DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND CHILDREN - PREVALENCE AND RISK IN 5 MAJOR US CITIES

Objective: Children witnessing domestic violence is a major national c oncern. The present study provided data on the prevalence of children' s exposure to substantiated cases of adult female assaults in five U.S . cities. Method: Data for this study were drawn from the Spouse Assau lt Replication Program (SARP) database, collected from police officers and female victims of misdemeanor domestic violence. In addition, hou sehold demographic data and data on involvement of children in the vio lent incidents were collected. Data from the SARP households were comp ared with census data from each city. Results: Results indicated that children were disproportionately present in households with domestic v iolence and that young children were disproportionately represented am ong these children. Moreover, these children were exposed to excessive levels of additional developmental risk factors and they were involve d in the incidents to varying degrees. Conclusions: These findings und erscore the importance of establishing a more rigorous interdisciplina ry, scientific research agenda to inform assessment and treatment effo rts for a very vulnerable group of children who witness domestic viole nce, children aged 0 through 5 years.