Children and Domestic Violence

Research shows that between 3.3 million and 10 million children in the United States are exposed to domestic violence each year.
The David and Lucille Packard Foundation, The Future of Children, 1999.

Between 45% to 70% of children exposed to domesic violence are also victims of physical abuse.
P.K. Trickett & C.J. Shellenbach, American Psychological Association, pp. 57-101, 1998.

Children ages five and under are more likely than older children to be exposed to multiple incidents of domestic violence.
Fantuzzo, Boruch & Saltzman, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36:116-22, 1997.

Children who witness domestic violence were found to show more anxiety, depression, traumatic symptoms and tempermental problems than other children.
J.L. Edelson, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, $14, 1999.

Studies have show that adolescent males exposed to domestic violence as children believe that aggression enhances self-image and reputation and influences their use of violence.
Schechter & Edelson, Domestic Violence & Children, Open Society Institue, Center of Crime, Communities & Culture, 2000.

Over 80% of abusive partners had themselves either been victims of child abuse or had witnessed their mothers being abused.
National Center on Women & Family Law, Battered Women: The Facts, 1996.

In Rhode Island, when the court makes decisions about custody and visitation of a child, it is required to consider evidence of past or present domestic violence.
Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence & Rhode Island Legal Services, Safe Visitation: A guide to helping you in Family Court, 2000.

In 1999, 13% of the 8,299 clients served by the Rhode Island Coalitions member agencies were children.
Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2000

Animal Abuse and Domestic Violence

Of women seeking shelter for domestic violence, 71% reported that their partner had threatened to harm, or actually harmed or killed at least one of their pets.
Ascione, F.(1998). Battered women's reports of their partners' and their childrens' cruelty to animals. Journal of Emotional Abuse. 1(1), 119,125.

Women were more likely to be permanently injured, scarred, or even killed by their husbands in societies in which animals are treated cruelly.
Levinson, D. (1989). Family Violence in cross-cultural perspective. Newburry Park, CA:.Sage Publications, 45.

Eighteen Percent of women reported that concern for their animals' welfare had prevented them from coming to a domestic violence shelter sooner.
Ascione, F.(1998). Battered women's reports of their partners' and their childrens' cruelty to animals. Journal of Emotional Abuse. 1(1), 119,125.

Reported animal cruelty by abusive partners includes slapping, shaking, throwing, or shooting dogs or cats, drowning a cat in a bathtub, and pouring lighter fluid on a kitten and igniting it.
Ascione, F.(1998). Battered women's reports of their partners' and their childrens' cruelty to animals. Journal of Emotional Abuse. 1(1), 119,125.

Reported threats of animal abuse by violent partners include putting a kitten in a blender, burying a cat up to its head and mowing it, starving a dog, and shooting and killing a cat.
Ascione, F.(1998). Battered women's reports of their partners' and their childrens' cruelty to animals. Journal of Emotional Abuse. 1(1), 119,125.

One study shows that 82% of families investigated for animal abuse or neglect were also known to loal social service agencies as having "children at risk."
Hutton, J.S. (1981). Animal Abuse as a diagnostic approach in social work: A pilot study. Paper presented at the international Conference on the Human/Companion Animal Bond, Philadelphia, PA.

In homes where women were victimized by their partner, 88% of animal abuse is witnessed by women and 78% is witnessed by children.
Quinslisk, A.. (1995). 1994/1995 survey results. La Crosse, WI:Domestic Violence Intervention Project.