EFFECTS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TO CHILDREN: A LITERATURE REVIEW

A Term Paper in
Legal Research 1 and Legal Writing 1

JUDGE MA. DIANELA L. LADRIDO

Professor

JOEFRITZ A. VARON
LLB 1
University of San Agustin
Iloilo City

November 2018
 I. INTRODUCTION

History of RA 9262
Contents of RA 9262(types of violence punished)
Looking back, how is our Jurisprudence now?
II. DEFINITION OF TERMS

1. Effects
2. Domestic Violence
3. Children
4. Violence Against Women and their Children
5. Physical Violence
6. Emotional Violence
7. Psychological Violence
8. Economic Violence
III. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the (short-term/long term, psychological) effects of exposure to and/or

experience of domestic violence to children?

2. How do these short-term/long term, psychological) effects in relate with the experiences of
Filipino children?

IV. METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

The review of related literature was carried out through browsing and sifting through the
available and free journal articles online.
 V. DISCUSSION
Humans are gregarious creatures. They tend to seek the company and friendship of their

fellow humans. Marriage, for that matter, is a testament to this human trait. In its simplest and

broadest sense, marriage may be considered as a partnership borne out of man’s desire to propagate

the species and the same time to fulfill their needs for love and company. Misunderstandings in

marriage, if left unresolved may escalate to unexpected magnitude and sometimes can lead to

violence and abuse. Such incidence is known as domestic violence or interparental violence. Since

marriage is deemed to be existing since the dawn of the civilization, it can be inferred then that

domestic violence is a problem considered to be as old as time. Much attention in the academic

world is focused on the impacts of domestic violence to the wife’s physical, mental and

psychological well-being. It is only recently that equal focus was given to the silent and much

more vulnerable victims of domestic violence, the children.

This paper aims to examine and describe the psychological impacts of domestic violence

to children. It will begin by presenting various researches about domestic violence in the

international context discussing various aspects and effects of domestic violence. The researches

will be arranged according to their common theme. Next, it will discuss various researches/studies

tackling the same issue however, it should be done in the Philippine context. The purpose of the

discussion and examination of studies/researches carried out in the Philippines is to qualitatively

test the research findings culled out from international studies whether these results speaks true to

the Filipino experience.

Through qualitative appraisal and close reading of the results of the researches, it will

yield to two overarching themes with respect to the effects of domestic violence: 1) Internalizing

negative behaviors 2) Externalizing negative behaviors and 3) effect of domestic violence to

intellectual functioning of children. To clarify, internalizing negative behaviors refers to the

negative behaviors of the child/children focused inward such social withdrawal, anxiety,

fearfulness and depression. Whereas, externalizing negative behaviors refers to the negative

behaviors that are focused externally or towards others such as aggression, low self-esteem,

difficulties in peer relationships and bullying.

INTERNALIZING NEGATIVE BEHAVIORS
A study by Smith, O’Connor & Berthelsen (1996) reports an empirical evidence on the

correlation between witnessing domestic violence and problems with psycho-social adjustment of

children aged three to six years (3-6 years old). The results of the study shown that although there

is a minute evidence of intergenerational transmission of violence, however, more aggressive

behaviors might become apparent on the later stage of life. Furthermore, the study reported that

there were high level of withdrawn and attention problems among the children-participant who

have witnessed domestic violence. This problem may arise from the lack of outlet to vent out their

emotions due to the emotional unavailability of their abused mothers. The research further

highlighted that children are not just mere audience to the violence but they reconstruct and

interpret it. High percentage of children who experienced or exposed to domestic violence

becomes actively involved in the violence in an attempt to protect their mother1. This finding was

further supported by a literature review of Holt, Buckley & Whelan (2008), the review concluded

that children are significantly affected by their experiences of domestic violence are more likely to

occur and repeat it during their own experiences of adult violence in their generation.

Furthermore, similar to Smith et. al (1996) the study also asserted that children are actively

constructing their own social world based on their experiences and not merely passive observers

of the domestic violence occurring before their eyes.

Huang, Wang & Warrener (2010) further corroborated the preceding review when it has

been shown that there are long-term effects of domestic violence on the behavioral problems of

preschool-aged children and that early interventions are needed to prevent later problems among

children in families experiencing domestic violence. It claimed further that families cannot ignore

the fact that even children who may not be able to cognitively understand domestic violence can

still be impacted by the existence of it within the family.

