ABSTRACT
Children may also be abused because the patterns of violence towards the spouse extend towards the children. Indeed, both parents may be responsible for the violence towards the children. In one study of 184 children in 120 families who had been living with their mothers at shelters for battered women, 35 per cent of the sample had been physically abused in the past year. This included kicking, biting or hitting with a fist (29.4 per cent of fathers, 11.4 per cent of mothers), and beating the child up (7.6 per cent of fathers, 0.5 per cent of mothers). Fathers were also responsible for burning children (1.2 per cent) and threatening them with a knife or gun (1.2 per cent). In addition, a high proportion of both mothers and fathers had hit the child with an object (40.2 per cent of fathers, 44 per cent of mothers).15 Another study found that of 295 cases in which child abuse was suspected, 22.4 per cent were in families where there was domestic violence. The overlap between child abuse and domestic violence is not just in relation to physical abuse (domestic violence in 28.3 of the physical abuse cases) but also sexual abuse (16.1 per cent), emotional abuse (56.3 per cent), and neglect (21.5 per cent).16
