Children Witnessing Domestic Violence

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What is domestic violence? Domestic violence is the behaviors used by one person in a relationship to control the other. It may start when one partner feels the need to dominate their partner. Violence can be criminal and includes physical assault like pushing and hitting, even sexual abuse, and stalking. In Philippines in the year of 2009, estimated about 7 to 14 million children were exposed to domestic violence in their homes every year. So how does domestic violence happen? And why is it bad for children to witnessing domestic violence? Studies shows that violent behavior often is caused by interaction on some situation and individual factors. That means the abusers learn violent behavior when growing up from their family, people in their community and other cultural influences. It is possible that they have seen violence or may have been victims themselves. Some abusers acknowledge growing up as an abused child and learn to believe …show more content…

Few people with very traditional beliefs may think they have the right to control their partner, and that women are not equal to men. They believe violence is a reasonable way to resolve conflict between people. Others may have an undiagnosed personality disorder or psychological disorder. Still, others may have learned this behavior from growing up in a household where by domestic violence was accepted as a normal norm. Consequently, witnessing domestic violence can take a toll on children development. They often suffer emotional and psychological trauma from living in house where their fathers abuse their mothers. For example, they will suffer anxiety and depression as they often feel helpless and powerless. Study shows, girls tend to internalize their emotions and show signs of depression more compare to boys. When domestic violence happened, it gives the child the idea that nothing is safe in the world and not worth being kept

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