Introduction
Domestic violence is an ongoing experience of physical, psychological, and even sexual abuse in the home that is often a method used by one adult to establish control and power over another person (Flitcraft et al., 1992). Exposure by children to marital aggression is now a recognized public health concern. The investigation of the effects of the exposure to this type of aggression on the functioning of a child is a significant societal concern. Marital conflict is generally defined as any difference of opinion between martial or domestic partners whether it is minor or major. Marital conflict can assume many different forms including displays of both negative and positive emotions and/or constructive and destructive tactics. Marital aggression is characterized by physical and/or psychological abuse and would fall at the negative extreme on a continuum of marital conflict (Cummings, 1998). Marital psychological/verbal aggression refers to things such as threats, insults, and throwing objects. This has been considered by some to be a form of psychological abuse, whereas marital physical violence (domestic violence) is indicated by a physical assault on one partner’s body (Jouriles, Norwood, & McDonald, 1996). Children who witness domestic violence are at risk for a number of developmental, psychological, and social difficulties. Treatment for exposure is often aimed at reducing or preventing domestic violence, but treatment for primary victims and batterers is not more successful than legal interventions (Evans, Davies, & DiLillo, 2008).
Discussion of the Problem
Although public awareness about the rate of domestic violence is increasing, the public health consequences of domestic violence have begun to be recognized in the medical community. The majority of the early literature focused on the effect of domestic violence on the primary victim ignoring questions of the potential effects of witnessing domestic violence on secondary victims, such as children and ad adolescents who live in homes where such abuse occurs (Carlson, 2000). It has been estimated that between three and ten million American children and adolescents witness occurrences of domestic violence annually (Carlson, 2000). Here are ten facts from the U.S. Department of Justice regarding domestic violence (Rennison, 2003):
- Eighty-five percent of cases of domestic violence involve female victims.
- There is an estimated 1.3 million women victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year.
- Females who are between the ages of 20-24 years old are at the greatest risk of nonfatal intimate partner violence.
- Nearly one-third of female homicide victims reported in the police records are killed by an intimate partner.
- Less than one-fifth of victims reporting an injury occurring from intimate partner violence actually sought medical treatment.
- The cost of intimate partner violence exceeds $5.8 billion each yea. Four billion dollars of this cost goes to direct medical and mental health services.
- Victims of intimate partner violence lost nearly eight million days of paid work because of the violence perpetrated against them, a loss equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs and nearly 5.6 million days of household productivity.
- Thirty to sixty percent of perpetrators of intimate partner violence also abuse children in the household.
- Witnessing violence between one’s parents or caretakers is the strongest risk factor of transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next.
- Boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults.
Previous research has estimated that at least 3.3 million children witness physical and verbal spousal abuse each year. The range of behaviors in this estimate ranges from insults and hitting to fatal assaults with weapons (Carlson, 1984; Jaffe, Wolfe, & Wilson, 1990). As alarming as this statistic appears it may actually underestimate the exact numbers of children exposed to domestic violence because the data was gathered over 20 years ago and at that time the research did not include divorced parents or children under three years of age. More recent estimates suggest that more than 10 million children in the United States may be exposed to domestic violence and over 40% of all households in which domestic violence occurs contain children less than 12 years of age (Rennison & Welmate, 2000).
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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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