Violence And Child Development

EFFECT OF VIOLENCE ON CHILD GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

ABSTRACT

What if we looked at violence in America as a public health crisis rather than a crime problem? (www.childrensdefense.org) “Could it have helped curb the stem of the tide on violence a long time ago?” A lot of studies and research have been geared towards the effects of violence on child growth and development with a public health perspective. This entails a multidisciplinary approach and gives a subtle holistic new view to the underlying cause. A number of national studies have shown that exposure to violence in the home, as well as direct abuse of a child, has a detrimental effect on children, with a wide range of responses, including long term effects on mental health (e.g., Kitzmann,

In addition, Edleson and his colleagues have estimated that up to 10 million children are exposed to incidents of domestic violence (e.g., see Edleson et al., 2007; Rossman, Rea, Graham-Bermann, & Butterfield, 2004) each year. There is no doubt about the direct relationship between child exposure to violence with delinquency and other negativities but the question is availability of evidential statistics to support the obvious. However, important public policy documents such as the yearbook of the Children’s Defense Fund, the report of the U.S. Attorney General’s Task Force on Domestic Violence, and the National Crime Victimization Survey conducted by the National Institute of Justice do not discuss the state of knowledge concerning children exposed to domestic violence. These children have remained invisible to researchers and policymakers, at least in part, because of the absence of meaningful data concerning the nature and scope of the problem.

An average American family experiences some level of violence from time to time, in which children are actual witnesses or participants. Hence, children are exposed to various forms of violence ranging from domestic, gang, sexual, peer and street variance. The frequency of exposure to this violence goes a long way in deforming a child’s perception to everyday life and further manifests in their behavior. The questions which could provide answers to children and adolescent behavior include but are not exhaustive: Does the child have an abusive parent or relative who beats them? Is a family member or role model figure in a gang? How many times have they been threatened of being harmed? How many times have they witnessed one person being violent toward another? Life experiences of children of abusive parents commonly include regular mauling for flimsy issues and living in constant fear, not knowing whether their actions are right or wrong. This leads to a life of disbelief in themselves, which leads to the further confusion and distraction of their personality. They become afraid to express their own ideas, stand up for themselves, and defend their point of view because life has taught them that all decisions end in being punished by some form of violence. Hence, they start coming home with bad grades which further leads to extra mauling and at that point they may be