Attala et al. (1995) conducted an integrative review of research studies pertaining to the

effects on children of “witnessing” domestic violence. Across the studies reviewed, it has been

shown that children from families with domestic violence tended to experience emotional and

1
Jennifer Smith et. al, The Effects of Witnessing Domestic Violence on Young children's Psychosocial Adjustment,
49 Aus Soc Work. 3(1996).
behavioral problems than children from nonviolent families. These difficulties consisted of

preoccupation with physical aggression, adjustment complications, academic problems and

developmental delays, lower levels of social competence ratings, depressive symptoms, and being

subject to abuse themselves. These findings were further resonated in the meta-analysis of Wolfe

et. al (2003) of the literature about children exposed to domestic violence and its emotional and

behavioral outcomes. Majority of the researches reviewed unequivocally demonstrated that

children who experienced domestic violence have shown to suffer more from psychological

difficulties than their peers who were just exposed to domestic violence. Furthermore, these

findings were further supported in another meta-analysis of 118 studies on the psychosocial

outcomes of children exposed to domestic violence when it has established that children who

witnessed domestic violence had significantly worse outcomes relative to those who had not. The

psychosocial outcomes of children witnessing domestic violence were almost similar from those

of physically abused children (Kitzmann et al. 2003).

However, it was shown that apart from children internalizing behavioral problems,

domestic violence may also pose difficulties when children form significant relationships later on

in their life. Osofsky’s (2003) review of literature on the effects and co-occurrence of domestic

violence and child maltreatment underscored the possibility of early and repeated exposure to

family violence as precursor to violent adolescent and adult behaviors in the later age. The review

also highlighted the impact of exposure to domestic violence where among elementary school age

and younger children exposed to repetitive family violence have shown disturbances in school

behavior, mixed feelings toward parents with positive affect being mingled with anger, and

difficulties in forming later relationship. Equally important is the finding that children who are

exposed to violence when they are young may deal with aggression, sexuality, and intimacy very

differently when they reach adolescence. Such early experiences may also impact negatively their

later ability to form relationships and influence their parenting during adulthood.

EXTERNALIZING NEGATIVE BEHAVIORS

Apart from internalizing behavioral disorders, children who witness domestic violence also

show more external behavioral problems or aggressive and antisocial behaviors (Duncan et al.
2005). Children who witness domestic violence can react by exhibiting trauma symptoms

(Levendosky et al. 2002) and be at a higher risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (Davis

& Siegel 2000; Mitchell & Finkelhor 2001 ; Hornor 2005; Adams 2006; Rivett et al. 2006) or at

least show evidence of behavioural or emotional disorders which are close to the criteria of post-

traumatic stress disorder (Zuckerman et al. 1995; Eiden 1999)

Chemtob & Carlson (2004) on their study Psychological Effects of Domestic Violence on

Children and Their Mothers sought to determine the evidence of PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress

Disorder) among children and mothers who recently experienced domestic violence and whether

the parenting style and the general psychological of the children are affected by PTSD. The results

showed that indications of PTSD among the children and their mothers are very high. Despite

of this alarming result, it was shown in a related finding that abused mothers tended to

underestimate the distress experienced by their children. Interestingly, it was demonstrated in this

study that symptoms of withdrawal or dissociation among the children were correlated with trait

anger, dissociation, and depression to their mothers, suggesting that this was a common coping

strategy of the children. The children’s dissociation may stem from the possibility that abused

mothers’ feelings of depression, anger and dissociation to the child interferes with her ability to

provide sufficient care, attention and safety to the child— and thus, the child’s major defense is to

withdraw (dissociate). This is of substantial concern because child dissociation, which we may

perceived as “mere withdrawal” may result to serious problems of attention and concentration in

some settings, for example in the classroom. While Meltzer et. al (2006) in their study pertaining

to the demographic correlates of domestic violence found out that children from moderate means

and hard-pressed families are more likely to witness domestic violence. Furthermore, the study

demonstrated that children witnessing domestic violence do indeed have a greater likelihood than

other children of developing a conduct disorders in the future.

