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How Witnessing Domestic Violence Affects Children

Short and Long-Term Effects of Witnessing Domestic Violence as a Child

Elizabeth is a freelance health and wellness writer. She helps brands craft factual, yet relatable content that resonates with diverse audiences.

Ann-Louise T. Lockhart, PsyD, ABPP, is a board-certified pediatric psychologist, parent coach, author, speaker, and owner of A New Day Pediatric Psychology, PLLC.

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Short-Term Effects of Witnessing Domestic Violence as a Child

• Long-Term Consequences

Protecting Children from Domestic Abuse

For victims of domestic violence —the physical attacks, emotional maltreatment, and other abuse endured are certain to take a toll on well-being. 

However, while the horrors of abuse are apparent in primary victims—children who witness the abuse of their mothers, fathers, or other family members, are impacted.

This article will look into the lasting psychological and physical effects of a child’s exposure to domestic violence . To reduce the risk of these effects, it is also important to highlight ways that children can be protected from harm’s way.

If you or a loved one are a victim of domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential assistance from trained advocates.

For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database .

As an all-too-common occurrence across the country, domestic violence is an uncomfortable feature of many American homes. An estimated 10 million people are affected by incidents of domestic abuse annually, a number that widens when silent victims, like children, are considered.

In 2010, 1 in 15 children were exposed to cases of intimate partner violence, with a worrying 1 in 3 children also experiencing acts of violence.

The effects of domestic abuse on children may be apparent within a short period of time, while other damages may be noticed in the long run. Some of the immediate effects that children experience after witnessing domestic violence are discussed below.

Children are likely to remain on edge if they are always surrounded by the abuse of one parent by the other. These children will live in bated breath for the next time physical or verbal assault might take place in their home. This can breed a state of perpetual anxiety .

For pre-schoolers who witness this, it isn’t uncommon to revert to the habits of younger children. Thumb sucking, bedwetting , increased crying, and whining may result from observing abuse.

School-aged children can develop anti-social traits and may struggle with guilt over the abuse witnessed. These children typically take on the blame for the abuse their parent deals with, a belief that can strongly bruise their self-esteem .

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

One of the most devastating effects of domestic violence is its ability to cause post-traumatic stress disorder in children that are raised around it.

Despite being spared from physical abuse, the trauma of domestic violence is enough to cause dangerous changes in the developing brains of children. These changes may cause nightmares , changes in sleep patterns , anger, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and children may sometimes have the ability to re-enact aspects of the traumatizing abuse observed.

Physical Challenges

Mental health strains are a common result of witnessing the abuse of a parent. However, these consequences may sometimes be apparent in their physical well-being.

School-aged children may report headaches and stomach pains which are traceable to the tense situation back home. In infants, there is a higher risk of experiencing physical injury following the constant stream of abuse on a parent.

Aggressive Behavior

When teenagers witness domestic abuse, they tend to act out in reaction to the situation . They may fight, skip school, engage in risky sexual activities, or dabble in drugs and alcohol. These teenagers are also very likely to get in trouble with the law.

Physical Abuse

In many instances, children that live in abusive households are also likely to fall victim to this treatment themselves.

An abusive partner can very easily become an abusive parent or guardian—physically, verbally, and emotionally harming their children.

Long-Term Effects of Witnessing Domestic Violence as a Child

As helpful as distance might be, simply moving away from domestic violence isn’t enough to undo the damage caused by witnessing it.

Children that grew up watching a parent experience abuse are likely to deal with effects that last well into adulthood. Some of the long-term effects that children experience after witnessing domestic violence are addressed below.

The anxious child raised in a toxic, abusive environment may grow to become a depressed adult . The trauma of routinely witnessing domestic violence places children at a high risk of developing depression, sadness, concentration issues, and other symptoms of depression into adulthood.

Health Problems

A poor diet or environmental risks may not always be the primary causes of conditions like heart disease, obesity, and diabetes in adulthood.

In some cases, these illnesses have direct links to the physical, emotional, and verbal abuse a child witnesses or is subjected to.

Repeating Abusive Patterns

While abusive behavior can be repetitive, it's important to note that abuse does not always occur in a cyclical pattern. In fact, assuming that violence occurs in cycles can lead to victim-blaming. Abuse can be unpredictable and is it never OK.

Feeling the pain and anguish of witnessing violence doesn’t always guarantee that children will toe a different path. In some cases, early exposure to abuse simply sets the stage for children to walk that same line in adulthood.

In these cases, male children might physically abuse their partners after watching their fathers do the same. Likewise, women from homes that witness domestic violence are more likely to be sexually assaulted by their partners in adulthood.  

Knowing that domestic violence can have lasting effects on the physical, mental, and later life of children—it's important to properly shield them from abuse. The following are ways to protect a child from domestic abuse.

Make Safety a Priority

One of the best ways to protect the interest and well-being of a child is for victims to receive the necessary support they need to leave the abusive environment.

By doing this, children are spared further exposure to violence and are given a chance to grow up within healthier structures. 

Teach Children Healthy Relationship Dynamics

With a skewed view about romantic dynamics, talking to children about healthier interactions between partners can help to manage the damage caused after witnessing domestic violence.

Children should be taught healthy ways to resolve disputes in friendships. It's important that they learn wholesome ways that partners can relate with each other, taking care to share why violence has no place in relationships.

Educating Children About Boundaries

An effective way to manage the damage, and prevent a cycle of domestic violence is to teach children healthy boundaries.

Teaching children about autonomy (that no one has a right to touch their bodies or vice-versa) is a step in the right direction. Children should also be taught to always tell a trusted adult if another person is making them uncomfortable in any way.

A Word From Verywell

Domestic violence has the potential to leave lasting marks on direct and indirect victims. With psychological challenges like anxiety and depression likely to develop from domestic violence— receiving appropriate care from a mental health professional can help to manage these effects in children. Therapy can also help with navigating the emotional strain and trauma of living in a toxic environment.

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence and Children .

Office on Women’s Health. Effects of Domestic Violence on Children’s Health .

Tsavoussis A, Stawicki SP, Stoicea N, Papadimos TJ. Child-witnessed domestic violence and its adverse effects on brain development: a call for societal self-examination and awareness . Front Public Health . 2014;2:178. Published 2014 Oct 10. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2014.00178

Stiles MM. Witnessing Domestic Violence: The Effect on Children . Am Fam Physician . 2002;66(11):2052-2067.

Moylan CA, Herrenkohl TI, Sousa C, Tajima EA, Herrenkohl RC, Russo MJ. The Effects of Child Abuse and Exposure to Domestic Violence on Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior Problems .  J Fam Violence . 2010;25(1):53-63. doi:10.1007/s10896-009-9269-9

Monnat SM, Chandler RF. Long Term Physical Health Consequences of Adverse Childhood Experiences . Sociol Q . 2015;56(4):723-752. doi:10.1111/tsq.12107

By Elizabeth Plumptre Elizabeth is a freelance health and wellness writer. She helps brands craft factual, yet relatable content that resonates with diverse audiences.

The impact of exposure to domestic violence on children and young people: a review of the literature

Affiliation.

• 1 Children's Research Centre, University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
• PMID: 18752848
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2008.02.004

Objective: This article reviews the literature concerning the impact of exposure to domestic violence on the health and developmental well-being of children and young people. Impact is explored across four separate yet inter-related domains (domestic violence exposure and child abuse; impact on parental capacity; impact on child and adolescent development; and exposure to additional adversities), with potential outcomes and key messages concerning best practice responses to children's needs highlighted.

