New Delhi:
According to a study by the University of Toronto, adults exposed to regular parental domestic violence have a raised preponderance of depression, anxiety, substance abuse disorders, and lower levels of social support than their coequals who do not share childhood misfortune.
“Our findings underline the risk of long-term negative outcomes of chronic domestic violence for children, even when the children themselves are not abused,” said author Esme Fuller-Thomson, Director of University of Toronto’s Institute for Life Course and Aging at the University of Toronto and Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW).
“Social workers and health professionals must work vigilantly to prevent domestic violence and to support both survivors of this abuse and their children,” added Fuller-Thomson.
Parental domestic violence (PDV) usually happens in the context of other troubles, including childhood physical and sexual abuse, making it contesting to discuss the mental health effects associated only with PDV in the lack of childhood abuse.
The study’s nationally representative selection eventually included 17,739 respondents from the Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health, of whom 326 registered having seen PDV more than 10 times before age 16, which was defined as ‘chronic PDV’.
“Many children who are exposed to their parent’s domestic violence remain constantly vigilant and perpetually anxious, fearful that any conflict may escalate into assault. Therefore, it is not surprising that decades later, when they are adults, those with a history of PDV have an elevated prevalence of anxiety disorders,” said co-author Deirdre Ryan-Morissette, a recent Masters of Social Work graduate from the University of Toronto’s FIFSW.
The study was based on cross-sectional data gathered at one point in time; it would have been much preferable to have longitudinal rather than cross-sectional data.
“Our study highlights the need for more research on interventions for mental illness, substance use disorders, and social isolation among those with PDV exposure, with the goal of having a greater proportion of those experiencing childhood adversities obtaining optimal mental health,” said Fuller-Thomson.
(With inputs from ANI)
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