We know that all victims are deeply traumatized by abuse. What about the smallest victims? Children are the most vulnerable as they rely on their caregivers to support them financially and emotionally, and they are physically not able to defend themselves. The damage of abuse can start in the womb and continue affecting the victim throughout adulthood.
Infants carried by abused women are more likely to have physical risk at birth due to low birth rate. Also, many studies show that children that are exposed to domestic violence are more prone to Psychological and Emotional damage.
Physical Risk
Infants born to women who were hospitalized for injuries received from an assault during their pregnancies weighed on average one-third pound less than did infants born to women who were not hospitalized, the study found. Assaults in the first trimester were associated with the largest decrease in birth weight.
Infants born weighing less 5.5 pounds, are considered low birth weight and have an increased risk of death or of developing several health and developmental disorders. Low birth weight infants also are at greater risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) as well as breathing problems, cerebral palsy, heart disorders and learning disabilities. The study found that among infants born to mothers who had experienced an assault, about 15 percent weighed less than 2,500 grams at birth. This rate was higher than the rate of low birth weight infants among pregnant women who were hospitalized after a car crash or for other injuries (8 to 10 percent) and more than double the rate among women who were not hospitalized while pregnant (6 percent).
www.nih.gov/news/health/sep2011/nichd-08.htm
Psychological and Emotional Risk
A vast body of literature supports the idea that early adversities, such as childhood sexual abuse (CSA), physical abuse, and witnessing domestic violence, are major risk factors for psychopathology, accounting for 50–75% of the population-attributable risk for depression, suicide attempts, and drug abuse. The powerful relationship between childhood abuse and psychopathology may be best understood as a cascade. Exposure to early adversity alters trajectories of brain development, which in turn leads to social, emotional, and cognitive impairment, followed by the adoption of health-risk behaviors.
www.accessscience.com
More than half of the school-age children in domestic violence shelters show clinical levels of anxiety or posttraumatic stress disorder (Graham-Bermann, 1994). Without treatment, these children are at significant risk for delinquency, substance abuse, school drop-out, and difficulties in their own relationships.
Children may exhibit a wide range of reactions to exposure to violence in their home. Younger children (e.g., preschool and kindergarten) oftentimes, do not understand the meaning of the abuse they observe and tend to believe that they “must have done something wrong.” Self-blame can precipitate feelings of guilt, worry, and anxiety. It is important to consider that children, especially younger children, typically do not have the ability to adequately express their feelings verbally. Consequently, the manifestation of these emotions are often behavioral. Children may become withdrawn, non-verbal, and exhibit regressed behaviors such as clinging and whining. Eating and sleeping difficulty, concentration problems, generalized anxiety, and physical complaints (e.g., headaches) are all common.
Unlike younger children, the pre-adolescent child typically has greater ability to externalize negative emotions (i.e., to verbalize). In addition to symptoms commonly seen with childhood anxiety (e.g., sleep problems, eating disturbance, nightmares), victims within this age group may show a loss of interest in social activities, low self-concept, withdrawal or avoidance of peer relations, rebelliousness and oppositional-defiant behavior in the school setting. It is also common to observe temper tantrums, irritability, frequent fighting at school or between siblings, lashing out at objects, treating pets cruelly or abusively, threatening of peers or siblings with violence (e.g., “give me a pen or I will smack you”), and attempts to gain attention through hitting, kicking, or choking peers and/or family members. Incidentally, girls are more likely to exhibit withdrawal and unfortunately, run the risk of being “missed” as a child in need of support.
Adolescents are at risk of academic failure, school drop-out, delinquency, and substance abuse. Some investigators have suggested that a history of family violence or abuse is the most significant difference between delinquent and non delinquent youth. An estimated 1/5 to 1/3 of all teenagers who are involved in dating relationships are regularly abusing or being abused by their partners verbally, mentally, emotionally, sexually, and/or physically (SASS, 1996). Between 30% and 50% of dating relationships can exhibit the same cycle of escalating violence as marital relationships (SASS, 1996).
http://www.aaets.org/arts/art8.htm
All victims are damaged by their abuser but none more so than children. People have the potential to carry the battle scars of domestic abuse from womb and throughout their lives.
If you are witness to abuse of a child, please call your local safe house or child abuse center.
To get help or report abuse in the US or Canada, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453).
If an emergency, please call 911 immediately.