Method: A comprehensive search of identified databases was conducted within an 11-year framework (1995-2006). This yielded a vast literature which was selectively organized and analyzed according to the four domains identified above.

Results: This review finds that children and adolescents living with domestic violence are at increased risk of experiencing emotional, physical and sexual abuse, of developing emotional and behavioral problems and of increased exposure to the presence of other adversities in their lives. It also highlights a range of protective factors that can mitigate against this impact, in particular a strong relationship with and attachment to a caring adult, usually the mother.

Conclusion: Children and young people may be significantly affected by living with domestic violence, and impact can endure even after measures have been taken to secure their safety. It also concludes that there is rarely a direct causal pathway leading to a particular outcome and that children are active in constructing their own social world. Implications for interventions suggest that timely, appropriate and individually tailored responses need to build on the resilient blocks in the child's life.

Practice implications: This study illustrate the links between exposure to domestic violence, various forms of child abuse and other related adversities, concluding that such exposure may have a differential yet potentially deleterious impact for children and young people. From a resilient perspective this review also highlights range of protective factors that influence the extent of the impact of exposure and the subsequent outcomes for the child. This review advocates for a holistic and child-centered approach to service delivery, derived from an informed assessment, designed to capture a picture of the individual child's experience, and responsive to their individual needs.

Publication types

• Comparative Study
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
• Adolescent Development
• Child Abuse / psychology*
• Child Abuse / statistics & numerical data
• Child Behavior Disorders / epidemiology
• Child Behavior Disorders / psychology
• Child Development
• Crime Victims / psychology
• Domestic Violence / psychology*
• Domestic Violence / statistics & numerical data
• Family Characteristics
• Health Status
• Life Change Events
• Resilience, Psychological
• Socioeconomic Factors
• Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / psychology
• Violence / psychology

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Effects of domestic violence on children

Many children exposed to violence in the home are also victims of physical abuse. 1 Children who witness domestic violence or are victims of abuse themselves are at serious risk for long-term physical and mental health problems. 2 Children who witness violence between parents may also be at greater risk of being violent in their future relationships. If you are a parent who is experiencing abuse, it can be difficult to know how to protect your child.

What are the short-term effects of domestic violence or abuse on children?

Children in homes where one parent is abused may feel fearful and anxious. They may always be on guard, wondering when the next violent event will happen. 3 This can cause them to react in different ways, depending on their age:

• Children in preschool. Young children who witness intimate partner violence may start doing things they used to do when they were younger, such as bed-wetting, thumb-sucking, increased crying, and whining. They may also develop difficulty falling or staying asleep; show signs of terror, such as stuttering or hiding; and show signs of severe separation anxiety.
• School-aged children. Children in this age range may feel guilty about the abuse and blame themselves for it. Domestic violence and abuse hurts children’s self-esteem. They may not participate in school activities or get good grades, have fewer friends than others, and get into trouble more often. They also may have a lot of headaches and stomachaches.
• Teens. Teens who witness abuse may act out in negative ways, such as fighting with family members or skipping school. They may also engage in risky behaviors, such as having unprotected sex and using alcohol or drugs. They may have low self-esteem and have trouble making friends. They may start fights or bully others and are more likely to get in trouble with the law. This type of behavior is more common in teen boys who are abused in childhood than in teen girls. Girls are more likely than boys to be withdrawn and to experience depression. 4

What are the long-term effects of domestic violence or abuse on children?

More than 15 million children in the United States live in homes in which domestic violence has happened at least once. 5 These children are at greater risk for repeating the cycle as adults by entering into abusive relationships or becoming abusers themselves. For example, a boy who sees his mother being abused is 10 times more likely to abuse his female partner as an adult. A girl who grows up in a home where her father abuses her mother is more than six times as likely to be sexually abused as a girl who grows up in a non-abusive home. 6

Children who witness or are victims of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse are at higher risk for health problems as adults. These can include mental health  conditions, such as depression and anxiety . They may also include diabetes , obesity, heart disease , poor self-esteem, and other problems. 7

Can children recover from witnessing or experiencing domestic violence or abuse?

Each child responds differently to abuse and trauma. Some children are more resilient, and some are more sensitive. How successful a child is at recovering from abuse or trauma depends on several things, including having: 8

• A good support system or good relationships with trusted adults
• High self-esteem
• Healthy friendships

Although children will probably never forget what they saw or experienced during the abuse, they can learn healthy ways to deal with their emotions and memories as they mature. The sooner a child gets help, the better his or her chances for becoming a mentally and physically healthy adult.

How can I help my children recover after witnessing or experiencing domestic violence?

You can help your children by:

• Helping them feel safe. Children who witness or experience domestic violence need to feel safe. 9 Consider whether leaving the abusive relationship  might help your child feel safer. Talk to your child about the importance of healthy relationships.
• Talking to them about their fears. Let them know that it’s not their fault or your fault. Learn more about how to listen and talk to your child about domestic violence  (PDF, 229 KB).
• Talking to them about healthy relationships. Help them learn from the abusive experience by talking about what healthy relationships are and are not. This will help them know what is healthy when they start romantic relationships of their own.
• Talking to them about boundaries. Let your child know that no one has the right to touch them or make them feel uncomfortable, including family members, teachers, coaches, or other authority figures. Also, explain to your child that he or she doesn’t have the right to touch another person’s body, and if someone tells them to stop, they should do so right away.
• Helping them find a reliable support system. In addition to a parent, this can be a school counselor, a therapist, or another trusted adult who can provide ongoing support. Know that school counselors are required to report domestic violence or abuse if they suspect it.
• Getting them professional help. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of talk therapy or counseling that may work best for children who have experienced violence or abuse. 10 CBT is especially helpful for children who have anxiety or other mental health problems as a result of the trauma. 11 During CBT, a therapist will work with your child to turn negative thoughts into more positive ones. The therapist can also help your child learn healthy ways to cope with stress. 12

Your doctor can recommend a mental health professional who works with children who have been exposed to violence or abuse. Many shelters and domestic violence organizations also have support groups for kids. 13 These groups can help children by letting them know they are not alone and helping them process their experiences in a nonjudgmental place. 14

Is it better to stay in an abusive relationship rather than raise my children as a single parent?

Children do best in a safe, stable, loving environment, whether that’s with one parent or two. You may think that your kids won’t be negatively affected by the abuse if they never see it happen. But children can also hear abuse, such as screaming and the sounds of hitting. They can also sense tension and fear. Even if your kids don’t see you being abused, they can be negatively affected by the violence they know is happening.

If you decide to leave an abusive relationship, you may be helping your children feel safer and making them less likely to tolerate abuse as they get older. 15 If you decide not to leave, you can still take steps  to protect your children and yourself.

How can I make myself and my children safe right now if I’m not ready to leave an abuser?

Your safety and the safety of your children are the biggest priorities. If you are not yet ready or willing to leave an abusive relationship, you can take steps to help yourself and your children now, including: 16

• Making a safety plan  for you and your child
• Listening and talking to your child and letting them know that abuse is not OK and is not their fault
• Reaching out to a domestic violence support person who can help you learn your options

If you are thinking about leaving an abusive relationship, you may want to keep quiet about it in front of your children. Young children may not be able to keep a secret from an adult in their life. Children may say something about your plan to leave without realizing it. If it would be unsafe for an abusive partner to know ahead of time you’re planning to leave, talk only to trusted adults about your plan. It’s better for you and your children to be physically safe than for your children to know ahead of time that you will be leaving.

