Short-Term Consequences Of Domestic Violence

Over the past few decades, domestic violence has been acknowledged as a significant health and social problem that creates short-term and long-term consequences for families. Even though there is an obvious distinction of women as the primary victims, it has become increasingly clear that the children in these families are greatly impacted as well. Due to the practical, conceptual, and methodological difficulties, the research conducted on children’s exposure to domestic violence varies significantly from study to study. Webster defines domestic violence as the inflicting of physical injury by one family or household member on another or a repeated habitual pattern of such behavior. However, deciding on a general definition for domestic violence
Some studies suggest that without this support, social development is damaged. Some children who are directly exposed to domestic violence in addition to lacking a support system may lose the ability to feel empathy for others (Fantuzzo & Mohr, 1999). "Traumatic experiences may also prevent young children from forming secure attachments with the parent or caregiver. This can inhibit the child's ability to trust caregivers and develop normal coping skills, and can lead to overly self-protective behaviors such as avoidance, withdrawal, and anger” (Lieberman & Knorr, 2007). Often times, children who are directly exposed to domestic violence may also feel socially isolated. This hinders their ability to build friendships due to their social discomfort or confusion on what is acceptable within society. Many children found it difficult to develop friendships for reasons such as holding back from others as well as fear of inviting others to their home (Lieberman & Knorr, 2007). With that inability to form stable relationships comes an increase in the level of aggressive behavior, such as bullying (Baldry, 2003). These same children are almost three times more likely to become involved in violent activities or become abusers themselves. “The single best predictor of
A sample population of 30 preschool aged children whose mothers were victims of physical assault by a partner were taken and the associations between children’s internalizing and externalizing behavior problems were investigated. The study focused on three main associations of the relationships: the quality of the mother-child relationship, the mothers’ attunement to their child’s sad and angry emotions and the mothers that were diagnosed PTSD in correlation to how attuned they were with their children. While conducting the research on the 30 preschool-aged children, there were significant links made between the children’s internalizing behavior and maternal attunement to their children’s sadness and anger. Additional findings suggested that mothers with a PTSD diagnosis tended to be less attuned to their child’s experience of sadness. The relationships between the children and their mothers were, proving that majority of cases dealing with domestic violence result in neglect, trauma and strained relationships. This also shows that the more evidence that is presented on a topic, the greater the chance of opinions changing, especially in Lieberman’s and Johnson’s