Children witnessing domestic violence: a developmental approach

Over the past 30 years, domestic violence has been brought to the forefront of society's consciousness as a number of studies have defined it, identified prevalence and causal factors, and described intervention initiatives. Children who witness domestic violence are at risk for developing behavioral and emotional problems. These behaviors depend on the age of the child, the duration of the violence, whether the child is also being directly abused, the fierceness of the violence, and if the child remains in the abusive environment. The purpose of this paper was to review the literature and theoretical frameworks associated with children who are witnessing domestic violence from a developmental perspective and to determine if in their clinical practices expert pediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs) are seeing these behaviors in witnessing children. Twenty-eight PNPs returned a four-question survey tool describing behaviors in the four developmental categories: infancy, preschool, school-aged, and adolescence. Their descriptions were similar to data recorded in the literature, with extreme behaviors of aggression and withdrawal observed in all age groups. PNPs are in a position to identify the presence of domestic violence if they are sensitive to the behaviors displayed by witnessing children.