The Relationship between Woman and Child Abuse

Incidence of Child Abuse in Homes Where a Mother is Abused

• As many as 77% of men who batter women also physically and/or sexually abuse their children ,
  making the presence of spouse abuse the single most identifiable risk factor for predicting child abuse.
  
  
• Data reveals that serious child abuse almost always post-dates the infliction
  of serious abuse of mothers by fathers or male partners. In homes where spouse abuse occurs,
  children are abused at a rate 1,500% higher than the national average.
  
  
• Half of women sexually abused by their fathers in childhood reported that their
  incestuous fathers were habitually violent against mothers and children.
  
  
• "There is also a growing body of literature ... suggesting that witnessing intrafamilial
  violence against caretakers and siblings in itself does significant psychological damage."
  90% to 100% of children from violent homes see and/or hear their fathers battering their mothers.
  "`Hiding in their bedrooms out of fear, the children may hear repeated threats of injury,
  verbal assaults on their mother's character, objects hurled across the room, suicide attempts,
  beatings, and threats to kill. Such exposure will arouse a mixture of intense feelings in the children.
  These feelings include fear that the mother will be killed, guilt that they could not stop the violence,
  divided loyalties, and anger at the mother for not leaving.'"
  
  
• "Child abuse professionals and organizations pay insufficient attention to the
  well-documented link to woman battering. Evidence suggests preventing spouse abuse
  and woman battering would have a major impact on the prevention of child abuse."
  
  

Effects of Woman Abuse on Children

• "Repeated and chronic exposure to interpersonal or family violence in childhood
  (either as a victim or a witness) has been associated with chronic or delayed posttraumatic
  stress disorder (PTSD), adolescent and adult substance abuse, a wide variety of child, adolescent
  and adult behavioral disorders, depression, suicidality, self-mutilation (i.e., cutting), an
  intolerance for or constant search for intimacy, and diagnoses of multiple and borderline personality disorder."
  
  
• "Boys who have witnessed abuse are three times more likely to hit their wives
  than those who have not. The sons of the most violent fathers may have a rate of
  wife beating 1,000 [times] greater than the sons of non-violent fathers."
  
  
• "The consequences of abuse will vary with the developmental level of the child,
  the duration and intensity of abuse, and the quality of the subsequent home environment
  and community support." "The greater the extent and duration of the abusive situation,
  the more likely that short-term effects of abuse will become long-term effects. ...
  Ending violent interactions is a key step in family recovery."
  
  
• "Children will not be able to change their attitudes or behavioral reactions
  to violence if violence is continuing at home."
  
  
• In 1991 in the U.S., 63% of the males between the ages of 11 and 20 who were
  incarcerated for homicide had killed their mother's batterer.
  
  

The Importance of The Child's Relationship with the Non-abusive Parent

• "Researchers have underscored the potency of strong emotional support from a
  nonabusive adult in aiding resilience. ... Factors found related to resilience in
  adulthood include having had a supportive relationship with a nonabusive parent
  as a child, participating in therapy, having nurturant adult relationships outside
  of the family, having a personal commitment to nonperpetuation of the cycle of violence,
  and having a supportive, nonviolent spouse."
  
  
• "The greater community teaches children that it supports violence by doing
  little or nothing about it when family violence is reported to community services."