Effect of Domestic Violence on Children - Literature review Example

Effect of Domestic Violence on Children al Affiliation: Effect of Domestic Violence on Children Introduction Domestic violence on children refers to the impact that is directed on a child who grows up in a family whereby the parents/spouses are always abusing each other. This research will cover the effects of domestic violence on children Literature review It is difficult to count and measure the extent of domestic violence and hence it becomes difficult to be definite about the number of children who are affected or who suffer the effects of domestic violence. However, it is estimated that 85-90% of all incidences of domestic violence occur when the children are present (Department of Community Services, 2002). In approximately 50% of all the incidences of domestic violence, the children are directly abused in the course of the violence. In the USA, approximately 3-4 million children aged between three to seventeen years are exposed to domestic violence every year. Statistics have shown that in most cases of domestic violence, women are the victims of their male partners. Domestic violence can take various forms such as hearing, observing or being aware. The child may not have seen their parents being in violence but may have heard them fight. The children may also witness the violence happening. In other occasions although rare, the children may have never seen their parents fight or even may have never heard but they may be aware that such things happen in their family. According to the western culture, a child deserves to be raised in a home where he is protected and loved. Domestic violence destroys the nurturing environment, and it negatively affects all the normal tasks of growing up (Cooper & Vetere, 2005). A child exposed to domestic violence gains certain characteristics that limit them from getting along well with other children and even not performing well in school. A recent research conducted in the USA showed that above half of the children that witnessed domestic violence were physically injured and assaulted (Department of Community Services, 2002). Although the violence was not directed to them, the children were accidentally injured. Some of the children got injured as they attempted to stop the violence or protect one of the parties in the family. Most of the cases that are recorded by the child protection authorities concern domestic violence. Extreme levels of domestic violence have taken away the lives of children although such cases are rare (Holt, Buckley, & Whelan, 2008). According to a research by Holt, that investigated the relationship of death of children and domestic violence, 30% of the children’s death had a relationship to domestic violence or the child’s social experience (Holt, Buckley, & Whelan, 2008). Children who are exposed to domestic violence are often separated from the community, friends and families (Roberts, 2002). After incidences of domestic violence, most families breakup, and one of the spouses has to relocate. Relocation of the spouses leads to the child in such a family losing contact to their friends since they change from one school to another. Such children spend a lot of time making new friends and before they are settled, they relocate again. The child suffers emotionally when they are separated from their neighbors, friends and schoolmates. A comparison between children who have witnessed domestic violence to those who have never witnessed it revealed that those exposed to domestic violence had frequent emotional problems (Roberts, 2002). Children exposed to domestic problems have behavioral problems and emotional imbalance. Domestic violence leads to behavioral, physical and psychological problems to children and their parents and hence the growing environment of the child is destroyed. According to MacGee, domestic violence consists of sexual, physical and psychological abuse and they all have negative effects to a child (MacGee, 2000). Physical violence among the parents has a high probability of affecting a child and it causes a lot of suffering to the child. The effects of physical domestic violence on a child start even before they are born. When a mother is exposed to domestic violence, she may end up experiencing a miscarriage or giving birth to a baby before the full gestation period. If either of the two does not occur, the fetus develops poorly. Some children are born underweight or with mental problems and such conditions affect their entire life. The brain of a child whose mother is exposed to domestic violence while pregnant develops slowly, and it may lead to hyperactive children syndrome (MacGee, 2000). At a very tender age, their mothers always hold the infant most of the time. On the occurrence of violence between the spouses, the woman may use the child as a shield and hence threaten the life of the baby (Cleaver, 2007). In such an occasion, the baby may suffer physically from a fight he/she does not comprehend. Babies are very sensitive to their surrounding and can tell when their caregivers are not at peace. When in a family with frequent violence, the baby tends to develop depression and anxiousness and hence may not grow normally. The brain development of a child is very sensitive especially in the babies first year since it grows from 25% to 66% in weight (Cleaver, 2007). When exposed to stressing conditions at this particular time the brain of the baby may not be in a position to handle stress later in life. During the young age of between 1-3 years, the baby is supposed to develop an attachment to their parents. According to Kitzmann, research has proved that in families with domestic violence, the child lacks enough love and therefore does not develop the required amount of attachment and affection to the parents (Kitzmann et al, 2003). This translates to the paper having emotional problems and the baby may often be depressed at most times. Exposure to domestic violence reduces the openness of the baby to either of their parents (Kitzmann et al, 2003). Such children may always seek help from other people since they lacked love and comfort from their parents. Most cases of domestic violence occur during the night. Children being very sensitive to violence tend not to sleep when such an incidence occurs. Such children will, therefore, not have enough sleep and more often, they show symptoms of fatigue and tiredness during the day. Children from such families are also poor in hygiene. The parents have little attention to them, and hence the children are always dirty. Such children feel unloved and are prone to even being attacked by other diseases (Kitzmann et al, 2003). Domestic violence has an impact on the education of the child. A child who experiences domestic violence has little time to study at home due to lack of a studying