Wolfe / Jaffe / Campbell Growing Up with Domestic Violence

1. Auflage 2012
ISBN: 978-1-61676-336-7
Verlag: Hogrefe Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 88 Seiten

Reihe: Advances in Psychotherapy - Evidence-Based Practice

Intimate partner violence (IPV) can have a profound impact on the children - this book shows to recognize these effects and provide effective clinical interventions and preventive measures.
This compact and easy-to-read text by leading experts shows practitioners and students how to recognize the impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) on children and youth and to provide effective clinical interventions and school-based prevention programs.
Exposure to IPV is defined using examples from different ages and developmental stages. The book describes the effects of exposure to IPV and reviews epidemiology and etiology. Its main focus is on proven assessment, intervention, and prevention strategies. Relevant and current theories regarding the impact of exposure on children and youth are reviewed, and illustrative real-life case studies from the clinical experiences of the authors are described.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wolfe, David A.

Jaffe, Peter G.

Campbell, Marcie

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Arbeit/Sozialpädagogik Soziale Arbeit/Sozialpädagogik: Familie, Kinder, Jugendliche
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychotherapie / Klinische Psychologie Kinder- und Jugendlichenpsychotherapie
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizinische Fachgebiete Kinder- & Jugendpsychiatrie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Table of Contents;10
2;Preface;6
3;1 Description;12
4;2 Theories and Models of the Effects of IPV on Children;28
5;3 Diagnosis and Treatment Indications;35
6;4 Interventions for Children Exposed toIntimate Partner Violence;42
7;5 Case Vignettes;68
8;6 Further Reading;75
9;7 References;76
10;8 Appendix: Tools and Resources;85

Leseproben

Individual research studies have attempted to estimate prevalence rates in greater detail in local communities or regions, based on requests for service. For example, Fantuzzo and Fusco (2007) examined prevalence rates of children’s exposure to domestic violence by looking at police reports and data from domestic violence crimes in a large Northeast county in the United States. In total, the study examined 1,517 domestic violence events that occurred in 1 year. Findings indicated that children were present in almost half (43%) of the domestic violence incidents that involved police, with the majority of the children (58%) being younger than 6 years. A total of 999 children were present during a domestic violence event. The majority of children who were present during the incidents saw and heard the violence (60%); a minority only heard (18%) or only saw the violence (5%).

The Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect was the first national survey that attempted to document rates of children’s exposure to IPV, in addition to other forms of child abuse and neglect (Trocmé et al., 2005). The survey found an estimated 49,994 child investigations by Child Welfare Services involved children exposed to domestic violence as either the primary or secondary form of abuse. Notably, this figure represents one in five child abuse investigations in Canada. Of those cases of exposure, one third were categorized as a single incident, 13% involved multiple incidents over a period of less than 6 months, and 39% involved multiple incidents over a period longer than 6 months. Just over half (52%) of the children were boys, and 60% were under the age of 7.

Some studies have focused on vulnerabilities of certain populations that may have higher rates of domestic violence due to a number of sociodemographic and cultural factors such as poverty, access to resources, colonization, and fear of reporting on family matters to authority figures. For example, Aboriginal/Native American children are exposed to domestic violence more often than other identified groups of children in North America, a finding consistent with higher reported levels of domestic violence. In Canada, over half (57%) of Aboriginal female victims of domestic violence, compared with 46% of non-Aboriginal female victims, reported that their children saw and/or heard the violence (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 2001). The research on children exposed to IPV should be seen in a larger context of children’s vulnerabilities associated with race and poverty that increase the risk of the state intervening through child protection or juvenile justice systems (Children’s Defense Fund, 2007).

As mentioned previously, any statistic on prevalence dependent on parent report is likely an underestimation because parents are often unaware that their children are exposed in some manner to violence in the home (Osofsky, 2003; Wolfe, Crooks, Lee, McIntyre-Smith, Jaffe, 2003). Parents may be defensive or minimize the exposure to their children out of fear, or children may hide or make certain that they are not seen by their parents during the violent incident (Jaffe et al., 1990). Furthermore, children may not disclose to their parents or authorities that they saw or heard the violence, for fear of consequences, concern about further upsetting their parents, or sensing that domestic violence is a taboo subject to raise (McAlister-Groves, 2002).

