{"id":60,"date":"2022-06-20T17:08:46","date_gmt":"2022-06-20T16:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/domesticabuse\/?page_id=60"},"modified":"2022-06-20T17:13:31","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T16:13:31","slug":"the-impact-of-domestic-abuse","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/domesticabuse\/the-impact-of-domestic-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"The impact of Domestic Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Children can be harmed by domestic abuse even when they are not witnessing or subjected to direct abuse themselves.\u00a0\u00a0While all children and young people will be affected,\u00a0the level of impact varies,\u00a0even amongst those from the same family.\u00a0\u00a0Impact can depend on a range of factors such as the frequency, severity and length of abuse and the ability of the non-abusive parent to provide parenting support in these very difficult situations. Research suggests that serial\u00a0witnessing of abuse and\u00a0exposure to\u00a0multiple types of abuse is particularly harmful.<\/p>\n

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The impacts described below and in Appendix 1<\/a> are risks rather than the inevitable nature of harm. Key supportive adults, safe spaces and community support all play a significant role in reducing these risks.\u00a0 Positive parenting by the non-abused parent (incredibly difficult when an abuser is undermining their partner) has been associated with\u00a0decreased child trauma\u00a0symptoms\u00a0and increased child social competence and positive youth development[i]<\/a>.\u00a0Many children and young people recover well when they are in a safe and secure environment.<\/p>\n

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A wide range of effects on children have been identified[ii]<\/a> including; feelings of fear, powerlessness, depression or sadness; impaired social relations; impact on the child\u2019s identity, educational achievement, extended family relationships and parental relationships and anger, very often displayed as aggressive behaviour.<\/p>\n

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In terms of mental wellbeing[iii]<\/a>, experiencing domestic abuse as a child is associated with increased internalizing and externalizing difficulties, posttraumatic stress, difficulties in emotion regulation, and high separation distress.\u00a0 There are some indications of gendered differences with boys more external in their responses and girls more likely to internalise their responses[iv]<\/a> but evidence is mixed[v]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Children and young people\u2019s physical health can also be impacted, for example, they are at increased risk of obesity and asthma and often present with bodily complaints such as stomach aches.<\/p>\n

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Appendix 1<\/a>[vi]<\/u><\/a> illustrates impact by developmental stage. Impact can of course be cumulative depending on the developmental impact on each stage of a child\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

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[i]<\/a> Ehrensaft, M. K., Knous-Westfall, H., & Cohen, P. (2017). Long-term influence of intimate partner violence and parenting practices on offspring trauma symptoms. Psychology of Violence, 7(2), 296\u2013305.<\/a><\/p>\n

[ii]<\/a> McGee, Caroline. Childhood Experiences of Domestic Violence. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2000<\/p>\n

[iii]<\/a> Royal College of Psychiatrists (2017) Domestic violence and abuse \u2013 the impact on children and adolescents<\/a><\/p>\n

[iv]<\/a> Wood, s. and Sommers, M. (2011) \u2018Consequences of intimate partner violence on child witnesses: a systematic review of the literature\u2019 Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing V.24,4, P. 223-236<\/a><\/p>\n

[v]<\/a> Artz, S et al. (2014) A comprehensive review of the literature on the impact of exposure to intimate partner violence for children and youth. International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies<\/a><\/p>\n

[vi]<\/a> Howell, K., Barnesa, S., Miller, L., Graham-Bermannc, S. (2016) \u2018Developmental Variations in the impact of intimate partner violence exposure during childhood\u2019J Inj Violence Res, 8 (1):43-57<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Children can be harmed by domestic abuse even when they are not witnessing or subjected to direct abuse themselves.\u00a0\u00a0While all children and young people will be affected,\u00a0the level of impact varies,\u00a0even amongst those from the same family.\u00a0\u00a0Impact can depend on a range of factors such as the frequency, severity and length of abuse and the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48426,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-builder.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-60","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/domesticabuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/domesticabuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/domesticabuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/domesticabuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48426"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/domesticabuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/domesticabuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/domesticabuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions\/63"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/domesticabuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}