Children's physical health complaints after exposure to intimate partner violence

A clear association between exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and children's physical health is still not well determined, because adverse effects might be explained by the confounding detrimental effects of other traumatic experiences. This study investigated whether children exposed to IPV have higher risks for physical health complaints compared to children in a general population sample. Second, health complaint differences were explored between IPV witnesses and those who in addition experienced other forms of abuse or neglect.

Risk estimates for 21 everyday physical health complaints were made for children exposed to IPV compared to a general population sample using odds ratios.

Primary caregivers of 275 child witnesses of IPV (6-12 years of age) referred to several specialized mental health or child welfare institutes throughout the Netherlands (2004-2009) reported on children's somatic complaints using 21 items of the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) reflecting sleeping, eating, pain complaints, and self-harm.

Compared to a population sample (n= 903), child witnesses more often experienced health complaints, in particular, more eating, sleeping, and pain problems and more self-harm. Few differences in health complaints were found between child witnesses with and without additional adverse experiences of maltreatment.

The degree of physical health complaints in children exposed to IPV is considerable, whether or not they were also victims of other forms of abuse. Early attention to everyday health complaints in children exposed to IPV might prevent more serious health problems in adolescence and adulthood.