Did we answer your question about the effects of domestic violence on children?

For more information about the effects of domestic violence on children, call the OWH Helpline at 1-800-994-9662 or check out the following resources from other organizations:

• About the Issue: What is child abuse?  — Fact sheet from the Joyful Heart Foundation.
• Behind Closed Doors: The Impact of Domestic Violence on Children  (PDF, 1.8 M) — Publication from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
• Child Abuse — Information from KidsHealth.org.
• Childhood Domestic Violence  — Information from the Childhood Domestic Violence Association.
• Help for Families  — Information about Temporary Assistance for Needy Families from the Office of Family Assistance.
• Safety for Parents  — Information from the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) for parents about getting a child to safety.
• Help for Parents of Children Who Have Been Sexually Abused by Family Members  — Information from RAINN.
• Modi, M.N., Palmer, S., Armstrong, A. (2014). The Role of Violence Against Women Act in Addressing Intimate Partner Violence: A Public Health Issue . Journal of Women’s Health; 23(3): 253-259.
• Gilbert, L.K., Breiding, M.J., Merrick, M.T., Parks, S.E., Thompson, W.W., Dhingra, S.S., Ford, D.C. (2015). Childhood Adversity and Adult Chronic Disease: An update from ten states and the District of Columbia, 2010 . American Journal of Preventive Medicine; 48(3): 345-349.
• Domestic Violence Roundtable. (n.d.). The Effects of Domestic Violence on Children .
• Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2014). Domestic Violence and the Child Welfare System . Washington, DC: Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• McDonald, R., Jouriles, E.N., Ramisetty-Mikler, S., Caetano, R., Green, C.E. (2006). ). Estimating the Number of American Children Living in Partner-Violent Families . Journal of Family Psychology; 20(1): 137-142.
• Vargas, L. Cataldo, J., Dickson, S. (2005). Domestic Violence and Children . In G.R. Walz & R.K. Yep (Eds.), VISTAS: Compelling Perspectives on Counseling. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association; 67-69.
• Monnat, S.M., Chandler, R.F. (2015),  Long Term Physical Health Consequences of Adverse Childhood Experiences . The Sociologist Quarterly; 56(4): 723-752.
• Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2014). Protective Factors Approaches in Child Welfare . Washington, DC: Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (n.d.). Interventions for Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: Core Principles .  
• Caffo, E., Belaise, C. (2003). Psychological aspects of traumatic injury in children and adolescents . Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America; 12(3): 493-535.
• Deblinger, E., Mannarino, A. P., Cohen, J. A., & Steer, R. A. (2006). A follow-up study of a multisite, randomized, controlled trial for children with sexual abuse-related PTSD symptoms. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; 45(12): 1474-84. 
• Kidshealth.org. (2013). Taking Your Child to a Therapist .
• National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (n.d.). Interventions for Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: Core Principles .
• Vargas, L., Cataldo, J., Dickson, S. (2005). Domestic Violence and Children . In Walz, G.R., Yep, R.K. (Eds.), VISTAS: Compelling Perspectives on Counseling. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association; 67-69.
• Center for Domestic Peace. (2016). Calling the Police .
• Loveisrespect.org (n.d.). I Have Children with My Abuser .
• Kathleen C. Basile, Ph.D., Lead Behavioral Scientist, Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Kathryn Jones, M.S.W., Public Health Advisor, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Sharon G. Smith, Ph.D., Behavioral Scientist, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
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Effects of Domestic Violence on Children’s Social and Emotional Development Essay

Children between the ages of zero and six year are continuously learning and developing socially and emotionally. For an appropriate development, a child needs love and care from both parents. In the case of families experiencing domestic violence, the social and emotional development of children brought put in such families is affected negatively. Psychological wellness of the child is affected at early age and later in life.

Introduction

Domestic violence has been an issue in many societies in the world but considered as a family matter, it’s only of late that legal proceedings can be taken on an offender. Since women movements in 1970s, domestic violence has become a legal matter calling for police, courts and judicial process intervention.

When one is talking of domestic violence, what comes in mind is wife or husband violence; in most case women are on the receiving end, they are subjected to physical, psychological and emotional violence. However the scope of domestic violence extend far beyond this believe to include child abuse and the effects that such abuse have on a child.

Family violence is a term that can be used to describe the various forms of violence that happen within a family set up. A family is a sociological unit which includes parents and children. The most common types of violence within the family are wife abuse and child abuse. Violence in this sense may include slaps, pushes, sexual abuse, battering, and use of abusive words. A research conducted by in United States of America, shown that each year over 3.3 children suffer from domestic violence.

The recognition of this is affected by lack of data that can be used for the analysis. The effect is mostly psychological, emotional and sometimes physical. The most noted one is physical and thus emotional and psychological remains not recorded (Shaffer, 2009). This paper discusses how children social and emotional development is affected by exposure to domestic violence. It will focus on children below the age of six years.

Child emotional and social development and domestic violence

Between the ages of Zero years to six years, a child is constantly learning and developing emotional and social health/character. At this age, he has no much choice on what and who to believe. Parents have the burden of developing a healthy emotional and social need of the child. The environment that a child grows in affects his social and emotional development.

Socialisation factors dominate in his character building as well as personality. The family is the first socialisation stage that a child gets. What the child observes is registered in its mind and goes a long way in forming attitude, behaviours and feeling about a certain issues at hand. If the family is undergoing domestic violence, the child mind will be exposed to violence and will form perception and attitudes towards such.

For example if a child is brought up in a family that the husband dominated and when he battles the wife it is generally accepted; a male child from such a home will develop a believe that women are inferior than men and thus they should be bitten. At this tender age a child is not able to differentiate what is good and what is wrong but learns from what surrounds him or her.

Impact of domestic volence on the emotional regulation of children

Rigterink, Fainsilber , and Hessler in the Journal of interpersonal violence, observe that early exposure of children to domestic violence influences their emotion regulation abilities. To evaluate the effect, the trio used baseline vagal tone (VT) method as the measuring parameter/unit.

They observed that the effects have a long-lasting effect in a child’s life and affects its social and emotional health. The research by the trio went further and evaluated other effects that domestic violence has on trajectory of children’s physiological regulatory abilities; they observed that in preschool and lower classes, children who come from families experiencing domestic violence have low concentration in class and are more likely to be violent in class (Zerk, Mertin & Proeve, 2009).

Expressing ones emotions is an important aspect in human growth and development. In domestically violent homes, violence may sometime erupt when one of the parents has expressed his/her emotions. The child is learning all this and has seen where the problem came from. His mind will convince him/her that violence is as a result of someone expressing his feeling. In the future the child decides not to air out their views and feelings. This results to children who are emotionally troubled.

They don’t know when to express their feeling and fear if they do, they might be subjected to violence. Good communication is an element of how well a person can express himself. If the child at tender age fears expressing his feeling, the same will affect him in the future. A research done by Joseph, Govender & Bhagwanjee, in 2006 showed that in episodes of violence children are left to wonder which side they should take.

It said that girls cried openly in the presence of the parents but boys cried secretly when they reflect on what was happening to their parents. This is a retaliatory reaction; the children in the research said they felt like hitting the abusing parent but instead ended up in this form of retaliatory response. From a different angle, this is grudge that the child has created with one parent which affects their relationship in the future (Zerk, Mertin & Proeve, 2009)

In extreme conditions, children from these homes shows similar characteristics like those seen in children living in areas of total war. Their condition can be termed as post-traumatic stress.

