Theoretical Framework
In Part I we discussed basics. Understanding the effects of witnessing and being exposed to domestic violence on both children and adolescents has been the focus of concentrated research efforts since the seminal studies on this subject appeared in the 1980s. There are many scholarly reviews of this literature that that have concluded that the exposure to domestic violence results in significant and measurable negative effects on children’s functioning when these children are compared to children from nonviolent families e.g., (Fantuzzo & Lindquist, 1989). These negative effects affect the emotional functioning, behavioral functioning, social competence, achievement in school, cognitive functioning, psychological functioning, and general health of the children that witness domestic violence. Several of these negative effects have been replicated across different studies and they generally conform to the expected theoretical predictions and clinical expectations, but there are quite a few methodological issues that blur their interpretation.
The majority of researchers readily recognize that exposure to domestic violence is a nonspecific risk factor for developmental or later harm, thus illustrating the process of multifinality of development (Sameroff, 2000). This means that exposure to domestic violence is but one of a number of harm-producing factors that include things like child abuse, harsh parenting practices, and other types of trauma that hamper normal development and can potentially lead to negative but still mostly unpredictable outcomes in the short- and long-term. The literature on exposure to domestic violence also indicates that it creates a negative impact on children’s and adolescents behavioral and adjustment above and beyond other coexisting factors (in other words such exposure is not simply a confound or a correlate but a separate additive factor).
Different terms have been utilized by researchers and clinicians to refer to children in households where domestic violence occurs. In the early research these children were referred to as either “observers” or “witnesses” of domestic violence (Fantuzzo & Lindquist, 1989; Kolbo, Blakely, & Engleman, 1996; Margolin, 1998). In the mid to late 1990s those terms were replaced by the term “exposure” to the domestic violence, a more inclusive term without the assumptions concerning the specific nature of the children’s experiences with the violence. Exposure to domestic violence includes watching or hearing the violent events, direct involvement in the situation (e.g., trying to interfere with the parents or by calling the police), or by experiencing the aftermath (e.g., witnessing physical damage or observing maternal depression).
Some of the early reviews of the literature regarding the effects of domestic violence on children were performed in 1989 and 1996 (Fantuzzo & Lindquist, 1989; Kolbo, Blakely, & Engleman, 1996) indicated that children who were exposed to domestic violence demonstrated significantly more externalizing and internalizing behaviors than did children from nonviolent homes. More specifically, regarding externalizing behaviors, the studies examined differences across groups with regards to these behaviors found that children exposed to domestic violence displayed a tendency to be more aggressive and exhibited more behavior problems in school and in their communities. These problems ranged from simple temper tantrums to actual fights with others. Internalizing behavior issues displayed by the children exposed to domestic violence included depression, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, increased levels of anxiety (including more general fears and higher rates of phobias), higher rates of insomnia, more bed-wetting, and lower self-esteem when compared to children from homes without domestic violence.
There were several studies in the reviews that assessed problems related to cognitive and academic functioning. In general these studies found some significant differences between children reared in violent homes compared to those children that were raised in nonviolent, homes. Children exposed to domestic violence demonstrated an impaired ability to concentrate, more difficulty completing their schoolwork, and significantly lower performances on measures of verbal and motor skills.
The results across all studies were less clear regarding the effects of witnessing domestic violence on the social development of children. Fantuzzo and Lindquist (1989) reviewed 23 studies published between 1967 and 1987 and noted that the studies that examined aspects of social development found that both boys and girls from violent homes displayed significantly lower levels of social competence as determined by poorer problem-solving skills and lower levels of empathy compared to children from nonviolent homes. However, Kolbo, Blakely, and Engleman (1996) observed that out of five of eleven studies published between 1988 and 1996 that assessed variables related to social functioning did not find a significant relationship between child exposure to domestic violence and decreased levels of social competence.
Kolbo, Blakely, and Engleman (1996) also reported that studies measuring the differences in physical health between children exposed to domestic violence and those from nonviolent homes did not find evidence of a causal link between exposure to violence and health problems in the children. Recent research has looked at more specific measures of emotional and cognitive functioning and how being exposed to domestic violence affects these domains.
Animal models have suggested that exposure to stress at a young age is associated with reductions in cortical volume. Koenen et al. (2003) assessed IQs for a sample of 1,116 monozygotic (identical) and dizygotic (fraternal) five-year-old twin pairs in England whose mothers reported experiencing domestic violence in the previous five years. The children who had been exposed to high levels of domestic violence had IQs that were a mean of eight IQ points lower than children who were not exposed to domestic violence. This relationship was maintained when controlling for maltreatment and genetic factors.
More recent research has also sought to determine specifically how witnessing domestic violence can affect children’s psychological well-being. Maikovich, Jaffee, Odgers, and Gallop (2008) looked how externalizing and internalizing symptoms were distributed over children who reported witnessing domestic violence in their home and the amount of harsh physical discipline caregivers reported using with their children. They looked at nearly 3,000 children over the age of five who had been maltreated and exposed to domestic violence. Child Behavioral Checklist assessments were taken over several different periods and assessed via structural equation modeling. They found that children exposed to harsh discipline (especially physical and extreme chastising) did not demonstrated the decrease in externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression, acting out, etc.) associated with normal development, whereas children exposed to domestic violence did not demonstrate the decrease in internalizing behaviors associated with normal development (e.g., depression, anxiety issues,. etc.). Interestingly, Taylor, Guterman, Lee, and Rathouz (2009) found that being a victim of domestic violence was a significant risk factor for maltreating children with harsh discipline in a sample of 2523 mothers. Numerous other studies have found that families with domestic violence have an increased risk of maltreating children (e.g., Koenen et al., 2003). Thus, the effects of domestic violence potentially affect children from both sides of the fence, so to speak.
Next Part III (click here to read part III)
Rudy Hatfield - I am a clinical neuropsychologist with extensive experience in the assessment and treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. I ...
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