1. Research Question-What are the effects on children who witness domestic violence in their household?
2. Hypothesis- If a child witnesses domestic violence, then there is a likelihood the child will becomea domestic abuser themselves
3. a) The independent variable in my research essay will be children who witness domestic violence.
b) The dependent variable in my research essay will be the likelihood a child becomes a domestic abuser themselves.
c) The unit of analysis is a Micro unit, since I will be comparing individual children who have witnessed domestic violence between their parents to those who have not, and the level of analysis that will be used for the research hypothesis is the social learning theory.
Domestic violence is very common in the United States. "Police report that between 40% and 60% of the calls they receive, especially on the night shift, are domestic violence disputes." When child are in the mix there in a likelihood that the child could get traumatized from seeing or hearing the events occur. Children who grow up in homes where domestic violence occurs tend to be aggressive, and like to keep to themselves. Witnessing violence in the household, can lead the children to be violent towards their partners as well. The social learning theory shows that when children witness this type of negative behavior they retain it, and then have a chance of repeating the behavior if they get put in the same situation. Meaning when the child is put into a situation with their partner they might resort to violence because that is the only thing they have seen that resolves an issue. Since the child only has seen violence as an answer, there is no reason for the child not to resort to violence when in feeling attacked. Although, there are cases where children do not grow up to be violent, and can function normally in society. Children might end up getting profession help for what they have witnessed, so that can help with any personal struggles they might have. However, domestic does take a toll on many people, and most likely causes a stressor of some kind. People react differently to different stressors, some can function and have relationships normally, while others do not and continue the cycle of abuse.