In the case of wife-husband violence, always, one parent will be the offender and the other one the victim; in an ideal situation, a child needs the love of a both parents. In this case he will lack either because the offender feels that he is not obligated to love the child. His/her mind is occupied with what they are going through with the spouse and not the care of the child. He/she is not able to provide the needed emotional support to his/her child.

The other parent heart is troubled and cannot give care to the child. Eventually the child suffers. Since the brain of a child is young and willing to learn, the child looks for love in other places like television; which may not give him/her the right moral teaching. The agony of the child goes further since shelters available for battled women or men do not take care of children. The child is left hanging on the balance not to know whether to stay or move with the offended parent.

At this moment, the child psychological, social and emotional stability is affected. The child is exposed to making lifetime decisions at an age below six years. Training to domestic violence care givers overlook the effect the violence might have hand on children and thus they end up healing the family but leaving scars and unsolved questions in children. This emotionally and socially disturbs a child in such homes (Linda and Alison 2009).

Impact on social development with peers and other adults

A family is expected to be a unit of peace where a child gets emotional care and benefits from the parents. It forms the background of human socialisation. The child is taught on basic interaction strategies at home. When a child is brought up in family that do not respect children rights but goes ahead and abuses the child; the child development is influenced by such actions.

All forms of child abuse have long lasting effects on a child. It may be physical or emotional. Emotional violence is registered in a child life for a long period of time and keeps haunting them in one way or another. This influences how he interacts with other peers.

When parents are fighting in the presence of the children, the child out of fear starts to cry. He/she does not know what to do, who to support, who call help from. The child gets emotionally troubled (Anderson & Aviles, 2006). “We are what we were socialized to be”, this statement observes that if a child has been socialised in a violent family, chances are high that it will develop certain attitude towards violence and may end up being violent also.

It is appreciated that there might not be much statistical data regarding the number and age of effect, the truth stands that children are affected by domestic violence. Infants , preschool going children as well as children are affected and portray different responses which stems from the family background that they have come from. Young children exposed to family violence at tender age show an increased irritation, sleep disturbances and excessive aggression; this stems from what they see in life.

Being aggressive and not able to control ones anger is a show of a person/child who is emotionally disturbed,. When this happens it does not end at childhood age but goes to affect the child till adulthood. Children tend to practice what they see in television, homes and in the society they are living in. This explains the aggressiveness and anger that those from families undergoing domestic violence. The emotional difficulty can be seen at ages below the age of six years (Anderson & Aviles, 2006).

John Bowlby’s theory of internal working models

The theory states that for health social and emotional development, a child requires the care and emotional attachment of their parents. This lack in the case of domestic violence a child emotional development is drastically affected. At this tender age, a child has not interacted much with the outside world. He gets comfort and safety in its parents. His/her mind is opened to learn from the surrounding. In the case the family has had violence, the child experiences lack of trust in either parent.

He is not sure of who to trust. Parents are the most reliable people that a child can expect care, love and emotional needs satisfaction. In the case that the family is in constant violence, the child is not given attention and it’s emotional and safety needs are not met. These results to children do not trust their parents . this has a long effect in the child’s life. In later years trusting even one’s spouse will be a problem (Anderson & Aviles, 2006).

In most/all cases, in the case of violence, there is always an exchange of harsh words among the spouse or to a child. These things register in the mind of the child and in the future he may take them and believe that is the situation. For example if in violence the mother of a child refers his husband as useless, the child is likely to believe that his father is useless. This believes may haunt him in the future where in case his father does something out of the ordinary the child thinks he is doing that out of being useless.

When a family is undergoing domestic violence, both the parents are psychologically, emotionally and socially unsettled. They are having lot of unresolved businesses between themselves in what can be said to be a competition to fight for children’s favour. In this situation the child is neglected.

Neglect is in the form of provide for a child’s basic and emotional need. The parents may become unable to provide physical and emotional care to their children’s. Neglected children are depressed and emotionally troubled. They feel they are not treated well by the same people they trust for this care.

Alcohol has been used as an escapist method by parents whose families do not have peace. On the other hand the drunken parent cannot take care of his children effectively financially and emotionally. This results to neglected children. In later years, adolescence, the children experience constant emotional pain which can be shown on competent face towards the outside world. The child is always fearful and suspicious of the world he/she is living in (Carretta, 2008)

Learning theory of development

The theory states that development is an individual is affected by the socialization environment that he is living in. Children under the age of six years are constantly learning and their character is developing. They need emotional and social support to make them better human beings in the future.

If they are brought up in families which have constant domestic violence, they lack the much needed care from their parents and end up emotionally troubled. When they are relating with other kids whether in school or at home, they are affected by the feeling that they are inferior; in class work, the children do not understand as fast as they are expected to be absorbing.

This is because their mind is not set. They do not have peace of mind. To them the world is not being fair. When it comes with interaction with other children in games and other social activities, these children may be outdrawn or when playing he portrays aggressiveness, this may lead to other kinds negative perception towards the child a move that make the victim child more emotionally troubled (Fantuzzo, Fusco, Mohr & Perry, 2007).

Implications for an early childhood educator

An early child educator is the one who is responsible of early teaching of a child in formal education; it is important for him to know the signs and symptoms of a child who comes from families with domestic violence. After doing so he will be able to handle the child professionally in class.

When children are continuously seeing their parents fight, they are always feeling that they should come to the rescue of the victim. However, they are incapable of. Boys are affected even higher, they feel their weaknesses are being utilised by the violent parent.

The children feel anxious and powerlessness. They have to look for a coping strategy which they result to denial. In these situations to cope with the feelings, they use denial as a coping strategy to traumatic situation. An example is when a child is used to seeing parents in constant fights, he may say “that’s normal” such an attitude results from denial. This denial cognitive strategy results to a person who accepts pain even when they are not legitimate (Zerk, Mertin & Proeve, 2009).

Abraham Maslow, in his theory of hierarchy of needs, quotes psychological need as one human need. Fear is an element of psychological need. When a child seeing his parents in constant battle, the child fears that the same may happen to him/her. A violent partner threatens a family and the child lives in constant fear.

The panic caused shapes the attitude and psychological needs of the child. He always feels that his life is threatened. In case there is only one parent who is violent, the child feels threatened by the parent; ambivalence, the child starts taking sides in the family. He may in the future respond differently to the two parents. He is not sure who he can trust and why. This affects the emotional health of the child (Carretta, 2008).

How can the effect of domestic violence be changed

The effect that domestic violence especially those not directly on a child have been ignored for a long period of time. The focus has been domestic violence which considers the case of parties concerned (husband and wife) and has left the effects that this violence has on children from such families.

Children issues are talked when direct child abuse is being considered. The bitter truth is that children are also affected by domestic violence. At infant and tender age, the effects can be seen in the way the child preserves life. He may have negative attitudes and cannot control his/her emotions. When parents are fighting, the child suffers in silence and this have an effect on its cognitive development. He feels that life is not favouring him; he results to denial.

Lack of data and adequate research in the area have made psychologist and persons concerned about the welfare of relations ignore the need to incorporate child counselling in the event of a domestic child. The child emotional and social life is challenged.

The societies have the burden of understanding and appreciating this effect and should devise measures to atop the trend. For instance, during courtship and marriage counselling’s, couples should be trained on how not to fight or resolve their issues in an arguing manner.

