Psychological Impact of Domestic Violence on Children

Abstract

The cases of violence against women and children are pretty worrying. While women will carry physical dents, children have psychological dents that cannot be seen. The hidden impacts of domestic violence will have far-reaching effects on the childs life. Some of the children will grow up to be perpetrators or receivers of domestic violence. Growing up experiencing and seeing one of your caregivers undergoing violence alters the mind and thought patterns of the child. The child grows up thinking that is the best way to show or receive love. Therefore, they will act it out through bullying of other children and their love partners. There is a need to break this cycle and ensure children receive the assistance they need to overcome the negative emotions they experience. Teachers and other adults who interact with the child should be trained to spot the sign of domestic violence. With early intervention, we can assist the child in learning how to cope and understand how to deal with the violence they experience at home. In extreme cases, the child could be removed from the house.

Psychological Impact of Domestic Violence on Children

According to Afdal, Syawitri, and Fikri (2019) the psychological impact of domestic violence on children is far severe than the physical impact. The psychological impact will include fear, anxiety, post-traumatic disorder, fatigue, eating, and sleeping disorders (Afdal et al., 2019). These will result in the child struggling with daily activities. While the child is not harmed physically, the unseen impact of domestic violence is far worse than the physical abuse a child might suffer. Domestic violence cases are on the rise, and if caution is not taken, we will have a generation of children who grow to adulthood with the same psychological effects they suffered as children, making it hard for them to function properly in life. Domestic violence has been linked to internalizing and externalizing impacts on children. The effects of domestic violence will follow the child to adulthood, and they will also continue with the same behavior as observed or experienced by the parents. Youths affected by domestic violence demonstrate bullying and dating violence either as perpetrators or victims. Therefore, it is vital to stop this sequence or continuation of violence. Despite the increased need for a solution focused on the child, providers struggle since they have systemic limitations. Exposure of children to adverse events will lead to long-term physical and mental health problems. Domestic violence is an adverse event to children because it creates hardships that they cannot process in their minds. It is well known how an adverse event will negatively impact the life of a child.

Exposing a child to domestic violence is child maltreatment that has long-term behavioral and mental health impacts (Turner et al., 2017). Therefore, understanding domestic violence from the childrens perspective allows professionals to tailor their services to meet the needs of the children. With assumed conditions, childrens services might be failing since they are not focused on what the child experiences. Children can offer accounts of how they cope with the domestic violence they experience at home (Arai et al., 2021). Using these experiences, professionals can understand childrens coping mechanisms and tailor services to overcome these coping mechanisms. Children exposed to domestic violence have a higher risk of behavioral and mental health problems (Berg et al., 2020). The best indicator of exposure to domestic violence among children is animal cruelty. The child might be experienced in hiding their emotional issues, but there are strategies to uncover those who demonstrate truancy and those suffering psychologically. Using these cues, adults around the child can initiate further talk with the child and assist them in receiving mental health care from a professional (Berg et al., 2020).

In most cases, children will commit acts of cruelty towards animals based on what they have observed from adults around them (Bright, Huq, Spencer, Applebaum, & Hardt, 2018). Children need support, and if there could be a way to quickly identify those who need more help due to psychological issues stemming from experiencing domestic violence, we could be saving future generations (Lloyd, 2018). Surprisingly, domestic violence is a significant issue that has detrimental effects on the health and well-being of children. Children have always been ignored, and it is only recently that they are being included in research on domestic violence. Understanding the impact of domestic violence on children is beneficial to society and family (Porche, Costello, & Rosen-Reynoso, 2016). There is a need to get insights into childrens understanding of domestic violence. The majority of studies have focused on the impact of domestic violence on the child. However, there is no information on the childrens views, which can ensure we have a child-centered understanding of their experiences of domestic violence.

