Effects on Children in Domestic Abuse.
Fear
Flight, fight or freeze. Because children are smaller, they typically freeze, so people think there is no response and the children are fine.
Anxiety
Children can begin to develop anxiety, which will impact their whole life. Male children who witness family violence are more likely to be abusive to their female partner. Female children are more likely to enter into a relationship where they are abused.
Depression
Depressed children often have behaviour problems. The school might start to complain about how they are. Their behaviour changes. They might become moody. They have physical complaints, like headaches and stomach aches.
Violence
Children and adolescents can become aggressive and fight more. They can often become violent towards themselves too, and engage in risky behaviors or cut themselves.
Anger
Children who are angry often lose the capacity to learn and experience other emotions. Children need to feel all emotions and learn to manage them in a healthy manner.
Substance Abuse
Adolescents might start to seek relief in negative peer groups and drugs or alcohol.
Shame
The children may begin to lie about what is happening in their home out of shame. This prevents them from having open and honest relationships with peers, which impairs their ability to have open honest adult relationships.
Mental Illness
Some children develop severe mental illnesses.
Over Responsibility
Some children become rigid and over controlled. Rigid, over controlled children sometimes develop anorexia.
Regression
Some children act younger than they are, maybe because they need to be comforted because of the distress about the violence in the home. They may use baby talk, wet the bed, or soil themselves.