They may for example take the bedroom strategy where they will withdraw from the children when solving issues. In the case of violence, counsellors should appreciate that children are equally affected by the violence and should have a section with the child. They should build confidence and give the child emotional support to face life after that (Horton, 2008).

Between the ages of zero to six years, a child is constantly learning new things. His social and emotional characters are developing. The development of these characters is influenced by the exposure that he gets from his parents. When brought up in a family that experiences violence, the child social and emotional development is affected. Domestic violence has been in the society since people started living together. Having differences in family is healthy but how a couple resolves the differences is where the problem lies.

In case of domestic violence, it is not the couple alone which suffer but their children too are affected socially and emotionally. What the child observes is registered in its mind and goes a long way in forming attitude, behaviours and feeling about a certain issues at hand. If the family is undergoing domestic violence, the child mind will be exposed to violence and will form perception and attitudes towards such. When exposed to violence his attitude, personality, behaviour and cognitive development is affected.

Anderson, T., & Aviles, A. (2006). Diverse faces of domestic violence. ABNF Journal, 17 (4), 129-132. Retrieved from CINAHL Plus with Full Text database.

Carretta, C. (2008). Domestic violence: a worldwide exploration. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing & Mental Health Services, 46 (3), 26-35. Retrieved from CINAHL Plus with Full Text database.

Emery, R. (1989). Family violence. American Psychologist, 44 (2), 321-328. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.44.2.321.

Fantuzzo, J., Fusco, R., Mohr, W., & Perry, M. (2007). Domestic Violence and Children’s Presence: A Population-based Study of Law Enforcement Surveillance of Domestic Violence. Journal of Family Violence, 22 (6), 331-340. doi:10.1007/s10896-007-9080-4.

Fritz, G. (2000). Domestic violence hurts children as well as adults. Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter, 16 (7), 8. Retrieved from Professional Development Collection database.

Horton, A. (2008). Domestic violence: the untold story. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 18 (1), 31-47. Retrieved from CINAHL Plus with Full Text database.

Linda B. and Alison C.(2009). Inter-Parental Violence: The Pre-Schooler’s Perspective and the Educator’s Role. EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION JOURNAL . Volume 37, Number 3, 199-207, DOI: 10.1007/s10643-009-0342-z

Joseph, S., Govender, K., & Bhagwanjee, A. (2006). “I can’t see him hit her again, I just want to run away… hide and block my ears”: A Phenomenological Analysis of a Sample of Children’s Coping Responses to Exposure to Domestic Violence. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 6 (4), 23. Retrieved from MasterFILE Premier database.

Rigterink,T., Fainsilber L., and Hessler, D.(2010).“Domestic Violence and Longitudinal Associations With Children’s Physiological Regulation Abilities”. Journal of interpersonal violence . 25 (12)

Shaffer, D. (2009). Social and Personality Development (6th Ed). Belmont, CA: Belmont

Zerk, D., Mertin, P., & Proeve, M. (2009). Domestic Violence and Maternal Reports of Young Children’s Functioning. Journal of Family Violence, 24 (7), 423-432. doi:10.1007/s10896-009-9237-4.

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Bibliography

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Article Contents

Introduction, acknowledgements.

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A Systematic Review of the Child Exposure to Domestic Violence Scale

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Kristen E Ravi, Betty C Tonui, A Systematic Review of the Child Exposure to Domestic Violence Scale, The British Journal of Social Work , Volume 50, Issue 1, January 2020, Pages 101–118, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz028

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Children’s exposure to parental intimate partner violence (IPV) is recognised as an adverse childhood experience that impacts children’s healthy development. Limitations in measurement have prevented a comprehensive assessment of children’s exposure to parental IPV. The Child Exposure to Domestic Violence (CEDV) Scale was developed to address these limitations. The purpose of this systematic review was to synthesise and summarise the psychometric properties of this measure. A systematic search of domestic and international quantitative studies utilising the CEDV was conducted to assess the reliability and validity of the instrument. From the 264 studies identified, the final sample included thirteen studies. The CEDV was used in various countries and was translated into several languages. The internal consistency remained good when utilising the CEDV with diverse populations. The results indicated that the CEDV demonstrated content, convergent and discriminant validity. Inconsistencies were present regarding the association with internalising problems such as depression. Additional studies are needed to examine these discrepancies. Social workers should consider using the CEDV with children exposed to IPV to assess children’s exposure and inform interventions. Implications for research include employing exploratory factor analysis to examine the factor structure of the measure when it is used with various populations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016) recognises children’s exposure to parental intimate partner violence (IPV) as an adverse childhood experience that impacts their healthy development. Various studies have attempted to report the prevalence of children’s exposure to parental IPV. The Second National Children’s Exposure to Violence Survey of 4,500 youth reported that one in four children witnessed a parental assault in their lifetime ( Finkelhor et al. , 2015 ). McDonald et al. (2006) estimate that 15.5 million children are exposed to parental IPV annually in the USA.

The term ‘exposure’ to IPV is used more commonly than the previous term ‘witness’. Exposure is more inclusive and suggests that children may be aware of parental IPV without observing it directly. Scholars describe children’s exposure to parental IPV as the ‘multiple experiences of children living in homes where an adult is using violent behaviour in a pattern of coercion against an intimate partner’ ( Edleson et al. , 2007 , p. 963). Holden (2003) created a taxonomy of exposure to parental IPV, which includes prenatal exposure, intervening during the violence, victimisation, participating in the violence, direct observation, overhearing the violence, observing the effects of violence, experiencing the aftermath, hearing about the incident and being oblivious to the violence.

A population-based surveillance study of 1,581 IPV incidents demonstrated that in 43 per cent ( n   = 679) of the cases, children were in the home at the time of the violence, and 95 per cent of these children had sensory exposure ( Fusco and Fantuzzo, 2009 ). Amongst the children who had sensory exposure, 22 per cent heard it, 4 per cent saw it, more than 60 per cent heard and saw it and 3 per cent were injured in the incident. Children’s involvement in the IPV incidents included being part of a precipitating event, calling for help directly or indirectly, and physical involvement. The largest percentage of children were involved physically (37 per cent). One-third of them were involved in precipitating events, and almost 30 per cent called for help.

Fusco and Fantuzzo (2009) examined differences based on gender, race and age. Girls were more likely to be involved in the violence as witnesses, although there were no differences in gender regarding being part of a precipitating event or physical involvement, but girls were significantly more likely (57 per cent) to call for help compared to boys ( Fusco and Fantuzzo, 2009 ). There were no racial differences amongst the three types of involvement. The mean age of the children who intervened was seven years. Children under six years of age were more likely to be part of the precipitating event and physically involved, while children between the ages of 7 and 17years were more likely to call for help.

A well-developed body of knowledge demonstrates that exposure to parental IPV can result in short-term and long-term adverse outcomes. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses indicate that exposure to parental IPV can result in mental health and behavioural problems ( Kitzmann et al. , 2003 ; Evans et al. , 2008 ; Fong et al. , 2017 ). Additionally, exposure to IPV can impact children’s physical health, development, cognition and academic achievement ( Peek-Asa et al. , 2007 ; Artz et al. , 2014 ).

