Children Exposed to Interparental Violence: A Study of Portuguese Children from 7-9 Years of Age

Telma Catarina Almeida, Rui Abrunhosa Gonçalves, Ana Isabel Sani

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Introduction: Exposure to interparental violence is a type of child maltreatment linked to a higher risk of physical and mental health problems. This research considers the experiences of young Portuguese children exposed to interparental violence. The goal is to explore the associations between interparental conflict in children, their perceptions of conflict properties, threat, self-blame, and the relationship with their parents. Method: The research protocol was applied to 888 Portuguese children between 7 and 9 years of age, of whom 123 are victims of interparental violence. Results: The results showed that witnessing interparental conflict is positively correlated with children’s self-blame and insight into conflict properties and negatively correlated with children’s insight into the parent-child relationship. Conclusion: These results provide strong support for the hypothesis that witnessing interpa-rental conflict is associated with adverse outcomes in young children. Findings highlight the importance of identifying children exposed to interparental conflict in order to develop appro-priate intervention programmes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)69-76
Number of pages8
JournalSuma Psicologica
Volume29
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Keywords

  • Impact
  • interparental conflict
  • parent-child
  • violence
  • young children

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