The purpose of this paper is to examine the current research investigating for the effects, if any, of children witnessing (but not physically experiencing) wife abuse in their homes. A very brief review of interventions aimed at remediating effects is also offered. The review concludes with a summary and a formulation of implications of research findings and recommendations for future research. The presented research will also be examined in relation to a particular thesis: not only will effects of witnessing be found, they will be negative and serious with both short-term and long-term consequences.
Effects on Children of Witnessing Maternal Abuse
As early as 1985, Wolfe, Jaffe, Wilson and Zak reported that diverse types of research (e.g., qualitative studies, quantitative studies, retrospective accounts, correlational research) were suggesting that children's exposure to maternal physical abuse resulted in negative consequences that lasted not only across the children's growing up and adolescent years but also well into their adulthood. According to the authors, these consequences included the following:
(1) Poor social adjustment, behavioral problems and lowered levels of social competence among boys;
(2) The internalization of behavior problems among girls; (3) An increased tendency for boys to grow up and become wife abusers themselves; and
(4) An increased tendency for girls to select abusive spouses and to then delay seeking help for the problem for longer periods of time than women with abusive spouses but no history of witnessing abuse in their childhood homes.
Children witnessing maternal abuse may be at risk not only for developing behavioral problems but also for being abusive to their siblings. This assessment of risk for sibling abuse was reported by Suh and Abel (1990), who examined the cases of 258 victims of spouse abuse who entered a battered women's shelter between 1976 and 1986.
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