Investigating Domestic Violence's Impact on UK Youth (2015-2017)

This dissertation investigates the multifaceted impact of domestic violence on young people aged 13-18 in the UK between 2015 and 2017. The study delves into the detrimental effects of domestic violence on the physical and mental health of children and adolescents, exploring how it can lead to issues in brain and behavioral development, potentially manifesting in disordered eating patterns and various coping mechanisms with long-term adverse effects. The research includes an introduction outlining the scope of domestic violence, its forms, and its prevalence, followed by a background and rationale that contextualizes the issue within the UK. It presents the research aim and objectives, details the literature search strategy, and synthesizes findings from the literature review, culminating in a discussion and conclusion that highlight the need for intervention strategies. The dissertation emphasizes the importance of early intervention to mitigate the adverse impacts of domestic violence and aims to identify effective strategies to stop such incidents, contributing to the well-being of young people in the UK.

Running head: DISSERTATION
To investigate the impact of
domestic violence on young people
aged 13 - 18 in the UK between 2015
and 2017 and the strategies to stop
these
Name of the Student
Module code
Course code
Date of submission
Total word count

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Abstract
It has been identified from thethat domestic violence has havehas negative an impactimpacts
on the young people and their families as well. However, in certain cases, the young people
are more affected, as which is revealed from the cases when the young peoplethey become
the perpetrators of domestic violence, at a later stage in their life. Hence, interventions are
required in order to make sure that theto lower the severity of these conditions , thereby
eliminating the could be lowered and the adverse impacts created on the physical and mental
health on theof the children and adolescents young people could be lowered to a certain
extent. Domestic violence could also lead to problems in brain development and behavioural
development in among children and young adults. This could be predicated fromcan get
manifested in the form of disordered eating patterns of individuals. The childrenChildren who
witness domestic violence have varioustry to resort to several coping mechanisms which that
have long term adverse effects on their health and wellbeing.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction..................................................................................................3
Chapter 2: Background and Rationale/Context for the study........................................5
Research Aim.............................................................................................................6
Research Objectives...................................................................................................6
Chapter 3: Literature Search Strategy............................................................................7
Chapter 4: Findings from the literature reviewed........................................................14
Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusion........................................................................19
Discussion................................................................................................................19
Conclusion................................................................................................................20
References....................................................................................................................22

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Chapter 1: Introduction
Domestic violence is a form of abuse made by one person against another, within a
domestic setting. The term domestic setting refers to households, where individuals are
bounded in a marriage setting, family setting or ‘co-habilitation’. In most cases, an individual
commits domestic violence against his/her partner. However, domestic violence is also
common towards children, parents, and elderly people. Domestic violence can be in any form
such as, physical, emotional, verbal, and sexual abuse (Pahl, 2016). On a global basis, women
are the main victims and demonstrate more susceptibility of experiencing severe forms of
domestic violence within the household setting (Sapkota, 2012). However, a crucial
consequence of domestic violence is its potential negative impact on the children who live
and grow in the houses that are ruled by domestic violence. The environment of these houses
is unpredictable and filled with tension, fear and anxiety that significantly affect the
emotional and psychological level of the young people or children. A survey conducted by
NSPCC revealed that around 6% of the children in the UK have been exposed to severe
domestic violence at some point of their childhood. In some cases, the children are still living
with varying levels of the domestic violence (Somerset Intelligence, 2018).
Witnessing domestic violence imposes both a short-term and long-term effects on the
development of the young people. Some of the reactions that the young people display in case
of domestic violence are helplessness, grief, fear, ambivalence, terror, worry, sadness, shame,
anger and numbness (Domestic Violence Prevention Centre, 2018). These persistent reactions
can damage the cognitive and mental ability of the young people as they might suffer from
emotional and behaviour problems. Some short-term impacts of domestic violence on young
people of the age group 13-18 years include anxiety, withdrawal, depression, poor
communication skills, poor self-image, eating disorder, low academic achievement, low self-
esteem, violent outbursts and physical injuries (Welfare and Hollin, 2011). According to
Devaney (2015), domestic violence can be in the form of emotional and psychological abuse,
which is difficult to measure and quantify. The extent of this type of abuse is disturbing as the
controlling tactics of the perpetrator inflicts the belief that the victim is at fault. Some long-
term effects of the domestic violence on the young people include anti-social behaviour, high
levels of teenage pregnancy, alcohol and drug abuse, youth crimes and suicidal ideations. It
must be noted that the domestic violence is a devastating crime that has the potential to
shatter and ruin the lives of both the victims and their family (Ogbonnaya and Pohle, 2013).

