Are Children Affected?

Statistics

* 3.3 million children in the U.S, between the ages or 3 and 17, are yearly at risk of exposure to parental violence.

* In general, 70% or men who abuse their female partners also abuse their children.

* Reports show that 87% of children witness the abuse.

* Many fathers inadvertently injure children while throwing about furniture or other household objects when abusing their female partners. The youngest children sustain the most serious injuries, such as concussions and broken shoulders and ribs.

* As violence against women becomes more severe and frequent in the home, children experience a 300% increase in physical violence by the batterer.

* 62% of sons over age 14 were injured when they attempted to protect their mothers from attacks by abusive male partners.

* Interviews with children of battered women reveal that they have seen and heard, and can describe in detail, accounts of violent behavior.

* Boys who witness inter-parental violence are four times more likely to be physically abusive in their dating relationships than are boys who do not witness inter-parental violence.

* Teenage males exposed to woman abuse were significantly more likely to hit their mothers as compared with non-witnesses.

* Up to 50% of all homeless women and children in this country are fleeing domestic violence.

* In 1992, there were 2.9 million reported cases of child abuse and neglect in the United States. Of the reported cases, 27% involved physical abuse, 17% involved sexual abuse, 45% involved neglect, 7% involved emotional abuse, and 8% were classified as “other” which includes abandonment and dependency.

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