exposed to

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.

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).