The Associations between Parental Conflict, Attachment Anxiety, and Somatic Symptoms in Adult Children Affected by Parental Separation

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

“…Children who witness interparental violence in their homes are more likely to develop internalising and externalising problems (Almeida et al, 2008). Perceiving interparental conflicts might significantly affect the psychological, emotional, cognitive, physical, and behavioural aspects of a child's development (Lin et al, 2020). Children from violent families justify and exhibit higher levels of aggression (Almeida et al, 2008), relationship abuse (Almeida et al, 2020;Ragavan et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2019), hostility, oppositional behaviour, and substance abuse (Sani et al, 2017).…”

“…Interparental violence is also correlated with children's high levels of fear, anxiety (Lin et al, 2020), post-traumatic stress symptoms (Haj-Yahia et al, 2019), depression, social avoidance, attention deficit disorder, and it may reduce their cognitive and social abilities (Cummings & Davies, 2010). Children who witness interparental violence tend to feel more insecure and have low self-esteem (Cummings et al, 2007), have less favourable self-representations (Silva et al, 2016), and experience sleep disturbances (Flannery et al, 2019).…”

“…Exposure to interparental violence may affect the child's secure attachment (Lin et al, 2020;Selçuk et al, 2020), and the relationship between the child and its mother can be negatively affected (Humphreys & Bradbury-Jones, 2015). There are significant differences between those children who are victims and those who are non-victims of interparental violence since victim children perceive their mothers as less nurturing, affectionate, and authoritative (Grych et al, 2002).…”

“…The mother's parenting practices can explain the children's externalising symptoms (Warmuth et al, 2020). Insecure attachments influence children's development, thereby affecting their ability to communicate and interact with others and to establish healthy relationships throughout their lives (e.g., Lin et al, 2020).…”

“…It is important to consider that all violence, including nonphysical aggression (such as coercive and controlling behaviours on the part of the perpetrator), can affect children and contribute to emotional/behavioural problems (Katz, 2016). The negative impact of interparental violence on different levels is well documented in several studies (e.g., Lin et al, 2020), indicating various problems in childhood in the short and long term (e.g., Hou et al, 2016). Furthermore, it is strongly correlated with direct child abuse (Lloyd, 2018).…”