Domestic Violence, Children’s Agency and Mother–Child Relationships: Towards a More Advanced Model.

Date

2015

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Children & Society

Abstract

Although domestic violence research increasingly recognizes children's agency, this awareness has not extended to our understanding of children's relationships with their abused mothers. Findings suggesting that some children actively support their mother, and encourage her to leave the perpetrator, have been consistently under-discussed. This article argues that the model of parent-child relationships used by most domestic violence research sees children as passive and contributes to mother-blaming discourses. Analyzing key quantitative and qualitative research, I suggest that a more sophisticated model of parent-child relationships is needed to understand how children's agency affects them, their mothers and the domestic violence situation. (Author Abstract)

Description

Keywords

child abuse, child witness, Intimate partner violence, family violence, resistance, bilateral model, International Resources, United Kingdom

Citation

Katz, Emma. (2015). Domestic Violence, Children’s Agency and Mother–Child Relationships: Towards a More Advanced Model. Children & Society, 29, 69-79.

DOI