NCJ Number
190023
Date Published
2001
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines research on social networks and social supports of children exposed to adult domestic assault and the effectiveness of direct intervention programs intended to reduce risks and enhance protective factors in the aftermath of a child’s exposure to such violence.
Abstract
The analysis considers existing programs and the extent to which they satisfy evaluation criteria; issues that targeted intervention programs should and sometimes do seek to aggress; and future efforts to design interventions, create screening procedures, and evaluate treatment outcomes. Standards and criteria for assessing the research on treatment outcomes for children exposed to family violence include program inclusion criteria, program design criteria, assessment criteria, and theoretical explanations that define program goals and explain results. The emerging data from cluster analytic studies suggest that children differ in their responses to family violence. The major categories of response appear to be aggression, depression, anxiety, those who seem to be managing, and those who are coping well enough. Interventions have focused on aggression, internalizing problems, and problems in social relationships. Future research should focus on the most common experiences, the range of experiences, and overlaps of different kinds of abuse in children’s lives. In addition, samples need to go beyond families involved in shelters, studies should compare different types of treatment and outcomes for different symptoms, and data are needed on the conditions under which particular interventions work best. Other needs include follow-up studies, improved funding, health insurance for preventive intervention services, and minimum standards and criteria for assessing the effectiveness of interventions. 90 references