Domestic Violence And Self-Harm

Children’s growth and perspective of the world alters after being exposed to various form of domestic violence, but what is domestic violence? According to NCADV, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, domestic violence is defined as the “willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and other behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another.” The perpetrator uses coercive measures to control and degrade the victim. Some types of domestic violence include, but not limited to threats of violence, physical, sexual, financial, and psychological abuse. Although domestic violence takes many forms, domestic violence on children has great, long-term consequences
An example of unsuccessful coping strategy includes self-injury. Unable to seek help, victims might use self-harm to normalize their extreme emotions toward domestic violence. Children who witness domestic violence believe self-harm is helpful to put domestic violence to a halt. Self-harm can prevent the abusive parent from hurting his/her intimate partner. However, this method does not put an end to the domestic violence, but only affects the witness mentally. Another reason for children who are experiencing domestic violence to self-harm is to relieve tension and to feel numb from pain. Self-injury can divert and distract themselves from emotional pain. Furthermore, children deject themselves from the world and punish themselves with self-harm because they believe that they are not doing enough or that they are lacking in some aspects. Although it may seem like a way to cope with problems, it is not worthy in the
The speaker says, “Orphan boys make mean men,” and “Who’s/ become our father? Your son, Mom, your son.” The message the poem tries to convey is that the attribute of the child depends on the attitude of his/her parents because they copy what they learned or have not learned from adults closely related to him/her. Furthermore, the speaker discusses the long-term effect of domestic violence and neglecting the child. As the orphan child matures, he has a chance of acting like his father. However, witnessing the unreliable marriage his parents had, the orphan boy has a greater chance of implementing similar actions. Therefore, “boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults.” (Research Institute). Furthermore, research has shown “that child abuse victims were more likely to perpetrate youth violence (up to 6.6 percent for females and 11.9 percent for males).” (Research institute). Parents are necessary to provide the epitome of good parenting for their children to learn what’s best for people who they would eventually