Despite these findings, there are variations in the prevalence and consequences of children exposed to parental IPV ( Edleson et al. , 2008 ). Research indicates that not all children experience adverse outcomes related to parental IPV exposure ( Lundy and Grossman, 2005 ; Artz et al. , 2014 ; McDonald et al. , 2006 ). Lundy and Grossman (2005) examined the mental health and service needs of children exposed to parental IPV within fifty IPV agencies. Their findings indicated that within a sample of over 40,000 children, two-thirds ( n = 1,784) did not report any problems.

One potential reason for the variation in outcomes may result from the measurement of children’s exposure to parental IPV. There are several methodological limitations regarding assessing children’s exposure to parental IPV. A primary methodological concern is how the prevalence information is obtained. Historically, most studies relied on an adult informant’s report of exposure as well as the assessment of the child’s emotional, behaviour and academic difficulties ( Edleson et al. , 2007 ). Frequently, studies adapt the adult conflict tactics scale to include ‘how often has your child witnessed (saw/heard) each conflict tactic’ ( Edleson et al. , 2007 ). Moreover, parents’ reports of children’s exposure often differ from those of their children ( Sternberg et al. , 2006 ).

Presently, few measures utilise children’s self-report of exposure to parental IPV ( Finkelhor et al. , 2005 ). Many of the existing measures examine the impact of exposure to violence but do not directly assess the child’s individual experience with the violence that could potentially affect their reactions to it ( Edleson et al. , 2007 ). , most of the measures of children’s exposure to violence focus on a variety of types of exposure and often include only one item about their exposure to parental IPV ( Edleson et al. , 2007 ). Given the nature and complexity of children’s exposure to parental IPV, a comprehensive assessment of contextual factors is critical ( Mohr and Tulman, 2000 ).

To address the lack of measures specific to children’s experience of parental IPV, Edleson et al. (2008) developed the Child Exposure to Domestic Violence (CEDV) Scale. The CEDV is a child self-report measure consisting of forty-two items that are divided into three sections with six subscales. The subscales include (i) level of violence in the home, (ii) level of exposure to violence, (iii) exposure to community violence, (iv) level of the child’s involvement in the violent events, (v) risk factors in the child’s home life and (vi) other victimisations the child has experienced at home.

The first section of the CEDV targets the type of exposure to parental IPV that children may experience such as, ‘Has your mom’s partner ever hurt your mom’s feelings by calling her names, swearing, yelling, threatening her, screaming at her, or things like that?’ and ‘How often has your mom’s partner done something to hurt her body like hitting her, punching her, kicking her, choking her, shoving her, pulling her hair, or things like that?’. The child rates the ten items on a three-point Likert-type scale (‘Never, Sometimes, A lot’). The second part of this section asks the child to report how he or she knew the violence was occurring at home with five choices, including ‘I saw the outcome (like someone was hurt, something was broken, or the police came)’, ‘I heard about it afterwards’, ‘I heard it while it was happening’, ‘I saw it from far away while it was happening’ and ‘I saw it and was near while it was happening’.

The second part of the questionnaire includes twenty-three questions using the same Likert-type scale and asks the child to identify how often he or she intervened in the violent events. Examples of these questions include ‘When your mom’s partner hurts your mom, how often have you hollered or yelled something at them from a different room than where the fighting was taking place?’ and ‘When your mom’s partner hurts your mom, how often have you called someone else for help, like calling someone on the phone or going next door?’. This section also asks about other potential risk factors in the child’s life, including parental substance abuse, maternal depression, bullying and community violence. The final section includes nine demographic questions, including gender, age, race, ethnicity, present living arrangements, family composition and a question about their favourite hobbies to end on a lighter note. The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesise and summarise psychometric properties of the CEDV scale.

Despite the development of the CEDV scale and its utilisation as a measure of a child’s exposure to parental IPV, no comprehensive review has been conducted to assess the psychometric properties, reliability and validity of the measure. The aim of the current review is to systematically search, collect, summarise and synthesise the published scholarly research using the CEDV scale with samples of children to provide practice and research implications for future use of the CEDV scale.

The current systematic review was conducted utilising the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines ( Liberati et al. , 2009 ). The search terms that were used included ‘CEDV scale’, ‘child exposure to domestic violence’, ‘Child exposure to domestic violence scale’, ‘CEDV’ AND ‘Scale’ and ‘CEDV’ OR ‘child exposure to domestic violence’ and ‘scale’. The databases searched were Academic Search Complete, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Complete, Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text, Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), Family Studies Abstracts, MEDLINE, Psych ARTICLES, Psychology and Behaviour Sciences Collection, PsycINFO and Social Work Abstracts. Dissertations and Thesis Global was searched to obtain grey literature. A Google Scholar search was conducted to identify any additional studies not obtained in the previous search. Finally, a forward search from the seminal article by Edleson et al. (2008) was completed to uncover further studies that may have utilised the CEDV scale.

Inclusion criteria

The inclusion criteria for prospective studies were that the study was quantitative, participants were under 18, used the CEDV scale and published in English in a peer-reviewed journal. Regarding grey literature, doctoral dissertations were also eligible for inclusion. Reviews (meta-analysis, literature review and systematic reviews) were excluded. Additionally, retrospective studies were also excluded from the study.

Covidence, a web-based systematic review software facilitated the process of tracking studies from the initial title and abstract screen through the full-text reviews. Both authors conducted the title and abstract screening as well as reviewed all the full-text articles. When disagreements arose at each stage, the authors met to resolve the discrepancies. In total, the first and second authors met for approximately two hours to resolve the conflicts. Figure 1 displays the PRISMA diagram that delineates the process of study exclusion throughout the review process.

PRISMA diagram.

Data extraction

Data extraction was conducted by the first author after the final sample of studies was identified. Sample information for each study was recorded, specifically the sample size, the age of the participants, country, setting (community, IPV agency/shelter, child welfare, or a combination of settings), racial demographics and percent of the sample that was female. Additionally, the parts of the CEDV scale used, information regarding translation of the measure, reliability evidence and validity evidence were recorded. Validity evidence included significant and non-significant relationships between exposure to parental IPV and child outcomes.

Our results initially yielded 264 studies to screen. The first author loaded these studies into the web-based software Covidence to facilitate the screening and review process. Covidence removed eighty-three duplicates. One hundred eighty-one titles and abstracts were screened. One hundred forty-five studies were eliminated at this level. Thirty-six full-text studies were assessed for eligibility. After reviewing the full-text articles, twenty-three studies were excluded. Thirteen studies were included in the review. Table 1 provides a summary of study characteristics.

Study description

Study and participant characteristics

Study design.

Most of the studies (92 per cent) included in the review were cross-sectional. Several of the studies were identified as exploratory or descriptive ( Anitha and Venus, 2016 ; Anderson, 2017 ; Jumma and erkez, 2017 ). However, one of the studies was an intervention study that used a repeated measures design without a comparison group ( Grip et al. , 2013 ).

Sample size

The sample size ranged from twenty-nine ( Anderson, 2017 ) to 1,212 children ( Sajadi, et al. , 2014 ). The median sample size of this review was ninety-seven children. The median was reported because one study was an outlier with 1,212 children ( Sajadi et al. , 2014 ). The total sample from all the studies combined in the review was 2,546 children.

