Effects of Prolonged Exposure to Family Violence on Children

Running head: FAMILY VIOLENCE AND CHILDREN
EFFECTS ON CHILDREN WITH PROLONGED EXPOSURE TO FAMILY VIOLENCE
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FAMILY VIOLENCE AND CHILDREN1
Introduction
One of the worst possible outcomes for the healthy cognitive development of a child
in Australia would be the negative impact on their mentality because of prolonged exposure
to family violence. The Australian Institute of Family Studies has reported that in the period
from 2011 to 2016, there has been a total increase in per year reporting of violence and abuse
at home on children has increased by approximately 12,000. This is a highly critical issue in
Australia in the recent years. I will be discussing the issue of domestic violence impact on
children from the perspectives of health psychology, developmental psychology, learning and
behaviour and psychology of relationships, using Kelly Richards’ paper “Children's exposure
to domestic violence in Australia” (2011) as a reference, supported by multiple other research
documents and publications.
Discussion
Richards (2011) has stated that witnessing instances of domestic violence by children
has been identified as a form of child abuse. This can include a range of events from the child
simply witnessing the incident to even being forced to participate in the act or be used as a
target (Richards, 2011). As far as witnessing the incidents go, about one quarter of Australian
children (Indermaur, 2001) are reported to experience violence done against women in their
household. This kind of exposure is reported to have negative impacts on children in terms of
their educational, personal learning and behavioural outcomes (Carrell & Hoekstra, 2010;
Sousa et al., 2011), interpersonal relationships (Margolin & Vickerman, 2011), overall
psychological developments (Martinez-Torteya et al., 2009) as well as health (Lamers‐
Winkelman, Schipper, & Oosterman, 2012). These factors not only relate but also support the
various claims that Richards (2011) makes in the paper about the impacts enforced upon
children by acts of domestic violence.

FAMILY VIOLENCE AND CHILDREN2
Richards (2011) also states a variety of developmental and behavioural impacts
ranging from depression and anxiety, increased aggression, antisocial behaviour and trauma
to mood disorders, loneliness, learning difficulties as well as inter-peer conflicts that are
observed in children suffering from issues pertaining to domestic violence. However, there
are equally significant impacts on the physical health of the children, ranging from
malnutrition, stunted growth, lessened immunity (Macdonald, 2007) and may even progress
to early addiction towards alcoholism and smoking (Pinheiro, 2006; Aldemir, 2009). This in
turn presents a heightened requirement for mental health professionals specialising in fields
of developmental psychology, behavioural psychology, social and health psychology. These
are also clear indicators that a strong counselling setup is a mandate for dealing with children
from violent homes and who have experienced moderate to severe instances of domestic
violence, both from a third person and a first person perspective.
As far as an independent and quality lifestyle for these children are considered, it
would be wrong to assume that these are difficult objectives to reach, simply based on the
fact that children, especially who are in the developmental stage and are cognitively still in
the process of growth and development would be shaped adjusting the behavioural
developments to retain them in the future as well (Cook et al., 2017). There have been
evidential instances highlighted where children tend to develop extraordinary resilience
(Richards, 2011; Martinez-Torteya et al., 2009) and display better cognitive and physical
development as well as lesser signs of trauma (Humphreys, 2007). Yet these indications
should not be a reason to generalise the issue of domestic violence as a beneficial factor for
the growth and development of children. The levels of domestic violence may vary from
home to home, as identified above and impact different children differently. The intensity and
period of exposure to violence also plays a crucial factor in this regard (Richards, 2011).