YOUNG CHILDREN AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Young Children and Domestic Violence



Young Children and Domestic Violence

Introduction

This paper will be analyzing the case study that is article “Young Children's Exposure to Adult Domestic Violence: Toward a Developmental Risk and Resilience Framework for Research and Intervention”. This article employs a developmental risk and resilience framework to examine the impact of exposure to intimate partner violence on young children, particularly those facing economic hardship. In doing so, it reviews and weaves together two separate literatures, one on emotional and behavioral development in high-risk settings and the other on children exposed to adult domestic violence. The article ends by pointing to the need for further research and the promise that early interventions hold for helping children who are exposed to intimate partner violence and living in poverty.

Identification of the risk factors in the case study

Risk factors are variables that are associated with an increased likelihood of poor physical, emotional and behavioral outcomes. Examples of risk factors for children include premature birth, conduct problems, parental mental illness or substance abuse, physical abuse, exposure to violence, homelessness and poverty. Most researchers agree that risks of a chronic, rather than an acute nature, are most likely to have damaging long-term effects (Garmezy & Masten, 1994).

For example, the effects of a disadvantaged environment - poverty, racism, crime, and instability - are likely to create ripples of disadvantage throughout a child's life. These risk factors often co-occur in time, hence what may seem to be the result of a single risk factor (e.g., poverty) may in fact be the result of other correlated but unmeasured adversities (e.g., inadequate community resources, exposure to violence, dangerous neighborhoods). Exposure to intimate partner violence may frequently co-occur with other risk factors such as poverty and its sequelae. It also co-occurs with other types of violence such as child maltreatment (sexual, physical or psychological abuse or neglect) and violence occurring in the neighborhood, school or community (Edleson, 1999a; Rudo, Powell, & Dunlap, 1998).

This makes the unique effects of exposure to intimate partner violence hard to separate from those of other risks in a child's life. Protective factors, on the other hand, are those variables that buffer children from adversity. Research on protective factors originated with longitudinal studies of high-risk youth who, despite the odds, matured and adapted successfully (Werner & Smith, 1989, 1992; Garmezy & Masten J Fam Viol (2007) 22:151-163 1994). Examples of protective factors include individual factors, such as positive temperament, the child's intellectual capacity, and social competence; family or interpersonal factors such as secure attachments to caregivers, caring adults and strong relationships with others, and cultural, ethnic or community factors such as living in a supportive, safe, close-knit community.

Risk factors act both directly and indirectly to render children vulnerable to poor developmental outcomes (Rutter, 1987; Luthar, 1993), and the relationship between risk factors and outcome may be affected by speci?c aspects of the child's environment. Similarly, protective factors may act directly to protect children from poor outcomes; they may also affect the ...