Participant characteristics

Table 2 provides a summary of the participant demographics. The mean age of the children in the studies was 12.70 (SD = 3.30). The youngest sample of children ranged from six to twelve years of age ( Katz et al. , 2016 ). The oldest sample included children between the ages of fifteen and twenty years of age ( Idemudia and Makhubela, 2011 ), which was included because some of the participants were under the age of eighteen years. The majority (38.5 per cent) of the studies were conducted in the USA. Amongst the studies that reported racial demographics ( Edleson et al. , 2008 ; Idemudia and Makhubela, 2011 ; Harding et al. , 2013 ; Shin, 2013 ; Katz et al. , 2016 ; Anderson, 2017 ), 55.3 per cent were children of colour. Katz et al. , (2016) included the most diversity amongst participants. The sample included 46.7 per cent White, 30 per cent bi/multiracial, 21 per cent Hispanic children, 6.7 per cent Black, 9.3 per cent American Indian, 1.3 per cent Asian and 1.3 per cent Hawaiian. Fifty-three per cent of the children were female subjects.

Instrument characteristics and reliability evidence

Two studies were conducted in Sweden ( Grip et al. , 2013 ; Grip et al. , 2014 ) using the same sample. Studies were also conducted in South Africa ( Idemudia and Makhubela, 2011 ), India ( Anitha and Venus, 2016 ), Iran ( Sajadi et al. ,2014 ), Iraqi-Kurdistan ( Jumma and erkez, 2017 ), Pakistan ( Khatoon et al. , 2014 ) and Spain ( Diez et al. , 2018 ). The CEDV scale was translated into Spanish ( Diez et al. , 2018 ), Kurdish ( Jumma and erkez, 2017 ), Urdu ( Khatoon et al. , 2014 ) and Persian ( Sajadi et al. , 2014 ). The researchers who conducted the study in India reported making culturally specific adaptations.

Regarding the setting, the majority (41.7 per cent) of the studies were conducted in the community setting ( Idemudia and Makhubela, 2011 ; Harding et al. , 2013 ; Sajadi et al. , 2014 ; Anitha and Venus, 2016 ; Jumma and erkez, 2017 ). Approximately 25 per cent of the children were sampled from an IPV agency or shelter ( Edleson et al. , 2008 ; Katz et al. , 2016 ; Anderson, 2017 ). The remaining studies were sampled from both the community and IPV agencies or shelters ( Grip et al. , 2013 ; Shin, 2013 ; Khatoon et al. , 2014 ). Only one study was conducted within a child welfare setting ( Diez et al. , 2018 ).

All studies except for one ( Diez et al. , 2018 ) reported the parts of the CEDV scale used. Half of the studies included all of the measure ( Edleson et al. , 2008 ; Shin, 2013 ; Khatoon et al. , 2014 ; Sajadi et al. , 2014 ; Anitha and Venus, 2016 ; Anderson, 2017 ), and half of them reported using only part of it ( Idemudia and Makhubela, 2011 ; Grip et al. , 2013 ; Harding et al. , 2013 ; Grip et al. , 2014 ; Katz et al. , 2016 ; Jumma and erkez, 2017 ).

Reliability

Table 2 displays the reliability evidence of the CEDV scale. Measures of internal consistency (Cronbach’s ) were available for ten of the thirteen studies. The majority of the studies reported good levels of internal consistency ( Cronbach, 1951 ). The alphas for the total scale ranged from 0.79 ( Grip et al. , 2014 ) to 0.97 ( Katz et al. , 2016 ). Subscales ranged from 0.34 ( Diez et al. , 2018 ) to 0.88 ( Harding et al. , 2013 ; Shin, 2013 ). The studies that utilised translated measures reported subscales ranging widely from 0.34 to 0.86. The alpha of 0.34 was an outlier and was reported on the ‘other victimization subscale’ ( Diez et al. , 2018 ). After removing the outlier, the alphas of the translated measures ranged from 0.74 ( Diez et al. , 2018 ) to 0.89 ( Sajadi et al. , 2014 ).

Two of the studies included test–retest reliability ( Edleson et al. , 2008 ; Sajadi et al. , 2014 ). To establish test–retest reliability, Edleson et al. (2008) conducted paired t -tests, which were non-significant, indicating test–retest reliability for scores at time one and at time two a week later. The ‘level of involvement’ scale was statistically different. Additionally, Edleson et al. (2008) reported a significant moderate correlation between scores at time one and time two. Sajadi et al. (2014) also assessed reliability using the test–retest method. The Pearson’s correlation coefficients between the two administrations were 0.58–0.89, and for the total scale, it was 0.86. None of the tests demonstrated significant differences between time one and time two.

Table 3 provides information about the validity of the CEDV. Twelve of the thirteen studies included in this review provided information pertaining to validity. Content, concurrent, convergent, discriminant and factor validity were the most frequent types of validity reported in the studies. ‘Content validity’ pertains to whether items reflect a certain content domain ( DeVellis, 2016 ). We defined ‘concurrent validity’ as significant correlations between the child’s score on the CEDV scale and measures of known outcomes of children’s exposure to parental IPV ( Cronbach and Meehl, 1955 ). ‘Convergent validity’ occurs when there is ‘evidence of similarity between measures of theoretically related constructs’ ( DeVellis, 2016 , p. 100), whereas ‘discriminant validity’ occurs when there is an ‘absence of correlation between the measures of unrelated constructs’ ( DeVellis, 2016 , p. 100). Finally, ‘factor validity’ relates to the number and nature of latent variables that underlie a set of items. It also identifies how well items are performing ( DeVellis, 2016 ).

Evidence of validity

Content validity

During the process of creating the CEDV, Edleson et al. (2008) assembled a panel of nine international experts who work with children exposed to parental IPV to review the measure. The experts were asked to examine each item and suggest whether to (i) keep the item ‘as is’, (ii) delete the item from the measure or (iii) revise the question. The experts were given the opportunity to provide specific feedback regarding changes that should be made and whether additional items should be included.

Concurrent validity

The CEDV scale significantly predicted depressive symptoms in children ( Harding et al. , 2013 ). Children’s scores on the CEDV scale were positively correlated with anxiety symptoms on the State-Trait Anxiety scale ( Khatoon et al. , 2014 ). Females were at higher risk for anxiety compared to male subjects. Children exposed to parental IPV scored higher on the Behaviour Assessment System for Children Self-Report in the areas of maladjustment, social stress, depression and self-esteem ( Diez et al. , 2018 ). Further, children exposed to parental IPV reported lower self-reliance and less control over their life as well as higher internalising behaviours. Children not exposed to parental IPV demonstrated better personal adjustment and less emotional symptoms. Regarding outcomes related to children’s exposure to parental IPV, higher CEDV scores were related to positive changes in psychological problems after participating in an intervention for children exposed to parental IPV ( Grip et al. , 2013 ).

Additionally, a sample of children receiving services from an IPV agency or shelter reported lower quality of life, significantly more health complaints and increased negative emotionality. These children reported lower attachment to their fathers and mothers compared to a community sample of children in Sweden ( Grip et al. , 2014 ). Moreover, youth exposed to violence by their fathers perceived more negative parenting behaviours of the father and ambivalence towards both parents ( Shin, 2013 ). Idemudia and Makhubela (2011) found that in a sample of emerging adults, exposure to parental IPV was significantly related to lower identity development on Erikson’s identity scale that measures the resolution of psychosocial stages.

Several studies indicated that the CEDV scale may potentially lack concurrent validity in some areas. For instance, Diez et al. (2018) did not find significant differences related to school problems amongst children exposed to parental IPV and those who were not exposed. Two studies found that children’s exposure to parental IPV did not affect their emotional regulation ( Harding et al. , 2013 ; Grip et al. , 2014 ). Additionally, scores on the CEDV scale did not predict internalising or externalising problems ( Harding et al. , 2013 ) or mental health concerns such as depression symptoms ( Katz et al. , 2016 ).

