Peer-reviewed article
Psychological, Emotional, and Neuropsychological Sequelae of Child Victims of Domestic Violence: A Review of the Literature.
Bueso-Izquierdo N, Guerrero-Molina M, Barbosa-Torres C, Ferrera-Silva M, Moreno-Manso JM ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This literature review examines the psychological, emotional, and neuropsychological effects of domestic violence on children globally. The review synthesized 32 peer-reviewed studies published between 2000 and 2024 to understand the consequences children experience from either witnessing or being directly victimized by domestic violence. Findings show that children exposed to domestic violence experience significant negative outcomes including anxiety, depression, emotional dysfunction, trauma symptoms, and cognitive impairment. Direct victims show more severe internalizing and externalizing problems compared to children who only witnessed violence. The review emphasizes the importance of early identification and intervention for affected children.
Key points
- Children exposed to domestic violence suffer negative consequences that vary by the degree or magnitude of violence exposure
- Direct victims of domestic violence show greater internalizing and externalizing problems compared to children who witnessed violence
- Common sequelae include anxiety-depressive symptoms, emotional dysfunction, victimization, traumatic symptoms, and problems in executive functions and cognitive performance
- Early identification and intervention for children affected by domestic violence is important
- Domestic violence exposure often begins at or before birth
Limitations
As a literature review rather than primary research, this study cannot provide new empirical evidence or establish causal mechanisms. The review is limited to English-language peer-reviewed studies published between 2000 and 2024, which may exclude relevant research in other languages or formats.
Abstract
Domestic violence is a global health problem with many consequences for mental health in children. Children's exposure to domestic violence often begins at or before birth. This article highlights a summary of existing current evidence regarding psychopathological, emotional, and neuropsychological sequelae of domestic violence in child victims. Searches were conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines in PubMed, PsycNet, Google Scholar and Scopus to identify peer-reviewed articles reporting domestic violence and psychological, emotional and neuropsychological sequelae, yielding a final selection of 32 studies that met the inclusion criteria: (1) studies published in English; (2) carried out between 2000 and 2024; (3) reporting quantitative data, measuring their quality with the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. The results obtained were grouped into three tables with references, where the findings consistently indicated that children exposed to domestic violence suffer negative consequences that vary depending on the degree or magnitude of the violence to which they are exposed. Direct victims showed a greater degree of internalizing and externalizing problems, anxiety-depressive symptoms, emotional dysfunction, victimization, traumatic symptoms and problems in executive functions and cognitive performance compared to those children who had only witnessed the violence. We have also provided indications for future research and clinical practice because the data extracted from this review help to understand the consequences of experiencing or witnessing domestic violence, as well as the importance of early identification and intervention. Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40653-025-00746-6.