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Therefore, there is an immediate need to identify the young people at risk of harm due to
domestic violence and efforts must be taken by the government for early intervention to
address the problems faced by the young people. The purpose of this research is to identify
the impacts of the domestic violence on the young people of age 13-18 years in the UK.

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Chapter 2: Background and Rationale/Context for the study
Domestic violence is a burgeoning issue, which has multifaceted impacts on the
victim. It creates negative impacts on the health of the victim and also affects the society and
the existing criminal justice agencies. However, there are mounting evidences that have
explored the effects of domestic violence on children and young people. Domestic violence is
not considered as a recently recognised phenomenon, since it has been identified as a major
public concern, for the past three decades. Even with an increase in awareness and political
consensus, there are latent cases of domestic violence that are not reported publicly. Over the
years, a comprehensive idea about the impact of the domestic violence was gained which
helped the researchers to conduct studies upon the children and young people. Based on the
results reported by British Crime survey, it was found that more than 50% of the households
that reported domestic violence included children of ages sixteen years and younger
(Devaney, 2015). According to the “Royal College of Psychiatrists”, children and young
adults can develop several complex problems as a result of witnessing domestic abuse. These
include becoming depressed or anxious, developing sleep disorders, having flashbacks and
nightmares, physical symptoms like wetting the bed and tummy aches. Temper tantrums,
becoming aggressive or isolating themselves from social company, low self-worth, and
indulgence in drug abuse are other common manifestations of these incidents. (women's aid,
2018). Apart from these manifestations as evident in children and young adults witnessing
physical abuse, they may be directly targeted by the perpetrator. As per Stark and Flitcraft,
(1988), child abuse is preceded by the infliction of physical abuse on the mother. However,
the extent to which a child will be impacted by domestic abuse depends on the time of abuse,
the age of the child, whether the child is subjected to physical abuse besides benig a witness
to domestic violence, secure attachment with a parent figure and coping skills of the child.
The context of this research is to explore the different impacts of domestic violence on young
people aged 13-18 years, which would be an indicator for the UK government to assess the
needs of these people and ensure providing them support and protection from domestic
violence.
There have been researches that focused on the domestic violence by exploring the
role of the parents in the reaction of the young person, within the family. Stanley et al. (2012)
had studied the perspectives of the parents and young people experiencing domestic violence
in two places in England. Each of the victims, perpetrators and young people depicted

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feelings of guilt and shame that prevented them from disclosing the incidents of domestic
violence. The very reason for the non-disclosure of the domestic violence can be attributed to
the sense of powerlessness of the children and young people during the incidents of domestic
violence. The results of the domestic violence have often led to conflicts in a parent-children
relationship, which in turn invokes changes in the dynamics of separation and contact
between the children and parents (Johnston and Campbell, 2011). While understanding the
impact of the domestic violence on young people aged 13-15 years, the changes in cognitive
abilities have been highlighted by many researchers. Tsavoussis et al. (2014) have indicated
in the study that domestic violence causes pyschosocial maladaptations in children and young
people, which are related to post-traumatic stress disorder. In short, the impact of the
domestic violence is such that it would have adverse effects on the brain development of the
young people (Voelkle and Lindenberger, 2014).
Research Aim
The aim of this research is to assess the impacts of the domestic violence on young
people, belonging to the age group of 13-18 years, residing in the UK. The research also aims
to explore the strategies that can be implemented to stop these incidents of domestic violence.
Research Objectives
The objectives of this research are:
 To determine the extent of domestic violence in recent years, in the UK
 To analyse the impact of domestic violence on young people of age 13-18 years,
living in the UK
 To identify the causes of domestic violence on the young people and the interventions
that can reduce such situations

