Domestic violence as witnessed by New Zealand children Martin, Judy; Langley, John; Millichamp, Jane
Material type:
- 1175-8716
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Vine library | Online | Available | ON13010038 |
New Zealand Medical Journal 119(1228): 28-41, 27 January 2006
This article presents a study on the witnessing of domestic violence by New Zealand-born children. The study was designed as part of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study to gain retrospective information not gathered when study members were children. The cohort were interviewed at age 26 and were asked questions on the witnessing of father to mother and mother to father physical violence and threats of harm up to the age of 18. The prevalence and nature of the witnessed violence is reported, along with some of the family and social contexts in which the violence occurred. The research findings show that one-quarter of the sample reported violence or threats of violence directed from one parent to the other. The factor that contributed most strongly to participants being upset was the frequency of the violence, and not who carried it out, or whether it was physical or threatened.