Children's exposure to domestic violence is a major national problem. Researchers and policymakers have called for research guided by comprehensive conceptual frameworks to advance understanding of this complex risk to children's well-being [Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2006). Preventing intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and child maltreatment. Retrieved June 3, 2006 from http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/research_agenda/07_violence.htm.; National Institute of Justice (2007). Adolescents, neighborhoods, and violence: Recent findings from the Project on Human Development. Retrieved on September 5, 2007 from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/217397.pdf). The present study used a developmental–epidemiological model to explore the prevalence and nature of children's exposure to and involvement in domestic violence crimes investigated by law enforcement across a population. During the year under study 1581 domestic violence crimes were investigated by law enforcement. Forty-three percent of all domestic violence crimes had children in the household, and nearly all of those children (95%) experienced sensory exposure to the violence. A logistic regression model revealed a relationship between child exposure and domestic violence event characteristics such as victim injury, mutual assault, and perpetrator arrest. This research also examined how children are involved in domestic violence events. Three distinct types of involvement were revealed: children were part of the precipitating event; children called for help; and children were physically involved. Findings highlight the importance of developing a comprehensive surveillance system to ensure children exposed to domestic violence are made visible so they can be referred to appropriate services.
In 1994, the Violence Against Women Act made domestic violence a crime and mandated data collection at the national, state, and local levels (VAWA, U.S. Department of Justice, 1994). As a result, all states enacted legislation to provide civil, as well as criminal, penalties for acts of violence in the home. This legislation required investigation and documentation of domestic violence. VAWA did not specifically address the issue of children's exposure to domestic violence, although children's exposure to domestic violence has been increasingly recognized as a major problem requiring significant attention.
Researchers and policymakers have called for research guided by comprehensive conceptual frameworks to advance our understanding of how child exposure to domestic violence adversely affects children's physical and psychological well-being (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006 and National Institute of Justice, 2007). The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (1999) published a report emphasizing the importance of identifying families with domestic violence and providing them with appropriate services to support the welfare of both the direct victim and the children exposed to the violence. This report highlighted the importance of developing a comprehensive research agenda to understand the extent of this national problem and the effects of exposure to domestic violence on children's development. A major problem with our current knowledge base is the lack of precise prevalence figures for children exposed to domestic violence. The most commonly cited figures are between 3.3 million (Carlson, 1984) and 10 million (Straus, 1992) children exposed to domestic violence in the U.S. Current prevalence figures are not only gross estimates but have methodological limitations. The studies they are derived from have restricted definitions of domestic violence and often depend on adult recollections of childhood events that may have happened more than 20 years ago. Many researchers have found retrospective reports about emotionally charged memories to be inaccurate or incomplete (e.g., Bradburn et al., 1987, Ceci et al., 1989 and Henry et al., 1994). Another problem with many current prevalence estimates is their reliance on parental reports of their children's exposure (Jouriles et al., 2001, O'Brien et al., 1994 and Tjaden and Thoennes, 2000). Other studies indicate that parents are likely to report that their children were asleep or unaware of the violence, although these same children often provided detailed memories of the violent event when asked directly (Jaffe et al., 1990 and Peled, 1998). These methodological problems have made it difficult to collect accurate statistics.
Although there is little known about the prevalence of children exposed to domestic violence, there is a large volume of research on the impact of the problem. This research has provided evidence that children exposed to domestic violence show significantly more social, emotional, and cognitive problems compared to their non-exposed peers (Jaffe et al., 1990, Jouriles et al., 2001, Margolin and Gordis, 2000 and Osofsky, 1999). Although these impact studies contribute to the knowledge base on children's exposure to domestic violence, they reflect the concept of ‘urgent knowing’. Research on impact has been conducted without an understanding of what children are actually being exposed to within domestic violence events, how children are exposed to violence, and what moderating factors affect outcomes. These studies are not only being conducted in the absence of a sufficient knowledge base, they often have methodological weaknesses that makes their implications suspect.
Studies comparing the psychological functioning of children exposed and not exposed to domestic violence have some significant shortcomings that limit our understanding of the extent and nature of the problem. First, although children's exposure to domestic violence events has been described as a public health problem of epidemic proportions (Glodich, 1998), the current research is not population-based and relies principally on convenience samples. More specifically, samples were often drawn from children who are with their mothers in domestic violence shelters (Jouriles et al., 2001). These samples represent a small percentage of children exposed to domestic violence. Children in shelters are also more likely to have been exposed to the most severe and chronic forms of violence (Ware, Jouriles, Spiller, McDonald, Swank, & Norwood, 2002). The shelter studies have provided some important information, but do not provide an accurate depiction of what the majority of children are exposed to within a domestic violence event.
