Parental Representations in the Play of Preschool Aged Witnesses of Marital Violence

• NCJ Number: 216717
• Journal: Journal of Family Violence Volume: 21 Issue: 6 Dated: August 2006 Pages: 417-424
• Author(s): Carla Smith Stover; Patricia Van Horn; Alicia F. Lieberman
• Date Published: August 2006
• Length: 8 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined if severity of violence, frequency of visitation with previously violent fathers, and mother-child relationship functioning affected how parents were represented in the play of preschool children with histories of domestic violence.

Abstract

Findings indicated that girls represented their parents more positively regardless of family circumstances while boys expressed negative representations of their mothers. This finding was particularly prevalent among the boys who did not visit regularly with their previously violent fathers. Severity of violence had no significant impact on parent representations within the children’s play. Mother-child relationship functioning also had no significant impact on parental representations in children’s play, but the trend analysis suggested that children with more positive mother-child relationships had more positive maternal representations during play. The findings suggest that treatment providers should be aware of mother-son relationship functioning in families that have experienced domestic violence. Participants were 40 preschool children aged 36 to 71 months and their mothers who were recruited from the University of California San Francisco Child Trauma Research Project. All participants had a history of domestic violence and all preschoolers had witnessed at least one episode of severe martial violence. Mothers completed paper-and-pencil interview measures regarding parent-child relationships, family violence, and father visitation. Children completed cognitive play assessments with a trained examiner in a separate room using the MacArthur Story Stem Battery, which utilizes a set of story beginnings to elicit children’s understandings of family relationships, parental availability, and conflict situations. Data were analyzed using correlational and multivariate multiple regression analyses. Follow-up studies should utilize larger samples and should examine how families with divergent histories may experience separation and father visitation. Tables, references