Locked up at home: a cross-sectional study into the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on domestic violence in households with children in Belgium

Abstract

Background Policymakers worldwide took measures to limit the spread of the COVID-19-virus. While these sanitary measures were necessary to fight the spread of the virus, several experts warned for a significant impact on mental health and a potential increase in domestic violence. To study the impact of the COVID-19 measures in Belgium, and the factors influencing the occurrence of domestic violence, we set up the study on relationships, stress, and aggression. In this study, we evaluate the prevalence of domestic violence victimization during the COVID-19 lockdown in Belgian children aged zero to seventeen years and the associations of the parents’ financial status, relationships, mental health, and previous victimization to the child’s victimization. Methods A stepwise forward binary logistic regression was used to analyse the association between multiple risk factors of domestic violence and victimization of the respondent’s child. The respondent being an assailant, the respondent’s age, and the age of the children in the household were added as moderators. Results In this model an association with domestic child abuse was found for the age of the respondent, the household’s size, the presence of children between zero and five years in the household, the perceived stress level of the respondent, and victimization of the respondent during the first wave of the sanitary measures, as well as victimization before the COVID-19 pandemic. None of the interacting effects were found to be significant. Conclusion It is advisable to make extra efforts to improve well-being when maintaining sanitary measures by providing appropriate assistance and helping households struggling with increased or acute stress to install positive coping strategies - especially in larger households with children between six and 17 years. Besides, our findings draw attention to the clustering of risk of child and adult violence exposure in lockdown situations as well as to the potential cumulative impact of exposure to violence across the lifespan and across generations. It is key to invest in training healthcare workers and staff at schools to screen for and assess risks of domestic violence development and ongoing or past occurrence in order to detect, refer and follow-up on families at risk.

Psychological Distress and Domestic Violence Under COVID-19 Lockdown in LGBT+ Persons in Belgium, Germany, and Portugal

“…Yet, these findings are in line with results for other studies in Europe which showed that an increase in DV was observed during periods of lockdown measures (Kourti et al, 2021). Comparable to findings from earlier research (Fomenko et al, 2022), households consisting of more than three persons were more at risk of (in)direct DV exposure. Furthermore, we found that for all types of DV, the more satisfied one is with their relationship and/or sex life, the less likely one seems to report domestic victimisation.…”

“…First, because of our convenience sample, the study findings cannot be extrapolated to the general populations and LGBT+ communities in Belgium, Germany, and Portugal. Selection bias and possible confounding variables (e.g., number of sexual partners (De Schrijver, 2022), exposure to interpersonal violence during childhood (Butler et al, 2020; Fomenko et al, 2022; Walker et al, 2019) require caution in interpreting our finding, especially when comparing LGBT+ and non-LGBT+ individuals. Secondly, although the study questionnaire including items measuring physical, psychological, and sexual DV is one of the study strengths, adding items on economic violence in future studies could strengthen our knowledge about the occurrence and correlates of DV.…”

Post-Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Meta-Analysis and Intervention Approaches to Ensure Mental Health and Well-Being

“…In addition, emergency e-learning [25,26] also required a readjustment to new forms of education, with an understandable decline in support from teachers, and disadvantages for children in more precarious situations [27,28]. Another problem for children is that their own parents may have been less mentally healthy, and may also have received more violence and abuse at home because they were confined with parents who are violent toward their children [29][30][31]. Children living in the most vulnerable contexts have school as a safe place for physical, psychological and social support [32].…”