1. Prevalence in witnessing Domestic Violence
Witnessing domestic violence is a very common term in our child abuse subject. As we have
learned from our class lecture, video presentation by our teacher and, other sources that the
children are in the most vulnerable position and comparatively high in quantity of all other
victims group of domestic violence. Child Welfare Information Gateway indicate “The
witnessing of domestic violence can be auditory, visual, or inferred, including cases in which the
child perceives the aftermath of violence, such as physical injuries to family members or damage
to property.” https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/witnessdv.cfm
American Bar Association‟s has posted „survey of recent statistics‟ about prevalence of domestic
violence on their websites. They have included diverse country, culture, sex, place and many
other categories in their elaborative survey report. I want to mention specifically about children
and domestic violence report from that website.
“Domestic Violence & Children
Slightly more than half of female victims of intimate violence live in households with
children under age 12.
Lawrence A. Greenfield et al.,U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 167237, Violence by Intimates:
Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouse, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends
(1998) available at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/vi.pdf
A recent study of low-income pre-school children in Michigan found that nearly half (46.7
percent) of the children in the study had been exposed to at least one incident of mild or
severe violence in the family. Children who had been exposed to violence suffered symptoms
of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as bed-wetting or nightmares, and were at greater risk
than their peers of having allergies, asthma, gastrointestinal problems, headaches and flu.
Sandra Graham-Bermann & Julie Seng, Violence Exposure and Traumatic Stress Symptoms
as Additional Predictors of Health Problems in High-Risk Children, 146 J. of Pediatrics 309
(2005).
Battered women are not the only victims of abuse - it is estimated that anywhere between 3.3
million and 10 million children witness domestic violence annually. Research demonstrates
that exposure to violence can have serious negative effects on children's development.
Sharmila Lawrence, National Center for Children in Poverty, Domestic Violence and
Welfare Policy: Research Findings That Can Inform Policies on Marriage and Child Well-
Being 5 (2002).

2. One study of 2,245 children and teenagers found that recent exposure to violence in the home
was a significant factor in predicting a child's violent behavior.
Mark I. Singer, et al., Cuyahoga County Cmty. Health Research Institute, The Mental Health
Consequences of Children's Exposure to Violence (1998).
Children exposed to Intimate Partner Violence were 1.6 times as likely to score in the
borderline to clinical level range on externalizing behaviors relative to children of similar age
and sex (as measured on three scales of internalizing behaviors, externalizing behaviors, and
social competence according to the standardized psychometric instrument of Achenbach's
Child Behavior Checklist, or CBCL).
Mary A. Kernic et al., Behavioral Problems Among Children Whose Mothers are Abused by
an Intimate Partner, 27 Child Abuse & Neglect 1231 at 1239 (2003).
Children exposed to maternal Intimate Partner Violence, without experiencing child
maltreatment, were 40% more likely to have a total behavioral problem score within the
borderline to clinical range than CBCL normative children.
Mary A. Kernic et al., Behavioral Problems Among Children Whose Mothers are Abused by
an Intimate Partner, 27 Child Abuse & Neglect 1231 at 1239 (2003). See also Family
Violence Prevention Fund, The Facts on Children and Domestic Violence, (2005), available
at http://endabuse.org/resources/facts/Children.pdf (Aug 1, 2005).”
(http://www.americanbar.org/groups/domestic_violence/resources/statistics.html#children)
Some other websites – here is some other websites that have discussed about the same issue
(Prevalence of domestic violence)
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1602779?uid=3739448&uid=2&uid=3737720&uid=4&si
d=21102056495847
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/183781.pdf
http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1125&context=gse_pubs
http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/OD31/OD31.pdf
From that entire website we have got a comprehensible picture of domestic violence. We have
also seen that children and women are the main victim of this kind of abuse. As an ECE student,
as a part of the society, and after all as a human being we should carry out our responsibility. We
need to stand for those groups who are victim and dominated by the dominant group.