Effects of domestic violence on children - Essay Example

Domestic violence creates a sense of deprivation in children because they need attention and care. When parents are busy fighting in the house, children cannot get the appropriate attention they need. The long term effects of domestic violence can be severe and may include drug abuse, alcohol addiction, and subservient behavior. In this essay we will focus on the perilous effects of domestic violence on children. Drug Abuse Children are immature when it comes to their understanding of the world around them.

They have no idea about the dynamics of marital life therefore they do not understand the physical or verbal abuse they witness in their homes. The worst moment is when a child is attempting to understand why his or her parents are fighting. While connecting the dots in order to find the reason behind the chaos in home, the child ends up either believing that he or she is causing the problem or becomes frustrated and tries to look a doorway out form the situation. Parents expect that a teenager should understand the stress they face in their office life?

A 13 year old is not equipped to handle such problems because his mind is still immature. Parents should understand this before fighting in front of children. A child has no option but to go outside, and stay outside for a long time when the environment of home is not friendly. In an attempt to escape from the troubles of home children start to hang outside and this is when they engage into bad activities like drug abuse. Children are also susceptible to peer pressure therefore are easy targets of drug abuse.

Domestic violence also creates a need to grow inside children so that they can escape the situation in which they are in. And because they want to become adults quickly, they pretend to do what elders do. This is how children who experience domestic violence indulge in drug abuse. Alcohol Addiction Alcohol addiction is way through which teenagers try to forget the miseries of their life. The family life gives them so much trouble that they want to forget everything about the home. Alcohol seems to be the only alternative that is easily available and it also helps teenagers.

Domestic abuse is known to affect the stability and well being of the children (Rossman, 36). Alcohol addiction is a way in which the well being of children is affected. Alcohol addiction is not a sudden outcome of domestic violence. Children are slowly and gradually detached from their family, and then they become addicted to alcohol. It can therefore be said that alcohol addiction is a long term consequence of domestic abuse. There comes a time in a child’s life when he or she hangs out with his or her friends outside of home.

This is after 14 or 15 years of age, and this is the time when teenagers are most susceptible to alcohol addiction. Children who face domestic violence crave for attention and my want to fit in. This is why they are more susceptible to alcohol addiction. Subservient Behavior Children who see or experience domestic violence become subservient. They are usually too weak to make a difference and this breeds helplessness. This helplessness is not unlearned throughout their life because a childhood is the time when personality is molding.

Any significant incident in the childhood is therefore impacts the whole future life of a person. Submissive behavior is witnessed in children who face domestic violence (Goodman & Rosenberg). Domestic abuse also makes children dependent on others. Because they have never been control of