Children and Domestic Violence: The Perspective of Abused Women in Malaysia

Abstract

Domestic violence has been regarded as a significant social and public health problem in many countries. Notably, the impact of such victimization experiences may have adverse consequences not only for the victims, but their children, families, friends as well as the whole of society. The purpose of this study is to explore the abused women’s experiences regarding how domestic violence affects the well-being of their children. The approach to empirical research adopted for this study is one of a qualitative, semi-structured interview methodology. The primary source was drawn from face to face interview with 25 women who identify themselves as experiencing domestic violence at some point in their marital relationships. All of the participants were aged between 19 and 65 years. Via the thematic analysis, six important themes were revealed to be the impact of domestic violence on children, as described by the participants. The themes include feelings of hatred, protective behaviours, neglected children, juvenile delinquency, estranged parent as well as dangerous complication during pregnancy (to unborn child). Fragments of excerpts and quotations acquired from the participants were used to represent the research findings as the themes emerged. In brief, the results conclude that domestic violence not only affects the women who are abused, but also imposes negative effects on the growing children.

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Author Information
Mariny Abdul Ghani, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia
Nadiyah Elias, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia
Duncan Cramer, Loughborough University, UK
Azizul Mohamad, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia

• Category: Psychology and Social Psychology

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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