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Chapter 3: Literature Search Strategy
A well-structured search strategy is one of the efficient and effective ways to gather
extensive evidences on the subject being explored. The search of relevant information
becomes especially important for secondary research studies, in order to make sure that apt
and relevant information is collected. Focussing on the research topic is important in order to
search relevant data. In this case, the topic which has been extensively searched for, through
various databases and journal articles is the impacts of domestic violence on young people,
aged 13–18 years, in the UK between 2015 and 2017. The most important purpose of a
literature search is to formulate the question by studying the vast body of literature available
and identifying gaps in them. The key words used for retrieving relevant articles and the
inclusion and exclusion criteria assume key importance in a literature search.The literature
search usually takes into consideration the possible phrases, key words, wildcard variations
and headings of subjects.
The duty of the researcher is to adapt the search strategy, according to the demands of
the research study. It can be a time-consuming and exhaustive process. Hence, breaking up
the search strategy into main key words and phrases can be beneficial in planning and
managing the entire process. It is not always easy to find appropriate information by
searching with exact terms or phrases. Therefore, using alternative term(s), having similar
meaning can be helpful in yielding relevant information. In this particular research study, the
topic was fragmented into key terms and phrases such as ‘domestic violence’, ‘young adults’
‘UK’ and ‘impacts’ ‘age group’, and ‘13-18’. Use of alternative key words and those with
similar meanings helped to maximise the findings of the literature search. However, the
researcher faced one particular barrier while conducting the literature search. Owing to the
fact that PubMed does not allow use of wildcards in literature search, the researchers made
use of truncations or stemming, wherein an asterisk (*) was used at the root of a word, in
order to maximise the outcomes of the literature search. Some instances of this truncation
search are domestic violence* and young adults* (Shanman, 2017). Different databases make
use of different key-words or subject heading combinations. Therefore, customising the key
word and heading combinations is imperative for gaining access, to relevant information.
Phrases have also been used in this particular literature search, in order to get reliable
information related to the research topic. Wildcards have also been helpful in yielding varied
and multiple results. Showing similarities with truncation, wildcards use a symbol as a

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substitute for a letter of any other word. The use of wildcards is helpful for words that are
spelled in diverse ways, although they yield the same meaning at the end.
The given research topic was based on a social phenomenon. Thus, databases
containing numerous articles on this social phenomenon were searched. However, since
domestic violence on young adults can lead to several psychological as well as medical
consequences, medical databases such as BMJ and PubMed were also accessed. The
researcher used MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms for this purpose (Kim, Yeganova
and Wilbur, 2016). The use of Boolean Operators also helped to yield relevant outcomes.
Boolean operators such as “AND, NOT and OR” were used by the researchers for different
term combinations like “domestic violence AND young adults in the UK”, “impact of
domestic violence AND young adults in the UK”, “domestic violence AND 13-18 year olds
in the UK”, “domestic violence AND the UK”. Using the Boolean operator “AND” in
PubMed, BMJ was helpful since a large amount of information was available, contrary to use
of a smaller database. The “OR” boolean operator helped to search articles by alternative
terms so as to enhance recall (Raychev, 2015).
Use of “OR” had helped to widen the boundaries of the literature search, as it covered
a wide variety of synonyms and thus, enabled the retrieval of more specific and a wide range
of information. Capital letters had been used for the boolean operators as PubMed and BMJ
are case-sensitive databases. Another important criterion is the fact that there are different
kinds of databases, which contain multi-disciplinary journals like JSTORE and “Subject
Specific Databases”, full of journals that be narrowed down to the specific subject being
looked for. Unfortunately, for databases such as JSTORE the scope of search is narrowed
down to peer-reviewed journals only.
In order to carry out the literature review, the researcher mainly used the online
database, which specialises on fields related to social, medial issues. Databases like that of
Medline, PubMed, BMJ, JSTORE and PMC were used in order to gather the required
documents. The researcher made sure that while using these databases, English language was
preferred while searching the keywords, mentioned above. In order to collect relevant
journals for the work, the researcher made sure that the abstract of the articles were
thoroughly reviewed. To be more specific about the searches, the researcher focused on
PubMed extensively for retrieving the data and information on the impact of domestic

