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The Effects of Domestic Violence on Children

Because Children who witness or experience domestic violence need to feel safe it is important to show them what healthy relationships are supposed to consist of. Children who witness domestic violence or are victims of abuse themselves are at serious risk for long-term physical and mental health problems. There are more than 15 million children in the United States live in homes in which domestic violence has happened at least once. 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.

According to (Geffner, et al. 54), children who witness domestic violence as a result of one parent abusing the other parent suffer not only physically but their behavioral and emotional state begins to despair. These children will immensely suffer from physical pains including general pain and aches such as stomach aches and headaches. Their bowels will also develop irregular and irritable habits apart from experiencing problems with bed-wetting and cold sours. In addition, children witnessing domestic violence will regularly have complaints associated with depressive disorders. This is one of the common emotional effects that affect them, most particularly teenagers.

Equally important and along these general effects, such children appear nervous, making them have short attention spans not only at homes but while they are in school as well. This is why in most cases, these children tend to have symptoms that bear or resembles children who have been diagnosed with hyperactivity disorder deficit and reduced attention. Therefore, it is in order to illustrate that children facing regular domestic violence regularly show symptoms of constant tiredness and fatigue, conditions that lower the level of concentration of a child while at the school. They will be falling asleep in the classroom due to reduce or lack of sleep at home (Bancroft 68).

Besides, most of their time while they are at home is spent witnessing and listening to their parents engaging in violence. As a result, children of domestic violence not only feel ill frequently, but they can easily suffer from poor personal hygiene since their parents have shifted their responsibilities to fighting thus, failing to take care of the children. Apart from the aforementioned effects, such kind of children has a tendency to partake self-abuse, high-risk play activities, and suicide (Hume 112-121).

On the other hand and in a situation where the mother is pregnant, the fetus poses a risk of premature birth while the mother will experience excessive bleeding. The fetus can even die but in case of a successful birth, low infant weights can be witnessed. All these negative effects occur when the mother is enduring domestic violence thus, causing her to face emotional stress and physical trauma. Aside, (Hume 57) indicates that maternal stress level will rise during domestic abuse more especially when the violence is combined with drug abuse and smoking. The baby can as well be born with anxiety and stress apart from experiencing regular growth and development problems.

In circumstances where children are still infants, domestic violence often makes them caught in the crossfire as they fall victims during the conflicts. They may end up suffering physical injuries caused by fires aloof from unintentional trauma as one parent or even both are engaging in regular fights. Infants may be irritable and inconsolable, aspects which can later on in life lead to a lack of secondary responsiveness (Hume 43-56). On the same note, such infants will lack the most important part of the growth and development of physical and emotional attachment. Again, proper language development, as well as delays in development processes, will be witnessed. As a result, the infant in later life will suffer from both stress and regular excessive diarrhea, a reason why infants are the most affected by the environment in situations of an abuse or domestic violence since the brain has not developed fully.

In summary, it is clear that domestic violence at home negatively and tremendously affects children most. The violence makes children develop a long-term trauma thus, affecting their overall physical well-being, growth, and development. Studies have revealed that children who face domestic abuse turn the stress into bad behavioral habits and problems such as drug abuse, primarily to suppress or take away their pain. It implies that children will start to exhibit physical symptoms that are associated with emotional or behavioral problems. For instance, they can withdraw themselves from those who are around them, they can become non-verbal or antisocial, and they can exhibit behaviors such as being whiny and clingy (Geffner, et al. 86-98). Still, the increased levels of anxieties will make the children shift from proper order of growth as they will start losing concentration, weight and even nutritional order will be disrupted. Additionally, signs of tiredness and sluggishness will take root thus, affecting the overall performance of the child.

Works Cited

Bancroft, Lundy. When Dad Hurts Mom: Helping Your Children Heal the Wounds of Witnessing Abuse. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2004.

Geffner, Robert, et al. The Effects of Intimate Partner Violence on Children. Taylor and Francis, 2014.

Hume, Marie. Effects of Domestic Violence on Children. Law Soc. of South Australia, Continuing Legal Education, 1999.

You're Hurting Me, Too: Effects of Domestic Violence on Children.