Negative Consequences Of Domestic Violence

Home should be a warm and loving, safe haven where children reach their developmental milestones, and families build long-lasting happy memories. What a gloomy concept, then, that home could essentially be the most dangerous place on earth for some families. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (2015) reported that, in the United States alone, “1 in 15 children are exposed to intimate partner violence each year, and 90% of these children were eyewitnesses to this violence”. The Department of Justice (2015) defines domestic violence as “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner.” The violence can be physical, emotional, or verbal threats of actions that influence another person. Domestic violence has no preference when it comes to gender, socioeconomic status, or race. It forces its way through households, disrupting the happiest of families, leaving them scared and lost. Domestic abuse is a dangerous, endemic social problem that negatively impacts the family structure and has long-lasting harmful effects on children. Parents and children who have been exposed to domestic abuse can suffer from long-term psychological disorders affecting developmental, cognitive, and social skills. The family structure …show more content…
Afolabi (2014) noted that “empirical evidence” proves that children from domestic violence environments develop psychological health problems in the future. He continued, “Research demonstrates that children’s emotional security is a pathway through which psychological process has biological outcomes” (p. 115). Hence, the aforementioned study showing children who have warm and nurturing mothers fair better in the future. In either case, families exposed to domestic violence must have the support and guidance necessary to provide a safe and stable future for their