1.4 Course and Prognosis

Exposure to domestic violence is not in itself a mental disorder, although it is linked to serious consequences to a child’s mental, physical, emotional, and behavioral well-being. Two separate meta-analyses found that the overwhelming majority of research studies on the impact of exposure to IPV document significantly more emotional and behavioral difficulties than in nonexposed children (Kitzmann, Gaylord, Holt, & Kenny, 2003; Wolfe, Crooks, et al., 2003). These difficulties hinge on a host of risk and protective factors and seldom follow a consistent pattern, even among children living in the same home. These various influences and outcomes are discussed below in relation to stages of development.

1.4.1 Infants and Young Children

Exposure to domestic violence can affect unborn and infant children in a variety of ways. Mothers exposed to violence while pregnant can have a miscarriage, have premature births, and/or infants with low birth weight. To cope with violence, mothers may abuse alcohol or drugs, which can lead to fetal alcohol syndrome or other birth defects (Lewis-O’Connor, Sharps, Humphreys, Gary, & Campbell, 2006). The psychological state of a mother can also have an effect on an expected child. Interviews with pregnant women who had experienced domestic violence during their pregnancy indicated that they were more insecurely attached to their unborn child and had more negative representations of themselves as mothers, compared with mothers who had not experienced violence during pregnancy (Huth-Bocks, Levendosky, Theran, & Bogat, 2004). Such predetermined representations and attachments due to exposure to violence can cause difficulties in creating a secure and positive relationship between mother and child, which in turn can affect the child’s normal development. Infants may also experience violence directly if their mother is beaten while she is holding her infant in her arms (Edleson, 1999).

Studies comparing exposed to unexposed preschool children report that children exposed to IPV have more behavioral problems, social problems, symptoms of PTSD, difficulty developing empathy, and less self-esteem (Holt, Buckley, & Whelan, 2008; Huth-Bocks, Levendosky, & Semel, 2001). Young children may also show excessive irritability, emotional problems, and sleep disturbances (Hayes, Troceé, & Jenney, 2006). Younger children may act out aggressively or express fear psychosomatically; for example, they may experience stomac aches, asthma, insomnia, nightmares, sleepwalking, be-wetting, and headaches (Martin, 2002). Cunningham and Baker (2004) attribute temper tantrums, crying, resisting comfort, anxiety, and aggression in young children exposed to violencesto be a consequenceoof their limited ability to express verbally their experienced upset (Holt et al., 2008).

1.4.2 School-Age Children

Because of their increasing cognitive and social skills, school-age children (ages 5–12) may begin to interpret family conflict and violence and try to make sense of their family circumstances (Holt et al., 2008). Their developing awareness of family events affects how they attempt to process the abuse and effects on their parents and siblings (Cunningham & Baker, 2004). Children are often caught in a paradoxical bind: they look to their family for safety and security, but never know when a violent incident may occur. This bind creates ongoing fear and uncertainty. A child may be protective toward a parent who is being victimized (Peled, 1998), or identify with the offender and blame the other parent for the incident (Bancroft & Silverman, 2002). Other children may try to avoid any conflict or disruption at home, in an attempt to “manage” family crises that are beyond their control.

As a result of their attempts to cope with such events, children exhibit signs of excessive fears and worries, or begin to act out at home or school (e.g., getting into fights, misbehavior), as described below. Beyond emotional and behavioral adjustment problems, some children may exhibit distortions in attitudes and beliefs concerning parental violence and even their own abusive behavior (Cunningham & Baker, 2004). Children may come to blame themselves for abusive incidents in an ill-gotten attempt to make sense of the violence, which can result in feelings of guilt, self-blame, and personal responsibility (Jaffe et al., 1990).

Most research and clinical practice with this age group utilizes standardized measures of children’s emotional and behavioral problems, which consistently reveal a greater number of externalizing and internalizing behaviors as a consequence of exposure to domestic violence. The most consistent externalizing concerns among this age group involve aggression and other behavior problems. Internalizing difficulties often stem from anxiety and worry, as well as symptoms relating to PTSD (Kilpatrick, Litt, & Williams, 1997). Other internalizing behaviors commonly seen are depression, physical complaints (e.g., headaches, stomachaches), and low self-esteem (Wolfe, Crooks, et al., 2003). Finally, it is important to note that the severity of children’s adjustment problems varies, and not all children score at levels that would require clinical intervention (Kernic et al., 2003). Although internalizing and externalizing behaviors are common trauma reactions, these and other symptoms may attenuate once a child is no longer living in these circumstances (Holden et al., 1998; Rossman, 2001).