Anderson (2017) examined the correlations between the Children’s Protective Strategies Index (CPSI) and the CEDV. The results demonstrated that fourteen strategies such as escaping, safety planning, intervening, protecting mother and siblings and hiding were related to the total score on the CEDV. Furthermore, Anderson (2017) examined the bivariate correlations between each question on the CEDV scale about the level of violence and each of the strategies on the CPSI, which revealed a moderate correlation.

Convergent validity

Convergent validity was discussed in two of the articles in the review. Edleson et al. (2008) established convergent validity by asking each child to complete the Things I’ve Seen and Heard questionnaire along with the CEDV scale and found correlations between violence in the home and violence in the community subscales ( Edleson et al. , 2008 ). Sajadi et al. (2014) also tested concurrent validity by examining the correlation coefficients of scores on the CEDV scale and a questionnaire on exposure to physical aggression. Results indicated that subscales of exposure to parental IPV on each measure were positively correlated.

Discriminant validity

A study by Grip et al. (2013) examined the relationship between the CEDV scale and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Trauma Symptoms Checklist for Children (TSCC). The TSCC included a post-traumatic stress scale, and the mean of the t -scores on the additional scales were used to operationalise psychological problems in general. The CEDV scale was not significantly related to any of the scales indicating discriminant validity. Moreover, the CEDV scale did not predict Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms that provides evidence that the CEDV scale does not measure PTSD ( Katz et al. , 2016 ).

Factor validity

During development, Edleson et al. (2008) conducted a factor analysis to generate subscales empirically. However, they reported that conceptually relevant subscales did not emerge. Only one other study ( Sajadi et al. , 2014 ) conducted an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) that resulted in seven subscales. However, they did not provide details about the analysis such as eigenvalues, factor loadings, factor structure or identify the seven subscales. Moreover, none of the studies conducted a confirmatory factor analysis.

A substantial body of literature has demonstrated that children exposed to parental IPV may experience a host of adverse outcomes (e.g. Artz et al. , 2014 ; Kimball, 2016 ). The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the CEDV scale across multiple studies in the literature. The findings indicate that the CEDV scale is reliable amongst diverse populations and that there is some evidence of concurrent validity between the CEDV scale and several outcomes related to exposure to parental IPV. However, there are some limitations to the CEDV scale regarding concurrent validity with other outcomes such as PTSD, academic achievement and emotional regulation. Additionally, the scale’s factor validity has not been established.

Generally, the existing studies indicate that the CEDV is reliable when used with diverse populations of children in the USA and worldwide in various settings with total scale reliabilities ranging from 0.79 ( Grip et al. , 2014 ) to 0.97 ( Katz et al. , 2016 ). Only one study reported a low alpha of 0.34 for the ‘other victimization’ subscale. The low reliability score may have resulted from translation problems since the measure was translated into Spanish and had not previously been used with children in Spain ( Diez et al. , 2018 ). The test–retest reliability evidence suggests that the measure is consistent over time.

Regarding validity, the evidence of concurrent validity in the studies is indicative that the measure is detecting relationships between the exposure to parental IPV and several of the outcomes that have earlier been associated with children’s exposure to parental IPV. Specifically, it is sensitive to children’s anxiety and lowered self-esteem, as well as lower quality of life and physical health complaints. None of the studies examined children’s externalising behaviours such as aggression, which is problematic because externalising behaviours is frequently related to parental IPV ( Fong et al. , 2017 ). Since the CEDV did not detect school-related problems and emotional regulation, it is possible that the measure may not be sensitive to those outcomes, which is concerning, since children who are exposed to parental IPV often have difficulties with academic achievement and emotional regulation ( Blackburn, 2009 ; Rigterink et al. , 2010 ; Kiesel et al. , 2016 ). It is possible that the lack of validity in this area may be that the small sample size prevented the detection of significant findings or perhaps these outcomes were not present in that sample. The studies included in this review suggest mixed conclusions regarding the CEDV scales ability to predict depression and other internalising problems. Potential reasons for the discrepancy could be that the studies were examining different internalising problems, considering the studies did not specify the exact internalising symptoms measured. Again, it is likely that studies that used the CEDV were consistently underpowered statistically, which limited the detection of significant associations between CEDV scores and salient correlates. Alternatively, some children exposed to parental IPV do not experience adverse outcomes, including PTSD ( Lundy and Grossman, 2005 ; Artz et al. , 2014 ; McDonald et al. , 2006 ). This could be the reason that the CEDV scale was not significantly related to PTSD.

Regarding factor validity, Edleson et al. (2008) conducted an EFA when attempting to generate empirically based subscales but none emerged. This could be due to a small sample size. Only one study ( Sajadi et al. , 2014 ) conducted an EFA, resulting in several subscales, but the study did not include details about the specific subscales.

Implications for research

The lack of concurrent validity in some areas such as externalising behaviours, school-related difficulties and PTSD indicate that additional research needs to be conducted using the CEDV scale with larger samples. This is especially the case because some of the evidence of validity or absence of it came from only one or two studies. Additional studies are needed to provide further evidence. Future research should also examine the effect of parental IPV on children’s academic achievement and externalising behaviour problems using the CEDV. Additional studies are crucial to explore the CEDV’s ability to predict mental health outcomes amongst children. Overall, studies employing the CEDV should include larger samples to ensure power to detect a significant relationship if one is present.

Further, larger studies are needed so that researchers can assess factor validity. The small sample sizes prevented researchers from evaluating factor validity. EFA needs to be conducted to assess the factor structure of the measure when it is utilised with different samples worldwide. EFA should be conducted with a larger sample to examine whether subscales are present as well as to identify latent constructs. After more exploratory factor analyses are conducted, confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modelling should be conducted to examine latent variables and the relationships between them.

Implications for policy and practice

Social work practitioners should consider utilising the CEDV scale when working with children exposed to parental IPV to assess the nature of the exposure and co-occurring risk factors. The CEDV scale is the only measure specifically designed for children’s exposure to parental IPV that obtains information directly from the child. The CEDV may be a helpful tool for practitioners working with children exposed to IPV and their families, given that it provides a comprehensive assessment of exposure to parental IPV and co-occurring risk factors. Social workers can use the CEDV as a tool to assist in the selection of relevant interventions with children exposed to IPV. Considering the convergent validity findings, social workers should be sure to assess for anxiety, social stress, self-esteem, health and the relationships between family members since they were found to be correlated with the CEDV scale.

Limitations

This review has several limitations. First, only thirteen studies were included, and three of the studies did not report reliability measures. Although a variety of databases were searched, it is possible that some studies may have been missed because they were not indexed in the databases searched. Secondly, it is possible that this review is subject to publication bias such that studies with null findings may not have been published. In that same vein, although dissertations were included in the review, it is possible that other dissertations may have employed the CEDV scale but were not published.

This review provides preliminary evidence that the CEDV scale is both reliable and exhibits some evidence of validity amongst diverse populations of children. The psychometric properties of the scale were retained with populations beyond the original sample, which is promising. However, considering the limitations related to factor and concurrent validity, future studies need to be conducted with larger samples to understand more about key correlates and latent variables.

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank Dr Michael Killian for his support during this study and manuscript development.

Conflict of interest statement . None declared.

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