Domestic Violence At Home Essay

From birth a child is exposed to an array of actions and events that have a major impact on their life. Evidently, those events that are positive will pave the way to a beneficial and progressive lifestyle. Whereas, the negative occurrences witnessed, will serve as immense obstacles on their path to liberal development. One of the many obstacles proven to halt positive progression in a child, is exposure to domestic violence. Domestic violence can be defined as a pattern of violent behaviors including physical, sexual and psychological assaults, by one person against another in a private environment, i.e. household. Witnessing these violent acts lead to severe psychological, behavioral and social effects on youngsters that can possibly last their lifetimes. Research supports this, stating that, “children who are exposed to violence in the home may have difficulty learning and limited social skills, exhibit violent, risky or delinquent behavior, or suffer from depression or severe anxiety. Children in the

This is supported by research conducted by Kyu and Atsuko. Their research indicates that the best prediction of children becoming either perpetrators or victims of domestic violence later in life is dependent on whether or not they grew up in a home where there was domestic violence. (2005).

Lastly, there are drastic social effects that accompany domestic violence. Children often isolate themselves from family and friends, have a difficulty in trusting others, extreme anger management issues and have poor relationships. Wolfe, Zak, Wilson and Jaffe found more social problems amongst children residing in shelters than among children who had at one time in the past been resident in a shelter. The effect of the immediate turmoil may temporarily escalate child problems as observed in a shelter setting.