Domestic violence and maltreatment of children: Related phenomena studied from different paradigms
The most recent data highlight that the presence of domestic violence is relatively frequent in family situations where the children are victims of abuse, and that these situations are generally serious and more complex. Although domestic violence has been considered for several years as a socially important problem, it is still often approached in a fragmentary way by both researchers and practitioners. The present article intends to be a synthesis of the recent contributions of the research on the co-occurrence of domestic violence and child abuse in terms of scope and consequences of the phenomenon for the young victims and for the parental role, as well as concerning the complexity of the dynamics of violence and the variety of needs of the various family members living with such problems. The article also studies the factors that are now hindering the development of an effective, coherent and concerted intervention, and discusses the necessary conditions of its implementation.