of Adjustment Among Children of Battered Women
Priscilla Schulz, LCSW
from an article of the same title by:
John H. Grych, Ernest N. Jouriles, Paul R.
Swank, Renee McDonald, and William D. Norwood
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, V. 68 (1), 84-94, 2000
What is the purpose of this study?
This study increases understanding of the effects of domestic violence on
children's psychological development. Such knowledge enables providers to
develop more effective intervention programs for children of battered women.
Researchers ask the following questions:
- Are there distinct patterns of adjustment among children of battered
- What factors influence the patterns of adjustment of children who
grow up in violent homes?
Research links domestic violence to psychological problems in children.
However, conclusions about the specific effects of domestic violence on
children's psychological adjustment have sometimes been contradictory
between studies. Furthermore, attempts to identify patterns of psychological
adjustment unique to children of domestic violence have not been successful
until recently. In 1998 researchers Hughes and Luke explored a broad range
of children's responses to living with violence. They interviewed children
of battered women living in shelters, and looked at the possibility that
children with similar profiles and amounts of exposure to violence could
be grouped according to patterns of psychological adjustment. Although
Hughes and Luke's sample size was small, they observed five distinct patterns
of adjustment among the children who participated in the study. Hughes
and Luke's effort suggested directions for future research. The current
study builds upon the work of Hughes and Luke.
How was this study conducted?
Researchers recruited subjects from among English-speaking residents at
six domestic violence shelters in the Houston-Galveston, Texas, area.
Those eligible to participate in the research were boys and girls, 8 to
14 years old, whose mothers reported on the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS;
Straus: 1979) at least one incident of intimate partner violence in the
year prior to the study. Only one child from each family was allowed to
take part in the study. Subjects were 228 children. Roughly half were
boys, half girls. Most (69%) participated in the study during their first
week in the shelter. In 48% of the cases, the abuser was the child's biological
father. Ethnicity of subjects was 39% white, 30% African-American, 29%
Hispanic and 1% other ethnicity. The average educational level of mothers
was 11.5 years, average age 33 years and average annual family income
$20,000. Mothers and children each separately completed a survey about
how frequently parents' interactions turned violent in the last 12 months.
Children appraised their own psychological adjustment and shared more
about personal experiences of violence by answering questions on several
standardized measures of self-esteem, the degree to which they internalize
problems, and amount of violence directed towards them by parents. Mothers
answered questions about their children's externalizing behavior problems.
Cluster analysis of responses to all measures determined whether distinct
patterns of psychological adjustment existed among the children participating
in the study. Further analysis explored the relationship between adjustment
patterns and subjects' profiles (i.e., sex, race, and amount of violence
exposure). What were the study's findings? Patterns of psychological adjustment
Researchers found five distinct "clusters" or patterns of psychological
1. "No problems reported"(31% of subjects): Responses by these children
indicated they were functioning well, and responses were within normal
limits for their age.
2. "Multiproblem-externalizing" (19%): These children were characterized
by serious, acting-out behaviors. Eighty-six percent had scores on the
Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991) that indicated significant
conduct disorders, and 9% had scores on measures of internalizing problems
that indicated clinically significant depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.
3. "Externalizing" (21%): These children were characterized by clinically
high levels of acting-out behaviors, 89% of which had significant conduct
disorders. However, they had relatively high self-esteem, and none reported
4. "Mild distress" (18%): Low self-esteem, very few acting-out problems
and mild depression and anxiety problems (only 5% in the clinically significant
range) characterized these children's reponses.
5. "Multiproblem-internalizing" (11%): These children's responses indicated
high levels of depressive symptoms, 65% of whom reported symptoms consistent
with a diagnosis of clinical depression. This group had the lowest self-esteem,
and 42% had clinically significant conduct disorders. Effects of violence
exposure on psychological adjustment 1. Father's violence significantly
affected psychological adjustment of children. a. Children in both "multiproblem"
groups reported significantly more father-to-mother violence than children
in the other three groups (i.e., "no problems", "externalizing" or "mild
distress"). b. Likewise, "multiproblem" groups also reported significantly
higher levels of father-to-child violence than children of the other three
groups. 2. Mother-to-child violence distinguished children in the "multiproblem-internalizing"
group from those in "no problems" and both "externalizing" groups. "Multiproblem-internalizing"
children reported significantly more aggression by their mothers.
Effects of children's perceptions and appraisals of violence
Children's sense of threat or self-blame in response to domestic violence
distinguished groups from each other.
- Children whose responses categorized them as "mild distress" or
"multiproblem-internalizing" reported significantly more sense of
threat from domestic violence than other children.
- Self-blame was significantly higher among children in the "mild
distress" , "multiproblem-externalizing" and "multiproblem-internalizing"
groups than was reported by children in the "no problem" or "externalizing"
groups where self-esteem was highest.
What are clinical implications of this study?
- Children's reports of violence better predict psychological adjustment
than parents' reports of their children's experiences. Children's reports
better reflect their concerns.
In order to understand the impact of domestic violence
on children, clinicians should distinguish between mother's and father's
Reviewed by Priscilla Schulz, April 2000