SAGE Journal Articles
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Article 1: Finkelhor, D. & Turner, H. (2015). A National Profile of Children Exposed to Family Violence: Police Response, Family Response, & Individual Impact: Final Report. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice. Document No.: 248577.
Summary: This report is the first to provide a nationally representative dataset on youth contact with law enforcement and victim services for cases of family violence in which the children were exposed to violence. The authors find that when youth are exposed to domestic violence they, generally, have high rates of other victimizations and adverse outcomes. The authors suggest assessment and advocate the use of services for any member of a family that witnesses or is associated with family violence.
Questions to Consider:
1. What interventions and services can be made available to family members that are witness to or victim of family violence?
2. How can services for children exposed to family violence be rendered or advocated by responding police?
3. In what ways can responding police and service provides minimize the disruption of children’s routines when exposed to family violence?
Article 2: Topitzes, J., Mersky J.P & Reynolds, A.J. (2012). From child maltreatment to violent offending: An examination of mixed-gender and gender-specific models. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27(12), 2322-2347.
Summary: This article examines relationships between child maltreatment and several adult measures of violent offending. Using mixed-gender and gender-specific models, the authors sough to determine whether the effects of victimization persist into adulthood or differ across gender. The authors find that child maltreatment significantly predicted all indicators of violence. Gender did not affect the relationship. Several factors mediated the relationship for males and for females in the gender-specific models.
Questions to Consider:
1. How can justice systems provide interventions to reduce the effect of maltreatment on violent offending?
2. What barriers might exist that would limit the likelihood (or scope) of interventions addressing childhood maltreatment of violent offenders?
3. How might the implementation of interventions differ when addressing males and females?
Article 3: Insetta, E.R., Akers, A.Y., Miller, E., Yonas, M.A., Burke, J.G., Hintz, L. & Chang, J. C. (2015). Intimate partner violence victims as mothers: Their message and strategies for communicating with children to break the cycle of violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30(4), 703-724.
Summary: This article examines the role mothers play in the prevention of the perpetuation of violence in lives of their children. Using data from interviews, the authors explored the respondents’ responses to understand the communication behaviors of mothers that are victims of intimate partner violence. The authors find that mothers desire to explain their intimate partner violence experience and offer advice in avoiding violent relationships.
Questions to Consider:
1. How might an intervention be structured to provide mothers with strategies to communicate with their children about IPV?
2. What messages do IPV victims want to convey to their children?
3. Besides financial, are there any barriers to the establishment of a service that aides in the relationship building between mother and child in response to cases of domestic violence? If so, which?
Article 4: Douglas, H. & Walsh, T. (2010). Mothers, domestic violence, and child protection. Violence Against Women, 16(5), 489-508.
Summary: This article builds upon extant literature by examining the relationship between domestic violence and the child protection response. Using data from focus groups, the authors find that workers who support mothers dealing with domestic violence and child protection issues state that domestic violence is often misunderstood and rarely responded to appropriately by child protection workers.
Questions to Consider:
1. In what way(s) are mothers dealing with domestic violence and child protection issue misunderstood by child protection workers?
2. How can law enforcement improve to facilitate the efficient acquisition of child protection in cases of domestic violence?
3. Under what circumstance(s) can mandatory reporting disempower women that are victims of domestic violence?
Article 5: Kaufman Kantor, G. & Little, L. (2003). Defining the boundaries of child neglect: When does domestic violence equate with parental failure to protect? Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18(4), 338-355.
Summary: This article examines the connection between wife abuse and child maltreatment. Conceptual discontinuities in official definitions of child maltreatment in relation to domestic violence failure to protect matters are examined in response to recent legislation. Data from legislative reviews, child protective services, and individual definitions of child maltreatment are discussed. The authors conclude their review with a discussion of policy, practice, and research.
Questions to Consider:
1. Should domestic violence in the presence of a child constitute, conceptually and legislatively, child abuse? Why or why not?
2. How might domestic violence cause neglect and abuse, resulting in a charge of child maltreatment?
3. What criminal justice response(s) is most appropriate in a case of domestic violence when children are involved?
Article 6: Rigterink, T., Fansilber Katz, L. & Hessler, D.M. (2010). Domestic violence and longitudinal associations with children’s physiological regulation abilities. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 25(9), 1669-1683.
Summary: This article examines the impact of domestic violence on the emotion regulation abilities of children. The relationships between exposure to domestic violence and regulatory functioning over time, as well as exposure and the trajectory of physiological regulatory abilities were studied. The authors find that children exposed to domestic violence displayed less increase in emotion regulation abilities over time compared to nonexposed children.
Questions to Consider:
1. What interventions or services can be made available to children exposed to domestic violence?
2. Are gender differences expected to be different? Why or why not? Under what circumstance(s) might gender differences in the effect of domestic violence exposure on emotion regulation be observed?
3. Are interventions available to address physiological effects as a result of domestic violence exposure? How can interventions support these needs? Can they?