The Impact of Exposure to Domestic Violence on Mental Health and Well-Being of Children in Lusaka District Zambia

Abstract

Domestic violence (DV) is major risk to the development of children. It is even a more serious concern among developing nations faced with other factors such as poverty. Current evidence suggests children’s outcomes are severely affected. However, this is unclear for developing nations as findings are based on research conducted in the west with different contextual factors. We explore the association between DV and mental health and wellbeing among children. 530 randomly selected children (345 females, 185 males, mean age = 15.9) and 320 parents/caregivers of children self-reported to have been exposed to DV participated in the study. Three instruments; questionnaires assessing mental health and wellbeing and a Child Behavior checklist (CBCL, 4-18years) were used. Data was analyzed using SPSS. Findings are that domestic violence negatively affects mental health and wellbeing of children victims. Further, mental health mediates the relationship between DV and wellbeing as a special mechanism is set in motion once a child is exposed to DV. The results demonstrate that DV is a negative background on child outcomes, hence the need to pay special attention to these issues especially among developing nations. This implies that attention must be given to children’s mental health to achieve their full potential and avoid poor psychological development. In terms of intervention, there is need to focus on protecting mental status of Victims as a resilience measure.