Assessing Children’s Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 2014
Children living in homes where intimate partner violence occurs are often exposed to such violence through witnessing, seeing its effects, hearing about it, or otherwise being made aware that violence is taking place between parents or caregivers. Exposure to intimate partner violence is considered to be a form of child maltreatment, and affected children are often also the victims of targeted child abuse. This paper presents findings from a comprehensive review of the literature on the impact of exposure to intimate partner violence for children and youth, focusing on: (a) neurological disorders; (b) physical health outcomes; (c) mental health challenges; (d) conduct and behavioural problems; (e) delinquency, crime, and victimization; and (f) academic and employment outcomes. The notion of cascading effects informed our framework and analysis as it became evident that the individual categories of impacts were not only closely related to one another, but in a dynamic fashion also influence each other in multiple and interconnected ways over time. The research reviewed clearly shows that children who are exposed to intimate partner violence are at significant risk for lifelong negative outcomes, and the consequences are felt widely in society.
Children’s Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence
Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 2014
Intimate partner violence Child abuse Spouse abuse Mental disorders Child welfare KEY POINTS Children's exposure to IPV is common and associated with impairment similar to other types of maltreatment. There is no evidence to support universal IPV screening; however, clinicians should be alert to signs and symptoms of IPV exposure among children and their caregivers, and include questions regarding IPV and safety at home in their assessments, which should be conducted individually to ensure safety of children and their caregivers. The evidence for reducing children's exposure to IPV by reducing IPV itself is limited. Mother-child and child-focused therapies for children exposed to IPV show promise in improving mental health outcomes. Clinicians working with children at risk of or exposed to IPV must ensure there is close collaboration among health care and child protection professionals.
New Directions for Research on Intimate Partner Violence and Children
European Psychologist, 2007
This article provides an overview to the Special Section in this issue on intimate partner violence (IPV) and children. The argument is made that the field needs to pay more attention to issues of theory, definitions, and methodology. The contributors to the Special Section each make a unique contribution to one of these topics. Their articles document that increased focus on definition and theory, methodologies involving laboratory studies, data collection at multiple time-points, person-oriented approaches, and diverse samples of children exposed to IPV will begin to increase the research sophistication of the field. We argue that the field needs comparability of definitions for the same/similar phenomena under investigation, more sophisticated, testable hypotheses, a better understanding of the short- and long-term consequences of exposure to IPV, and, finally, a more refined picture of the mechanisms by which exposure to IPV affects particular children.
Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence
Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 2000
Prevalence of children's exposure to intimate partner violence has been estimated at 10% to 20% each year. Many children exposed to domestic violence appear to manifest negative effects. Limited research suggests the possibility of long-term effects such as lowered self-esteem and depression. Factors that moderate children's responses to domestic violence include the nature of the discord, the child's age and gender, exposure to other forms of maltreatment, and the presence of factors that buffer the child, such as social support. Mediating factors that may help explain why exposure to domestic violence is harmful to children include disrupted parenting, inadequate coping responses, and development of posttraumatic stress reactions. Group and individual intervention with children who witness partner abuse should be focused around enhancing safety. Additional goals include better understanding of domestic violence and perpetrator responsibility for abuse, improved coping ...
Journal of Family Violence, 2011
The majority of research on the psychosocial impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure for children has focused on IPV occurrence. The current study extended this research by examining three dimensions of IPV exposure: frequency, proximity, and severity, and tested whether these dimensions predicted variance in adolescents' psychosocial problems over-andabove that accounted for by IPV occurrence. Participants included 140 adolescents and their caregivers, who were recruited for an intervention involving maltreated youth placed in out-ofhome care. After controlling for IPV occurrence, exposure to community violence, and severity of maltreatment, results indicated a positive association between the multidimensional IPV index and youth report of psychosocial problems. There was also a trend for a positive association between the IPV index and caregiver report of psychosocial problems for boys. The study's results are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention researchers and child welfare agencies.
Children’s exposure to intimate partner violence: Should sexual coercion be considered?
Journal of Family Psychology, 2016
Objective-This study examined whether male-perpetrated sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) directed at a child's mother is associated with children's adjustment problems, and if sexual IPV increases risk for children's adjustment problems over and above the risk associated with physical IPV alone. Method-Participants were a community sample of 539 mothers and their children (7 to 10 years). Mothers and children reported on children's externalizing and internalizing problems. Mothers reported on recent male-perpetrated physical and sexual IPV and on their own psychological distress (depressive symptoms, relationship dissatisfaction). Four groups were formed on the basis of mothers' reports of IPV: 1) non-violent, 2) physical-only, 3) sexual-only, 4) sexual + physical. Results-Children in the physical-only, sexual-only, and sexual + physical groups exhibited greater levels of externalizing problems than children in the non-violent group. Levels of externalizing problems among children in the physical-only and sexual-only groups did not differ. Conclusions-Including sexual IPV in the conceptualization of children's exposure to IPV may offer a more comprehensive understanding of how children are affected by IPV.
Children’s exposure to intimate partner violence and other family violence
This bulletin discusses the data on exposure to family violence in the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), the most comprehensive nationwide survey of the incidence and prevalence of children’s exposure to violence to date, sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (see “History of the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence,” p. 2). An earlier bulletin (Finkelhor, Turner, Ormrod, Hamby, and Kracke, 2009) presented an overview of children’s exposure to conventional crime, child maltreatment, other types of physical and sexual assault, and witnessing community violence. For more information on the survey methodology, see “Methodology,” p. 5. This bulletin explores in depth the NatSCEV survey results regarding exposure to family violence among children in the United States, including exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV), assaults by parents on siblings of children surveyed, and other assaults involving teen and adult household members. These results confirm that children are exposed to unacceptable rates of violence in the home. More than 1 in 9 (11 percent) were exposed to some form of family violence in the past year, including 1 in 15 (6.6 percent) exposed to IPV between parents (or between a parent and that parent’s partner). One in four children (26 percent) were exposed to at least one form of family violence during their lifetimes. Most youth exposed to family violence, including 90 percent of those exposed to IPV, saw the violence, as opposed to hearing it or other indirect forms of exposure. Males were more likely to perpetrate incidents that were witnessed than females, with 68 percent of youth witnessing only violence by males. Father figures were the most common perpetrators of family violence, although assaults by mothers and other caregivers were also common. Children often witness family violence, and their needs should be assessed when incidents occur. These are the most comprehensive and detailed data ever collected at the national level on this topic.
Children's physical health complaints after exposure to intimate partner violence
British Journal of Health Psychology, 2012
A clear association between exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and children's physical health is still not well determined, because adverse effects might be explained by the confounding detrimental effects of other traumatic experiences. This study investigated whether children exposed to IPV have higher risks for physical health complaints compared to children in a general population sample. Second, health complaint differences were explored between IPV witnesses and those who in addition experienced other forms of abuse or neglect.