Domestic Violence and Children's Adjustment: A Review of Research (From The Effects of Intimate Partner Violence on Children, P 11-45, 2003, Robert A. Geffner, Robyn S. Igelman, and Jennifer Zellner, eds. -- See NCJ-202075)

• NCJ Number: 202077
• Author(s): Judee E. Onyskiw
• Date Published: 2003
• Length: 35 pages
• Sale Source: Haworth Maltreatment and Trauma Press
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper reviews research on the effects of witnessing domestic violence on children's adjustment, behavior, functioning, and development.

Abstract

The literature review summarizes the empirical evidence obtained from the research, highlights important methodological and theoretical challenges in this research field, and offers recommendations for future research. The review encompasses 47 studies that were published in the last two decades. There were inconsistent findings among the early research studies, but the standardized measures in more recent studies, along with the use of comparison groups of children and more sophisticated data analysis techniques, have produced more consistency in recent findings. Study results generally indicate that children exposed to violence between their parents have more emotional and behavioral problems, less social and cognitive competence, and more health problems than children not exposed to such violence. Children's coping responses when witnessing domestic violence tend to vary according to several factors, including the child's age, gender, and whether the child is also being abused by parents. Among the methodological issues that must be addressed in future research are the need to control for child abuse as a factor either by screening children during recruitment and excluding abused children, or by controlling for the effects of direct victimization in the statistical phase of the study. Measurement and theoretical issues must also be modified in future research. The author suggests that future research study nonshelter samples of children exposed to domestic violence, focus on the effects of children's exposure to interparental verbal and other forms of aggression, and involve longitudinal research that identifies the effects of domestic violence on children's long-term adjustment as well as the factors that may ameliorate or exacerbate children's adjustment outcomes. A table summarizes the methodology and findings of each study. 87 references