Domestic Violence and Children's Adjustment

Abstract

SUMMARY This article presents a review of the empirical literature on the effects of witnessing domestic violence on children's adjustment. The review includes 47 studies published in the last two decades. Although there are some inconsistent findings in early research, there is less inconsistency in more recent studies which employ standardized measures, comparison groups of children, and more sophisticated data analytic techniques. Results show that children exposed to domestic violence generally have more emotional and behavioral problems, less social and cognitive competence, and exhibit more health problems than children not exposed to domestic violence. Important methodological and theoretical challenges in this area of research are discussed. Suggested priority areas for future research include: studying nonshelter samples of children exposed to domestic violence, studying the effects of children's exposure to interparental verbal and other forms of aggression, conducting longitudinal research to examine the effects of domestic violence on children's long-term adjustment and to elucidate what factors, if any, ameliorate or exacerbate children's adjustment difficulties.

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