Towards a richer understanding of school-age children’s experiences of domestic violence: The voices of children and their mothers

Abstract

Millions of children are exposed to domestic violence. How children negotiate and make sense of living with domestic violence is still under-researched. This study sought to capture the dual-perspectives of school-aged children and their mothers, to develop a richer understanding of children's experiences of domestic violence, using a community-based sample. A qualitative research design was employed, with interpretative phenomenological analysis used to interpret the data. Five school-aged children and three of their mothers participated in the study. Two master themes are discussed from the analysis of the children's perspective: domestic violence through the eyes of children; and learning from children's experiences. Two master themes are discussed from the analysis of the mothers' perspective: reflecting on the child in the context of domestic violence; and learning from mothers: insights, support and services. The crucial importance of the mother-child relationship in shaping children's experience of domestic violence was illustrated in both the perspectives; a finding which may have important implications for the development of interventions. It was also evident that children as young as eight were able to powerfully articulate their experiences of domestic violence.

The police patrols and children experiencing domestic violence

“…The young people described feeling excluded during the incidents, and emphasized the need to be acknowledged, heard and believed. Similar findings are reported by Swanston, Bowyer, and Vetere (2014) who interviewed five children age 8-13, who described feeling powerless and that little was done to keep the family safe.…”

Children’s experiences of domestic violence and abuse: Siblings’ accounts of relational coping

“…Much of this literature is quite mother blaming, emphasising the role of competent versus deficient mothering in the production of children's mental health outcomes, obscuring the role of perpetrator violence in the production of both mothers' and children's distress (Callaghan, 2015). A small number of qualitative studies have highlighted the importance of children's experiences (Mullender et al, 2003;Overlien & Hydén, 2009;Øverlien, 2011;Swanston, Bowyer, & Vetere, 2014), but most literature neglects an in-depth engagement with young people's voices. The use of quantitative measures and a trend towards the reliance on adult completed questionnaires means that the voices of children are not represented in a body of literature that purports to be about them.…”

“…The most frequent relationships considered in DV literature on children are either future romantic relationships (Black et al, 2010;Ehrensaft et al, 2003;Siegel, 2013;Sims, Dodd, & Tejeda, 2008), or relationships between children and their mothers (Dollberg, Feldman, Tyano, & Keren, 2013;Flach et al, 2011b;Katz, 2015;McManus, Belton, Barnard, Cotmore, & Taylor, 2013;Swanston, Bowyer, & Vetere, 2014). Children's lived experiences of relationships are largely overlooked, as they are seen as passive recipients of other people's relational actions, rather than as actively involved in relationships themselves.…”

‘You just deal with it. You have to when you’ve got a child’: A narrative analysis of mothers’ accounts of how they coped, both during an abusive relationship and after leaving

“…This is a valuable process; the relationship between mother and child is crucial in shaping children's experiences in the aftermath of domestic violence (Swanston et al, 2013).…”