NCJ Number
174046
Journal
Youth & Society Volume: 29 Issue: 4 Dated: June 1998 Pages: 395-430
Date Published
1998
Length
36 pages
Annotation
In-depth interviews with preadolescents and their mothers provided detailed information on experiences of children in Minnesota who were exposed to violence at home.
Abstract
The sample consisted of 14 preadolescent children of battered women and their mothers who completed a 10-week program that was structured, therapeutic, and educational. Interview data were analyzed according to five areas: (1) living with ordinary fights; (2) witnessing violent events; (3) being challenged by public confrontations of violence by mothers; (4) adjusting to new realities in the long-term aftermath of violence; and (5) living with violence as a history. Results suggest attention should be paid in all direct interventions with children of battered women to the multidimensionality of their experiences with violence. Practitioners need to consider the possibility that children may be in different phases of their experiences with violence and employ different ways of managing these experiences. Children are likely to become involved in domestic abuse programs only after their mothers have publicly responded to violence, and some children may need support in acknowledging violence in their families for the first time. Other children may need to replace some of their coping strategies. Further, children's relationships with parents, especially with fathers, may be a major source of confusion and distress. The author concludes children of battered women will benefit from nonjudgmental environments where their feelings and thoughts about parents can be freely expressed and validated. Supplemental interview data are appended. 48 references and 3 tables