Abstract
Background and objective
Domestic violence affects thousands of children in the United States every year. We aimed to obtain an association between caregiver suffrage of domestic violence and adverse health outcomes among maltreated children in the United States.
Method
Data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, a total sample of 3,459,625, was analyzed. Descriptive, bivariate, and logistic regression analysis was conducted to estimate the effect of domestic violence on maltreated children’s health outcomes such as children’s alcohol and drug use, mental developmental delay, emotional disturbances, visual or hearing impairment, learning, and physical disabilities, behavioral problems, and other medical conditions.
Result
Exposure to caregiver domestic violence was reported in 13% of cases (n = 276,770). Domestic violence was associated with gender, child’s age, race, ethnicity, and living arrangement (p = 0.001 for all). Adjusted logistic regression showed higher odds of children’s alcohol use (1.62, 95%CI 1.44–1.82), mental developmental delay (1.26 95%CI 1.11–1.42), emotional disturbances (1.13, 95%CI 1.05–1.22), learning disability (1.13, 95%CI 1.04–1.22), and behavioral problems (1.18, 95%CI 1.12–1.24) among those children whose caregivers were exposed to domestic violence.
Conclusion
Domestic violence is a fundamental problem in the US that can lead to detrimental health and developmental issues in children.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- NCANDS:
-
National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System
- PTSD:
-
Posttraumatic stress disorder
- CSDV:
-
Care-giver domestic violence
- DV:
-
Domestic violence
- CPS:
-
Child Protective Services
- DSM_IV:
-
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Version Four
References
Dumaret AC, Tursz A (2011) Long-term consequences of child abuse and neglect. La Revue du praticien 61(5):663–666 Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21698901
Fleckman JM, Drury SS, Taylor CA, Theall KP (2016) Role of direct and indirect violence exposure on externalizing behavior in children. J Urban Health 93(3):479–492
Gilbert R, Widom CS, Browne K, Fergusson D, Webb E, Janson S (2009) Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries. Lancet 373(9657):68–81
Glaser D (2011) How to deal with emotional abuse and neglect-further development of a conceptual framework (FRAMEA). Child Abuse Negl. 35(10):866–875. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.08.002
Henry C (2018) Exposure to domestic violence as abuse and neglect: constructions of child maltreatment in daily practice. Child Abuse Negl 86:79–88
Hillis S, Mercy J, Amobi A, Kress H (2016) Global prevalence of past-year violence against children: a systematic review and minimum estimates. Pediatrics. 137(3):e20154079–e20154079
Kanaya T, Ceci SJ (2018) Longitudinal IQ trends in children diagnosed with emotional disturbance: an analysis of historical data. J Intell 6(4):45
Erickson MF, Byron Egeland RP (2010) In: Cicchetti D, Carlson V (eds) The effects of maltreatment on the development of young children. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511665707.021
McLaughlin KA, Sheridan MA, Nelson CA (2017) Neglect as a violation of species-expectant experience: neurodevelopmental consequences. Biol Psychiatry 82(7):462–71. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28392082
Mills R, Scott J, Alati R, O’Callaghan M, Najman JM, Strathearn L (2013) Child maltreatment and adolescent mental health problems in a large birth cohort. Child Abuse Negl 37(5):292–302
Putnam-Hornstein E (2011) Report of maltreatment as a risk factor for injury death: a prospective birth cohort study. Child Maltreatment 16(3):163–174
Putnam-Hornstein E, Cleves MA, Licht R, Needell B (2013) Risk of fatal injury in young children following abuse allegations: evidence from a prospective, population-based study. Am J Public Health. United States 103(10):e39–e44
Romans SE, Herbison GP, Anderson JC, Martin JL, Mullen PE (2003) The long-term impact of the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children: a community study. Child Abuse Negl 20(1):7–21
Spratt EG, Friedenberg S, LaRosa A, De BMD, Macias MM, Summer AP (2012) The effects of early neglect on cognitive, language, and behavioral functioning in childhood. Psychology 03(02):175–182
Taillieu TL, Brownridge DA, Sareen J, Afifi TO (2016) Childhood emotional maltreatment and mental disorders: results from a nationally representative adult sample from the United States. Child Abuse Neglect. 59:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.07.005
Tanaka M, Wekerle C, Lou SM, Paglia-Boak A (2011) The linkages among childhood maltreatment, adolescent mental health, and self-compassion in child welfare adolescents. Child Abuse Negl 35(10):887–898
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (2013) American Psychiatric Association Publishing, Washington, D.C., USA
United States Department of Health and Human Services (2015) Human Services Administration for Children and Families Administration on Children, Youth and Families Children’s Bureau. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/cm2015.pdf. Accessed August 2019
Wildeman C, Emanuel N, Leventhal JM, Putnam-Hornstein E, Waldfogel J, Lee H (2014) The prevalence of confirmed maltreatment among US children, 2004 to 2011. JAMA Pediatr 168(8):706–713
Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect for providing access to data.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
SJ came up with the idea, analyzed the data, wrote the method and critically appraised the manuscript. KR and MT wrote the introduction and part of discussion.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical approval
Not applicable as the data is secondary.
Informed consent
Not applicable as the data is secondary.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reid, K., Jahanfar, S. & Tawil, M. Health implications of maltreated children exposed to domestic violence. J Public Health (Berl.) 30, 1457–1463 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-020-01450-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-020-01450-5