CHILDRENS EXPERIENCE OF INTERPARENTAL VIOLENCE - A HEURISTIC MODEL

There is growing empirical evidence regarding the positive correlation between children living in violence-ridden family environments and th eir impaired development in the physical, cognitive, emotional, behavi oral, and social domains. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualiz e the experience of children who are exposed to violence perpetrated b y their father against their mother and suggest a constructivist theor etical model which may serve as the basis for further hypothesizing an d intervention. A brief review of the pertinent literature serves as t he basis for identifying four constructs used by children who are expo sed to such violence in order to come to terms with it (e.g., living w ith a secret, living in conflict of loyalties, living in terror and fe ar, and living in an aggressive and dominance-oriented context). The v arious world views underlying these constructs are described, analyzed and discussed. The model suggests two dimensions along which these co nstructs can be analyzed (level of acknowledgment and loyalty to one o r the other parent), and elaborates the process by which they become e stablished. The possible options of locating specific children along t hese two dimensions are suggested. Some implications for research and differential intervention are proposed.