THE EFFECTS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON CHILDRENS PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR PERPETRATING AND NONPERPETRATING PARENTS

The Family Relations Test was completed by 8- to 12-year-old children in order to assess the effects of various types of domestic violence o n children's perceptions of their parents, all of whom were living wit h their children at the time of the study. Thirty-three of the childre n had been physically abused by their parents within the last 6 months , 16 had witnessed spouse abuse, 30 had been both victims and witnesse s of domestic violence, and 31 of the children had experienced no know n domestic violence. Groups were matched with respect to socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Physically abused children more freq uently reported negative perceptions of their perpetrating parents, bu t perceived nonabusive parents similarly to children in the comparison group. Children in the four groups did not differ with respect to the number of positive attributes assigned to their parents. In sum child ren who experienced different types of domestic violence discrimated b etween positive and negative aspects of their relationships with their parents and had different perceptions of perpetrating and nonperpetra ting parents.