IPV Blog Series: Prevalence and Effects of Children’s Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence (Part 1)

Guest Bloggers: Lynette Renner, PhD, Lindsay Anderson, MSW

This information series includes three blog posts and two issues of Practice Notes. The goal of this series is to provide information and to encourage discussion around children’s exposure to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), specifically within the child welfare system. In this first blog post we will provide the prevalence and behavioral effects of children’s exposure to IPV and its co-occurrence with other forms of violence and victimization.

IPV includes physical violence, sexual violence, stalking and/or psychological aggression by a current or former intimate partner (Breiding, Basile, Smith, Black, & Mahendra, 2015). It is estimated that 15.5 million children in the U.S. live in families in which IPV occurred at least once in the past year, and 7 million live in families in which severe IPV occurred (Whitfield, Andra, Dube, Felittle, 2003). Child welfare professionals should place a priority on assessing for IPV because it frequently occurs in the presence of other forms of violence exposure, including direct child maltreatment and community violence.

Exposure to IPV can put children at risk for a number of negative developmental health outcomes. Several researchers have found that polyvictimization (i.e., multiple victimizations of different kinds) is associated with negative outcomes beyond those attributed to a single type of victimization (Hamby Finzelhor, Turner, Hamby, & Ormrod, 2011). Some of the many negative health outcomes that can result from children’s exposure to IPV include increased frequency of illness, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, decreased emotional regulation, maladaptive attitudes about violence, and decreased cognitive capacities (Howell et al, 2016).

In our next blog post, we will highlight content from the two Practice Notes in this series.

References

Breiding, M., Basile, K., Smith, S., Black, M., & Mahendra, R. (2015). Intimate partner violence surveillance uniform definitions and recommended data elements. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/intimatepartnerviolence.pdf

Hamby, S, Finkelhor, D., Turner, H., & Ormrod, R. (2011). Children’s Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence and Other Family Violence, Juvenile Justice Bulletin – NCJ 232272. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved from http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/jvq/NatSCEV-Children’s%20ExposureFamily%Violence%20final.pdf

Howell, K., Barnes, S., Miller, L, & Graham-Bermann, S. (2016). Developmental variations in the impact of intimate partner violence exposure during childhood. Journal of Injury and Violence Research. 8 (1), p.43-57. doi:10.5249/jivr.v8i1.663

Whitfield, C. L., Anda, R. F., Dube, S. R., & Felitti, V. J. (2003). Violent childhood experiences and the risk of intimate partner violence in adults: Assessment in a large health maintenance organization. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18(2), 166-185.