"I Can't See Him Hit Her Again, I Just Want to Run Away...Hide and Block My Ears:" A Phenomenological Analysis of a Sample of Children's Coping Responses to Exposure to Domestic Violence

• NCJ Number: 217372
• Journal: Journal of Emotional Abuse Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: 2006 Pages: 23-45
• Author(s): Safia Joseph; Kay Govender; Anil Bhagwanjee
• Date Published: 2006
• Length: 23 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the experiences of five children who witnessed family violence, as well as the resulting psychological distress they experienced.

Abstract

The study found that children who witnessed family violence experienced significant psychological distress. The children exhibited behavioral, emotional, and detrimental coping responses after witnessing the violence. Fear was pervasive in the children. Social support, however, reduced the scope and strength of the psychological effects of witnessing the violence within the family. The child's gender was a significant mediator of the type of psychological response to witnessing the violence. Boys tended to have more conduct disorders, and girls had more internalizing reactions (e.g., depressions). Older children exhibited a more varied set of coping strategies. Persistent abuse that is accepted by the victim without effective efforts to stop it apparently increased the child witness' sense of powerlessness and helplessness, which mirrored the situation of the abused parent. Some of the coping strategies adopted by the children included retaliation, denial, escapism, self-blame, being the parent, and taking sides in the conflict. All of the children constantly and strongly disapproved of the abuser's violent actions. This contrasted with the "victim parent," who accepted the abuse over time through various rationalizations. Five caregivers and their children were selected for the study after being screened by the social worker for age, gender, nature of abuse, etc. The children were between 8 and 12 years old. They were selected because of the substantiated physical violence they had observed between their parents. None of the children had themselves been physically abused. An average of three semistructured interviews were conducted with the children. The analysis of verbal self-reports was supplemented by an observation of the children's nonverbal behavior in the interviews. 47 references