Quan and Qual Studies Qualitative Study

Domestic violence is an ongoing experience of physical, psychological, and even sexual abuse in the home that is often a method used by one adult to establish control and power over another person. Exposure by children to marital aggression is now a recognized public health concern. The investigation of the effects of the exposure to this type of aggression on the functioning of a child is a significant societal concern.

Purpose/goal/research questions of the study

DeHart and Alshuler (2009) examined incarcerated women's accounts of their children's exposure to violence prior to the mother's incarceration. The researchers stated that previous research has explored the consequences of children having their mothers incarcerated (which is summarized and it appears that incarceration alone has few consequences to the health and behavior of children); however, there is a dearth of research on these children prior to the mother's incarceration. This is a central factor in determining interventions for these children who are living with the other parent, in extended kinship care, or are in community placements. The current study was performed to provide a foundation for studying violence exposure by examining the mother's accounts. This would allow the researchers to identify the types of exposure children experienced, and to better determine their implications for social work practice and policy.

Sample size and description

Participants were randomly sampled from a maximum security state correctional facility. The sample of 60 women included 52% African-Americans and 48% Caucasians with an age range of 18 to 70 (median age of 31 years). The women were incarcerated for a variety of offenses, ranging from murder to forgery, burglary, and grand larceny. They were serving sentences ranging from 15 months to life-imprisonment (median time already served at completion of the study was just under 4 years).

Methodology/procedures

Open-ended interviews were performed regarding the participant's family and relationship history, history of victimization, and their lifetime delinquency and interactions with the justice systems. Participants were not directly questioned about violence exposure of their children, but this information surfaced during the interview. Handwritten notes were transcribed using a grounded theory methodology.

Variables/measures under study

The qualitative study looks at the effects of being exposed to maternal (partner) violence (independent variable) on the psychological well being and the behavior of children (dependent variables). These variables are broadly defined in this study as this study was viewed as providing a foundation for which future research could better define methods and measures to investigate this issue further.

Instruments used (if applicable).

As mentioned above open-ended interviews were the method of data collection. Transcripts were analyzed using ATLAS/ti qualitative software and a grounded theory approach.

Key findings

According the researchers 90% of the sample had children living with them prior to being incarcerated and 75% of those mentioned the impact of abuse on these children (if we do the math 56 had children and 42 of these were exposed). The authors provide rich descriptions from some of these transcripts of the participants' recollections. Psychological//emotional of effects of witnessing violence were categorized into fear and worry about violence occurring (reactions appear to range from withdrawal to severe emotional reactions). Behavioral effects included passivity (hiding), trying to intervene and stop the abuse, acting out, running away, substance abuse, and committing delinquent acts themselves. In many cases the children were also abused as opposed to just witnessing violence and these are discussed briefly.

Critique/limitations of the article

This article has a number of limitations, several of which are briefly touched on by the researchers. These include: (1) issues with generalization given the sample (maximum security female prisoners), (2) direct questioning of the mothers as opposed to the children themselves is a potential bias, (3) and no information regarding children of incarcerated fathers. These are all fair critiques; however, the researchers forget that the median time of imprisonment was four years in their sample, this indicates the potential for a severe confound regarding the subjective recall of their participants. Moreover, there is no collaborating evidence, we are just taking the women's word for the events as they occurred (some of these women were convicted of murdering their partners). Follow-ups at some level with the children themselves would have given the study more weight. The potential for inaccurate or biased recall is very high in this study. Moreover, there is no indication of the differences between just viewing parental abuse, being abused yourself, or both. Likewise, the researchers could have easily specified the types of effects children witnessing violence have recorded and fit their findings into these categories as opposed to offering very generalized conclusions.

Relation of readings main points/topic/findings to other course readings

Dysfunctional family...

Children are not immune to the effects of abusive situations even if they are not directly abused.
Conclusion

More research needs to be performed with this particular group to better specify the effects of violence on children in this subgroup and on their development.