Differentiating Exposure to Violence and Child Abuse.

 Despite the increasing frequency of publications on children exposed to violence, the literature suffers from a lack of common terminology and definitions. For example, when researchers talk about children exposed to domestic violence, many studies have lumped together children across too large an age range, which may obfuscate some of the effects. There have also been inconsistencies in defining the term “domestic violence,” which has been used interchangeably with such terms as “partner violence,” “marital violence,” and “interpersonal violence.” The problem is in adequately conceptualizing the violence in terms of type of violence (physical, psychological), specific acts, severity, type of perpetrator, frequency and timing.

 Another issue is how to best assess how a child exposed to violence perceives it. Current definitions of violence are mostly centered on adult perceptions. Another issue that has not been examined is how the perpetrator’s resolution to the violence (i.e., whether they accept blame or deny it) impacts the child’s reaction to the violence. Defining children’s exposure to domestic violence is also problematic. There are many types of exposure that have not been systematically examined, including the child as an eyewitness, the child who has been coerced to be involved in the violence, the child who overhears the violence, or the child who hears about it from someone else. A child may experience one or more of these types of exposure for each violent incident, but researchers may not differentiate between these distinctions and probe deeper to find out how they might affect child outcomes. One also needs to recognize key timing variables, such as the child’s age when exposure began, the frequency with which it occurs, and the child’s age when it last occurred. A small number of studies have asked about mothers’ perceptions about their children’s awareness of violence, with a wide range of awareness reported. However, this valuable information has been used only for descriptive purposes and not as a covariate. It is possible that the mother’s reports are not accurate. Therefore, a fundamental problem is that the independent variable we are studying— exposure to domestic violence—is a complex set of experiences that have not been adequately assessed. Creating neat factorial groups of children who share the same quantity and type of exposure is difficult, if not impossible. While not all exposures lead to negative outcomes, children’s exposure to violence has been associated with a range of behavior problems. Even though it is currently not included as a form of child maltreatment, Dr. Holden provided two reasons why one might categorize exposure to domestic violence as abuse:

(1) Children exposed to domestic violence are psychologically abused by living in that situation; and (2) Children exposed to domestic violence are often physically or sexually abused themselves, indicating a pattern of co-occurring abuse. 

Exposure to a parent being verbally or physically assaulted is physiologically arousing, emotionally distressing, and often trauma-inducing. Children exposed to domestic violence may also experience other types of psychological maltreatment such as rejection, isolation, lack of emotional responsiveness from the caregiver, and neglect. 

In a literature review of over 30 studies, Dr. Holden reported that the co-occurrence of domestic violence and child abuse/neglect in a majority of studies ranged from 30 to 60 percent of families. In addition to co-occurring violence, these children may also face other serious adversities, including community violence, substance abuse, nutritional neglect, high stress levels, and mental health problems in parents. 

How do we disentangle the problem of co-occurring violence? 

First, we need to comprehensively assess the characteristics of domestic violence, children’s exposure to it, and comorbidity. Given the difficulty in collecting data from these complex samples, it is important to seek out data from multiple locations and sources, including fathers, and then pool those data. 

Second, instead of searching for pure cases of children exposed to violence, which is unrealistic, researchers need to use statistical strategies to understand how differing experiences are impacting children. Finally, there should be more focus on family dynamics, the context, and the mechanisms, not simply correlations and associations. 

George W. Holden, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin

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