Literature Review

Childrens perspectives on domestic violence and the behavioral impact of domestic violence on children are reviewed in the literature review because they have tremendous impact on a childs mental and behavioral health. Children who experience domestic violence develop different strategies for coping and overcoming the negative emotions they experience. Therefore, we must understand how they cope and the childs perspective on domestic violence to develop solutions targeted at children. The literature review will uncover childrens views and their coping strategies to build solutions for assisting children in managing their mental and behavioral health.

Childrens Perspective on Domestic Violence

There are numerous research studies conducted on the impact of domestic violence on children. Most of these studies fail to focus on childrens needs and only focus on adults perceptions. Children are seen as perceived recipients of domestic violence, and they do undergo potentially traumatic experiences (Arai et al., 2021). However, without receiving any direct input from the children, the studies have only reported what adults and profssionals perceive is happening to children. Developing strategies and solutions aimed at children without understanding how children perceive domestic violence results in failure to have the right impact on the targeted population. It is vital to know how children explain domestic violence and how they feel after experiencing domestic violence. Childrens views give a better perspective on the impact of domestic violence on children, and solutions can directly target the adverse effects (Arai et al., 2021). Seeking a professional perspective is also vital, but the professional view should be guided on what children state.

The domestic violence experiences described by children are vivid and detailed. Children feel they are the cause of the violence because they assume they have angered the abusive parent (Noble?Carr, Moore, & McArthur, 2020). There are cases of children reporting they have been victims of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. With their tender minds and understanding, it took children time to gradually understand what was happening at home and make sense of the events (Noble?Carr et al., 2020)....

The best way for the adults surrounding children to tell there is an issue a child is experiencing is by noting behavioral changes. Most children who experience domestic violence become withdrawn, anxious, and fearful of adults. If a child is social and often enjoys interacting with others, they change their behavior and become withdrawn. It could be a sign of domestic violence (Lloyd, 2018). Therefore, the adults surrounding the child should find out why their behavior has changed by asking the child how they feel and why their behavior has changed (Turner et al., 2017). These strategies are vital for both educators and professionals who interact with the child. Healthcare professionals have the same problem of not knowing how to handle suspected domestic violence exposure on children (Porche et al., 2016). In many instances, while a health care professional will notice or suspect the child is experiencing domestic violence, they will not report or inform their colleagues (Turner et al., 2017). The failure to take action is never personal due to a lack of proper guidelines on how such a case can be handled. When dealing with physical signs, it is easy to report. However, psychological issues are complex, and they could be based on assumptions made by the professional, making it hard for them to take action (Porche et al., 2016). The overall guiding principle should be you would instead report and be wrong than fail to report and be right. The child is a victim, and if those around the child cannot offer support, the child is forced to develop their coping strategies, which are often negative and lead to further deterioration of behavior (Turner et al., 2017). Health care professionals have reported they lack the information necessary on how to respond to domestic violence. The best practices for their profession are unclear when it comes to childrens exposure to domestic violence. On the other hand, educators have indicated they prefer to steer clear of mental health issues since they have a lot on their plates, and adding counseling will result in their failure to educate the other children.

A teacher is like a second parent to a child, and if teachers are well supported and trained, they can manage to identify children facing domestic violence (Lloyd, 2018). Teachers can suspect that something is wrong with a child, but they lack the knowledge to identify signs of abuse. Teachers have the most contact with children, placing them at an excellent advantage for offering them support. However, some teachers have indicated they prefer not to perform the work of social workers. Some teachers feel overwhelmed when they have to deal with issues facing the children (Lloyd, 2018). The teachers need to understand they are the best contact people who can channel a child to welfare services outside the school. Children will likely open up to a teacher, and the teacher can listen to the child before determining if the child needs further support (Porche et al., 2016). Support for the training and increasing teachers knowledge to include minor support for children is vital. We need a way to identify the children who are suffering psychologically due to domestic violence at home (Porche et al., 2016). Teachers interact with children more than any other adult. Therefore, they can identify and channel the child…