How Intimate Partner Violence Affects Children: Developmental Research, Case Studies, and Evidence-Based Intervention

Researchers have estimated that 15 million American children are exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) each year, with 7 million exposed to severe violence in their homes. The past decade has seen a surge in research and interventions for such children.

We now know that IPV exposure affects children's physical health, social and emotional behavior, cognitive functioning, and neurobiological and relational development. Furthermore, a number of evidence-based interventions have been developed for children of different ages, from infancy through adolescence. It is now possible to provide services for children of different ages using evidence-based, age-appropriate interventions.

Using a developmental framework, this book presents the most up-to-date research on how exposure to IPV affects children and how clinicians can treat these children. It combines outcome research, evidence-based interventions, and case study material for four different age groups: prenatal to infancy, toddler to early childhood, school-age children, and adolescents.

With its threefold focus on research, interventions, and case studies, this book will appeal to all researchers, practitioners, and graduate students who work with children exposed to IPV.

Contributors

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction
   Sandra A. Graham-Bermann and Alytia A. Levendosky

I. Prenatal to Infancy

2. Effects of Intimate Partner Violence on the Attachment Relationship Between Mother and Child: Data From a Longitudinal Study Beginning During Pregnancy
   G. Anne Bogat, Alytia A. Levendosky, Alexander von Eye, and William S. Davidson II
3. Perinatal Child–Parent Psychotherapy: Adaptation of an Evidence-Based Treatment for Pregnant Women and Babies Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence
   Alicia F. Lieberman, Manuela A. Diaz, and Patricia Van Horn
4. Infant–Parent Relationship Disturbance in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence: A Clinical Case Study of James
   Alissa C. Huth-Bocks, Lauren Earls, and Jessica Latack

II. Toddler to Early Childhood

5. The Multiple Impacts of Intimate Partner Violence on Preschool Children
   Kathryn H. Howell and Sandra A. Graham-Bermann
6. Interventions for Young Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence
   Renee McDonald, Ernest N. Jouriles, and Laura C. Minze
7. A Clinical Case Study of Chris: A Young Child Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence
   Tova B. Neugut and Laura E. Miller

III. School-Age Children

8. The Effects of Intimate Partner Violence on School-Aged Children
   Renee L. DeBoard-Lucas and John H. Grych
9. Evidence-Based Practices for School-Age Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence and Evaluation of the Kids' Club Program
   Sandra A. Graham-Bermann
10. Intimate Partner Violence in the School-Age Years: A Case Study of the Evaluation of Alia, a Multiply Abused Girl
    Alytia A. Levendosky and Sandra A. Graham-Bermann

IV. Adolescents

11. The Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Adolescents
    Laura Ann McCloskey
12. The Adolescent's Experience of Intimate Partner Violence and Implications for Intervention
    Alison Cunningham and Linda L. Baker
13. A Clinical Case Study of Caden, an Adolescent Boy Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence
    Alytia A. Levendosky

Epilogue: Conclusions and Challenges
Alytia A. Levendosky and Sandra A. Graham-Bermann

Appendix: Discussion Questions

Index

About the Editors

Sandra A. Graham-Bermann, PhD, is a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she has been researching the ways in which different forms of violence affect children's adjustment, including their traumatic stress reactions and resilient coping.

She has studied children ages 3 to 13 in a variety of contexts, such as preschools, community settings, and shelters for abused women. As part of this program of research, she has developed new measures of children's fears and worries, their symptoms of traumatic stress, attitudes and beliefs about violence, family stereotyping, and conflicts in sibling relationships.

With support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services, and state and local foundations, she has studied multiple forms of violence in the lives of children and designed and evaluated interventions for women and children exposed to domestic violence. These programs have been adopted for use in five countries and 27 states.

Dr. Graham-Bermann is author of more than 50 research journal articles, and she is coeditor with Jeff Edleson of Domestic Violence in the Lives of Children: The Future of Research, Intervention, and Social Policy (2001).

Alytia A. Levendosky, PhD, is a professor of psychology and director of clinical training at Michigan State University, East Lansing, where she studies the intergenerational transmission of violence, specifically focusing on the prenatal effects of intimate partner violence.

The goal of her research program is to develop a comprehensive model of the psychological, physiological, and neurological mechanisms through which prenatal exposure to intimate partner violence affects the mother–child relationship and children's developmental outcomes. With colleagues at Michigan State University, she has followed a cohort of 200 children from pregnancy through age 10.

Her research has led to an understanding of the mother–child attachment relationship in the context of intimate partner violence. She has received support for her research from the National Institute of Justice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute for Child Health and Development.

She is author of more than 45 research journal articles, and this is her first book.