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violence inon young adults. The following results have been obtained from the search made
on PubMed.
Terms used in searching Articles retrieved
‘dDomestic violence’ AND ‘young people aged 13 – 18’ 10
‘dDomestic violence’ AND ‘young people in the UK’ 8
‘cCauses of dDomestic vViolence’ AND ‘impact’ 12
‘sStrategies’ AND ‘interventions to lower domestic violence’ 8
One of the biggest advantages of using the PubMed was that, it has a large number of
scholarly journals, which has provided the researcher with the scope of retrieving the required
and relevant articles required for this research. Apart from that, PubMed compromises
comprises of more than 22 million citations and abstracts, which allowed the researcher to
collect all of the required journals, which matcheds the criteria of this research. Apart from
thatIn addition, the researcher made sureensured that the sections ijn PubMed that contain
articles on life sciences and , behavioural sciences sections of PubMed arewere thoroughly
searched, thoroughly while extracting the databases. Furthermore PubMed is a government
sponsored database, which provideshave free access to fill full text articless and at times to
PDF versions as well (National Library of Medicine, 2017). Apart from that there are few
other data bases including that of Google scholar, Emerald Insight, which offers journals and
reports, which are not specifically related to the health, life sciences, and medicines, Thus,
rather a diversified sourcesdiverse research articles could be extracted from these databases.
The usage of Google scholar to extract the required materials and peer-reviewed
journals was helpful, as it has contains millions of options to choose from. However, the
researcher required selecting certain criteria thatused several filters while extracting the
articles, such as, articles that were published on or after is use journals after 2015, as the
research is focused on determining impact of domestic violence on young people, aged 13 -
18 in the UK, between 2015 and 2017. Furthermore, the researcher also made sure that only
journals are were collected from Google scholar and the books and reports arewere left out.
Since Google scholar has collection of journals from different databases like PubMed, BMJ,
Willey it has made the search easier for the researcher (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2018).
While carrying out the search strategy for the study, the researcher has made sure that
meta- analysis is was taken into consideration. It is seenis evident that with the help ofuse of

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Meta- analysis, the research has been able toallowed the researcher to combine individual
studies, so as to produce a holistic overview of the impact of domestic violence on the young
people in the UK aged between 13 and 18 and from the period 2015 to 2017target population.
Hence, from the databases used,the databases helped the researcher has been able to retrieve
appropriate data, which in turn provided which has been able to make sure that appropriate
supporting documents are obtained so as to formfor the literature and findings. To consider
appropriateness of a study to be appropriate for the research topic, it is essential to suggest
proper include inclusion and exclusion criteria, to facilitate the in the search process.
Inclusion and exclusion criteria are defined as the set of characteristics, which are
used in order to identify prospective subjects that would be included or excluded for from the
study and excluded. A relevant inclusion criteria helps in optimising the overall validity of
the study, by improving the quality of the work along with minimising the rates of error and
decreasing the chances of including unethical practices. The inclusion criteria for the
literature search is given below:
 Articles published in English
 Abstract reviewing
 Full text articles
 Articles published on or after 2015
 Articles that contained information on childhood domestic violence in the UK
 Articles that contained information on witness of domestic abuse or violence
in the UK
 Articles that focused on disclosure of direct exposure to, or witnessing of
domestic violence by adolescents aged 13-18 years in the UK
The exclusion criteria for the narrative literature review was as follows:
 Articles that focused on domestic violence among adults and aged people
 Articles that contained information on domestic violence before 2015
 Incomplete manuscripts

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 Only abstracts
 Non-English articles
In this context, it was necessary to include information related to the impact of
domestic violence on the young adults and between 2015 and 2017. The search criteria
included keywords like ‘domestic violence’ and ‘young people’.adults, etc. apart from thatIn
addition, the interventions that were made in order to lowerlowered the raterates of domestic
violence on the young adults has had also been highlighted in this context .Thus, the
inclusion criteria contained all articles that had the aforementioned key terms, were published
in English, on or after and thus, these information has formed the major part of the inclusion
strategy search. However, this research excluded information on domestic violence on the
adults and the aged people. Furthermore, the impact on the young adults in the before 2015
has also been excluded from the study. Hence, it indicates the fact that the usage of the
inclusion and exclusion criteria hads been of help in narrowing down the search strategy,
thereby making it easier for the researcher to determine the appropriate things to be
incorporated in the research. The researcher in this context has searched more than 20
journals to sort out 6-7 of the most relevant journals to be used in the research, so as to
determine the impact of domestic violence on the young adults aged 13 - 18 in the UK.
In order to understand the impact of domestic violence on the young adults, the work
of Russell et al. (2016), hads been reviewed. The main inclusion criteria for this work were
the childhood experience of domestic abuse and the impact of domestic abuse on young
adults. in order to retrieve this article the researcher had used keywords like that of ‘domestic
violence’, ‘impact on children and young adults’, ‘change in behaviours’ etc. While searching
with these the aforementioned key words, the researcher obtained at least 20 searches search
hits in the first page, related to this article. Since the researcher obtained this article with the
help of the keyword, Boolean operators have not been used in this contextThe boolean
operator ‘AND’ helped in extracting this article. Another inclusion criterionmajor attribute of
for this article was that it provideds details on behavioural change and changes in eating
patterns. The result of this research reveals that, occurrences of domestic violence as well
asand being subjected to it that occurs for a prolonged period of time are is likely to lead to
affectingto affect the behaviour of the young adults and the adults. At the same