Effects of Domestic Violence on Middle Childhood

Running head: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND ITS EFFECT ON AUSTRALIAN FAMILIES
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND ITS EFFECT ON AUSTRALIAN FAMILIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND ITS EFFECT ON AUSTRALIAN FAMILIES
EFFECTS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON MIDDLE CHILDHOOD (6-12 YEARS)
Mrs. Michelle Codey had arrived at the sports ground with blood blisters on her face and
hand. She had arrived to her son’s annual sports meet and her son, Stephen. Stephen has already
been behaving in a manner that clearly demonstrated his mental torment. Michelle was covering
up for her scars by saying that she had tripped down the stairs at her workplace. However, that
was not the case. Michelle had been facing continuous abuse at the hands of her husband, Alex
Codey, who is reportedly roguish in nature. The husband has been working as a labor and
returns home late and drunk. The torturous ordeal of physical violence on Michelle starts
thereafter. Stephen is at times even forced to watch the ordeal from afar. This has resulted in a
trauma on the part of Stephen as well.
Introduction
Child development discusses the various changes of the child in the years of growth in
the biological, emotional and the psychological factors. The individual is observed to have been
going through the various stages that help him or her in gaining autonomy in his life from the
infant stages of dependency on the elders, majorly the caregivers. The development of the
children within the society tend to affected gravely by the social environment that is existent
within the given territorial boundaries. The children who have been residing within a social
stratum tend to follow the customs and the practices that are generally followed by the people
within the strata. The domestic violence is generally observed to have been practiced with the
ultimate purpose of gaining control over the people who have been linked very closely with the
concerned person in a familial or any other intimate relation. The following essay discusses the
effect of the domestic violence on the development of children within the Australian familial
settings. The essay opens with a discussion on the concept of child development and proceeds to

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shed light on the various factors that affect the development of the children within the society.
The essay further proceeds to discuss the issues of domestic violence and child abuse and the
impact of the issues on the child development. The essay nears a conclusion with the discussion
on a few recommended measures that would help in resolving the issues and thereby developing
a healthy society.
Concept of child development
The concept of child development sheds light on the various changes of the child in the
years of growth. The child experiences major changes in the biological, emotional and the
psychological factors that are experience by the concerned children from the time of birth till the
time when they reach their adulthood. These changes are observed to be taking place within the
child all along their lives. These changes are initiated at the time of birth and reach a point of
drastic changes during the adolescence ages of the child. The developmental changes in the child
finally end at the stage when the child reaches his or her adulthood. The individual is observed to
have been going through the various stages that help him or her in gaining autonomy in his life
from the infant stages of dependency on the elders, majorly the caregivers. The development of
the person might be subdivided into five major sections. Naylor (2017) state that these include
the development in the physical factors, the emotional factors, the spiritual factors, the
intellectual factors and the social factors. These five major factors combine together to
demonstrate an overall development of the concerned person.
The majority of the development of the child takes place during the middle childhood
with the initiation of the developmental factors from the stages of the early childhood. The
incidents that the child witnesses during the developmental years tend to have a long-lasting
effect on the psyche of the person and is thereafter maintained in the years to come. The majority

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of the development of the child is observed to be influenced by the environmental factors that are
present around the individual. The major environmental factor that affects the development of
the child is the economic class wherein the child belongs (Alaggia et al. 2015). The people
belonging to the lower economic backgrounds tend to demonstrate an extreme crudeness in their
behavior towards their fellow beings, especially the women and children. The issues of the
domestic violence and child abuse are observed to have been majorly reported within the social
class that demonstrates a lower range of economy. The people belonging to such classes cannot
access the higher educational sectors and thus remain at the backward sections within the society
(Van der Kolk 2017). The people who have belong to these classes are generally observed to
have several issues in the development of the factors that are mandatory for the proper
upbringing of the children who are born in the same atmosphere.
Factors affecting child development
The development of the children is affected by a majority of factors that have been
present within the given society. The child faces the development within three major sectors that
are necessary for the existence of the of the child. These areas majorly include the physical
developmental area, the development of the cognitive abilities of the child. The development of
the child also includes development of the social abilities of the child. The child is primarily
aware of the social practices through the observations that he or she develops within the family.
Thus, the children are known to have been dealing with the issues in the development of the
social abilities within the family as well as society at large (Cook et al. 2017). The circumstances
that are implemented within the lower economic strata of the society tend to witness the high
amount of the issues that hamper the well-being of the society at large. The development of the
children within the society tend to affected gravely by the social environment that is existent