environment. The parents have no time for their children and do not coach them academically. Apart from the teacher’s guidance, a child requires the parent’s guidance so that they can perform well (Wolfe et al, 2003). Such children fail to complete their assignments and hence end up performing poorly in school. Poor grades demoralize the child and their hope for being better in future fades away. The child has many things running in his/her mind and hence has poor concentration and focus in class (Wolfe et al, 2003). Domestic violence affects the personality and behavior of the child. Most children exposed to such violence have a tendency to show different forms of psychosomatic illnesses and depression. They do not believe in themselves, and they feel rejected by the society. Research has proved that most of them have suicidal tendencies due to depression. The child is not able to face stress and in most cases, they opt to kill themselves in order to dodge the problems they are facing (Sternberg et al, 1993). Most of the children are dragged into drug abuse that continues to destroy their lives. The children may also join gangs as they seek to find a place where they will be appreciated and loved. Such activities destroy the character of the child, and they may end up being bad people in the society. Children exposed to domestic violence show behavioral characteristics such as regressing, uncontrollability and imitational behaviors (Sternberg et al, 1993). They are normally very aggressive and are less social as compared to the other children. According to Terr, children exposed to domestic violence tend to think that violence is an acceptable behavior in intimate relationships and hence they fail in their childhood relationships (Terr, 2001). Such children therefore relate poorly with others and can become outcasts since they are rejected by other children due to their behaviors. They develop trust issues and may act tough to the people they relate with. Their characteristics such as bedwetting reduce their confidence in relationships and its risks them to living their future lives single (Terr, 2001). The children often lie to avoid confrontations and confessions since they try to avoid violence in all ways. They therefore become discreet and secretive about their issues and may opt to suffer alone that sharing their problems to other people. At their adolescent stage, the children are filled with denial and aggression is their only way of solving problems. They do not take responsibility and more often, they blame others or run away from the problem (Sternberg et al, 1993). Their cognitive ability is low and simple situations overcome their reasoning. At the adolescent stage of life, the child requires a lot of guidance from the parents on different issues in life. However, in families with domestic violence, the children do not have the closeness with their parents and hence they do not get a chance to be guided at the adolescent age. The child is normally unsure about many things, which they parents, are supposed to guide the child on. Failure of such guidance may lead to a child involving themselves in activities that affect their lives permanently (MacGee, 2000). Girls end up having early pregnancies, which may distract their education. Boys may be involved in drug abuse or gang violence, which affects their lives negatively. A lot of research has been performed on outcomes of domestic violence on children although the topic is not well covered. Most writers have just addressed the problem but have not given any solutions. The writers of the literatures reviewed did not have contradicting ideas. However, there need a complete research on the whole issue since most of the researchers tackled the topic in small bits. Therefore, there exists a knowledge gap in the topic and hence this research has a lot of significances. In conclusion, research about the effects of domestic violence is required so that the public can be sensitized on its effects. Pre-birth effects of domestic violence have not been fully covered and require further research. Most of the writers focus more on the violence being towards the mothers which is not always the case. It is crucial to empathize how domestic violence directed to the fathers can affect the child. The effects of domestic violence on the child’s personality are not fully covered, and it is essential in covering the topic. It is also significant to discuss the effect of domestic violence on children when they develop their own families later in life. Effects of domestic violence on academic performance require further research in order to give a clear relationship on how they relate. In order to do my research effectively, I will seek to answer these research questions. How does domestic violence affect an unborn child? How does domestic violence affect the education of children? How does domestic violence influence the personality of a child? Does domestic violence in a child’s family contribute to the child being violent to their partners in the future? References Cleaver, H. (2007). Child protection, domestic violence and parental substance misuse: Family experiences and effective practice. London: JKP/Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Cooper, J., & Vetere, A. (2005). Domestic violence and family safety: A systemic approach to working with violence in families. London: Whurr Pubs. Department of Community Services’. (2002, September 24). DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND ITS IMPACT ON CHILDREN’S DEVELOPMENT. Retrieved from http://www.community.nsw.gov.au/docswr/_assets/main/documents/dv_paper.pdf Holt, S., Buckley, H., & Whelan, S. (2008). The impact of exposure to domestic violence on children and young people: A review of the literature. Child abuse & neglect, 32(8), 797-810. Kitzmann, K. M., Gaylord, N. K., Holt, A. R., & Kenny, E. D. (2003). Child witnesses to domestic violence: a meta-analytic review. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 71(2), 339. MacGee, C. (2000). Childhood experiences of domestic violence. London [u.a.: Kingsley. Roberts, A. R. (2002). Handbook of domestic violence intervention strategies: Policies, programs, and legal remedies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sternberg, K. J., Lamb, M. E., Greenbaum, C., Cicchetti, D., Dawud, S., Cortes, R. M., ... & Lorey, F. (1993). Effects of domestic violence on childrens behavior problems and depression. Developmental psychology, 29(1), 44. Terr, L. (2001). Childhood trauma: An outline and overview. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 10-20 Wolfe, D. A., Crooks, C. V., Lee, V., McIntyre-Smith, A., & Jaffe, P. G. (2003). The effects of childrens exposure to domestic violence: A meta-analysis and critique. Clinical child and family psychology review, 6(3), 171-187. Read More