OTHER SIGINIFICANT EFFECTS

On a separate note, there are also studies highlighting the varying effects of domestic

violence among boys and girls (gender as moderating factor) and to the intellectual functioning of

young children.
In a study by Reynolds et. al (2001) it was demonstrated that there are measurable differences

between boys and girls who have witnessed domestic violence in terms of their self-esteem and

depression. Results indicated that between boys and girls who had witnessed domestic violence,

the higher levels of symptoms indicative of post-traumatic stress associated with depressive

symptoms and lower self-esteem is found among the boys.

Moylan et. al (2010) found out that females scored higher than males on internalizing

behaviors, whereas males scored higher on externalizing behaviors. However, gender did not

appear to moderate the effects of exposure on the outcomes examined. For depression, at least, it

was found out that exposure to domestic violence and physical abuse is strongly associated with

the outcome than exposure to domestic violence or physical abuse alone.

Interestingly, gender differences were also supported by the findings of Yuping Cao

(2016), it revealed that there are differences between boys and girls in terms of managing

behavioral problems. Psychological measures showed that boys exposed to domestic violence

tended to suffer from more psychological and behavior problems. When boys are exposed to an

environment with domestic violence or suffer from abuse, the stress may stimulate them to mobilize

various psychological defensive mechanisms to actively resist. These psychological defenses may

result in higher rates of aggression, delinquency, and other maladjusted behaviors.

The similar study has also shown that children exposed to domestic violence had more

behavior problems, such as anxiety/depression, social interaction problems, attention problems,

delinquency and aggression. The study found that aggression was prominent among the abused

children. Physical abuse may damage children’s emotional control and as a consequence, they may

express their outrage or grief via direct actions. Further, frequent exposure to parental conflict

and/or fighting, children might model their parents’ behavior during their physical and

psychological growth.

On the other hand, Huth-Bocks et. al. (2001) examined the direct and indirect effects of

domestic violence on preschoolers’ intellectual functioning. The results of this study indicated

that children who have witnessed domestic violence during the last year had poorer verbal abilities

than the ones who have not. The study explained that physically- abused mothers experience

maternal depression and tend to be less verbal, less positive and less responsive to their children
and thus creating a less intellectually stimulating home environment for the child. Depressed,

battered women may be more withdrawn and less verbally interactive with their children which

could greatly impact the development of children’s verbal abilities.

STUDIES ON THE EFFECTS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES

It has been established in the researches conducted that exposure to and experience of

domestic violence has deleterious psychological effects. The literature firmly established that the

effects include internalizing behavior problems such as depression, anxiety being more fearful and

inhibited. It has been demonstrated as well that these children externalizes problematic behavior

such as being withdrawn and dissociated from the mother, showing aggression and antisocial

behaviors and exhibiting trauma symptoms and more likely of developing conduct disorder.

Furthermore, experience and exposure to domestic violence has harmful effects to the intellectual

functioning of the child, specifically the development of verbal-linguistic abilities of the child.

The abovementioned findings will be tested whether same effects occur and related well

with the Filipino experience by looking into researches conducted in the Philippines.

Roche (2017) conducted a systematic review of the literature on the characteristics and

phenomenon of child maltreatment in the Philippines. . In this study, it has been considered that

children’s exposure to family violence is a form of emotional and psychological abuse. It was

found out from the researches reviewed that psychological abuse and neglect is very high among

the Filipino participants ages below 18 years old (Ramiro, et al 2010). Another study revealed

that higher percentage of male children compared to female children witnessed their parents

physically hurt one another during childhood (Mandal & Hindin 2013). In another study by

Hindin & Gultiano (2006) the data on depressive symptoms and witnessing domestic violence

were gathered from 2,051 Filipino adolescents’ ages 17-19 years old. After examining the

association of parental domestic violence and depressive symptoms among the adolescents, the

study revealed that depressive symptoms were common among Filipino adolescents and a

substantial proportion of these young people reported serious symptoms. Female respondents

exhibited significantly higher rates than male respondents for nearly all of the depressive

symptoms assessed.
 . On the other hand, Mandal & Hindin (2013) looked into the effects of witnessing

domestic or interparental violence among Filipino young adults and their use and experience of

psychological aggression with friends. Using a population-based sample in Cebu, Philippines,

this study found that males who witnessed maternal-perpetrated and bidirectional interparental

violence as children were more likely to be involved with experiencing and perpetrating

psychological aggression to his friends as young adults.

VI. ANALYSIS

VII. CONCLUSION