The Impact of Domestic Violence on Children: Child Sexual Abuse - Research Paper Example

Child sexual abuse: Introduction: Sexual abuse against children affect their psychological functioning as they develop, therefore this requires long term psychotherapy and this will help the victim to cope with the damages this behaviour causes. Paedophilia is the sexual attraction for children by adults and most of the paedophiles are men. (Boushel, Fawcett and Selwyn (2000)) There are usually two types of paedophile behaviour, the incestuous and the non incestuous. The incestuous is the attraction to children belonging to the same family while the non incestuous is the attraction to children who are not of the same family. In most cases the cause of Paedophilia is as a result of child hood experience by the adult who commits the crime and this in turn affects the development of their personality, and therefore most paedophiles have themselves been victims of child abuse of a sexual nature. (Boushel, Fawcett and Selwyn (2000)) The journal article titled the impact of domestic violence on children by Markward M. J is a research done to evaluate the impact of domestic violence on the child. This research involved the selection of a random sample taken from the Midwestern region family violence centre. Method: The study was done by questionnaire of a targeted population, women who had entered a family violence shelter. These women were administered lengthy questionnaires during their stay and were asked a series of 46 questions over a three-week period. The research drew 100 questionnaires at random from a pool of 515 available (p. 67). The pool of available questionnaires was acquired over a 22 month period at a single Midwestern centre (p. 67). The questionnaire was administered by shelter workers and was designed to gather information on the characteristics of the children, the women, and the violence that the woman and children were exposed to (p. 66). The data was collected ex post facto and analyzed using standard statistical methods (pp. 66, 68). The resulting data was presented as raw numerical data conducive for chi-square analysis. Though the data is numerical and quantitative by its nature, the study incorporated qualitative aspects as well. The questionnaire inquired about types of abuse suffered by the women as well as family and abuser factors. It further qualified the types of negative behaviour exhibited by the children. Conclusions were drawn from the numerical data and chi-square analysis of the behavioural patterns of children that had been abused. These were compared to the children who had not been abused, but had witnessed the abuse of their female caregiver. The questionnaire was developed to collect data on the correlation between the type of negative behaviour exhibited by their children and whether they had been abused or exposed to violence, the other issue was to collect data to assess the connection between increasing rates of violence and the increase in negative behaviour in children and finally to determine the correlation between the occurrence of violence and childhood experience. Results: Data was collected and analyzed into table one and table two, table one analyses the women abused and their partners abuse during their childhood, the types of abuses include, childhood sexual abuse, child hood abuse, abuse in family of origin, adult sexual abuse, drug abuse and parental substance abuse. Table two analyses the effect of children in the situation of violence including difficulties in school, night mares and substance abuse etc. The research analyses the childhood abuse and the effect of this abuse to the person table one shows the effect of childhood abuse his present personality. Table one gives us the results of child hood abuse and its effect of the present state of domestic violence. This table retrieved from the journal article shows the number of women and men who have experienced child hood violence and they are now involved in domestic violence. 39 out of 93 women have experienced childhood sexual abuse while 14 out of 93 men have experienced childhood sexual abuse. Type of abuse women men total Yes no yes no Childhood sexual abuse 93 39 54 14 79 Child abuse 96 53 43 59 37 Abuse in family 73 45 28 42 26 On the other hand 53 out of 96 women and 59 out of 96 men have experienced child abuse and are now involved in domestic violence. Finally 45 out of 73 women and 42 out of 68 men have experienced abuse in family of origin. Analysis: From the above study we can conclude that women are the majority regarding childhood sexual abuse, which is shown by the data collected that out of a sample of 96, 54 women experienced childhood sexual abuse and only 14 men experienced the same. Another notable situation is that none of the men out of a sample of 96 has experienced adult sexual abuse. The study therefore shows that childhood sexual abuse victim’s will later in life develop to be violent and cause domestic violence. Although the research was a break through in the study of domestic violence it suffers some weaknesses in that the sample size was too small and will not give the best results as a bigger sample would, therefore a bigger sample would have better in order to draw concrete conclusions on the effect of domestic violence on children. The findings may also have been biased in that incorrect information may have been given, the best way in the collection of the data would have been a face to face interview. A significant implication of the study was the suggestion on ways to approach the treatment of children who have been exposed to violence. The study suggests a social-constructivist approach to dealing with the children (pp. 66, 69). By taking this approach, social workers could construct a new reality for the child and replace the passive-aggressive norm that the child is caught up in. If the childhood period is viewed as a constructionist phase of the childs life, it loses its generic quality and becomes a more personal element of society (Boushel, Fawcett, & Selwyn, 2000, pp. 1-2). The researchers suggest that this would construct a more positive social environment where the child could understand that negative behaviour was not the norm (p. 69). In the United Kingdom the age of consent to sexual intercourse is 16 years, the criminal justice act of 1991 made provisions for dealing with sexual offences, it allowed courts to pass longer sentences against sexual offences especially those who commit the offence with a child. Although in the case of paedophiles psychological is done to consider the persons previous offences and life history. This study led to the sensitization of the importance of proper child development, this is brought out by the study that the children who are victims of sexual abuse will later in life be proprietors of the same offences, however a long term psychotherapy must be undertaken to ensure that the victims copes with the trauma. Theories have been developed to explain the causes of Paedophilia among them is the psychodynamic theory, this theory state that deviant behaviour by adults may be caused by child hood experience, this explains why people involve themselves in this inhuman act and this therefore can be connected to a persons life history. Conclusion: The study focuses on the effect of violence on children, although very little correlation between childhood sexual abuse and the occurrence of domestic violence we can still conclude that the exposure or involvement of a child in domestic violence will results to the recurrence of violence. The study brought up a unique approach to treating the children of abuse through social-construction that needs to be examined. Gubrium and Holstein (2006) confirm this when they report that children do not internalize the world around them, but evaluate it and form it to fit into the landscape of their everyday lives. The study indicated that children who witness abuse develop emotional problems and this has been confirmed in a later study that showed an increase in animal cruelty among children who had witnessed domestic violence (Currie, 2006, p. 430). The Markward (1997) study was an important work that heightened the awareness of the need for additional research. The study was also an important stepping stone in this process and was important in its implication that children who are exposed to violence suffer from some trauma. This holds true even when the child is not the victim of the violence. Though the Markward (1997) study was limited in its execution, it has often been cited in more recent academic studies and helped sway research bias towards the impact of violence on a childs mental health. References Boushel M, Fawcett M, and Selwyn J. (2000) focus on early childhood: Principles and realities. Malden, MA: Blackwell Science. Currie C. (2006) Animal cruelty by children exposed to domestic violence Child Abuse and Neglect, 30, 425-435. Gubrium J, and Holstein, J (2006) Couples, kids, and family life, Oxford University Press, New York Markward M. J. (1997) The impact of domestic violence on children: Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 66-71. Petticrew M and Roberts, H. (2006) Systematic reviews in the social sciences: A practical guide, Oxford Blackwell Publishing, Oxford Seidman I. (2006) Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences 3rd edition, New York Teachers College, New York Thomas J C and Hensen M. (2003) Understanding research in clinical and counselling psychology, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey Read More