Length of exposure to violence not age is key factor
Students prepare to start another day at the Louis Nettelhorst Elementary School in Lakeview. (Photograph by Alison Fox/MEDILL.)
Experts say many children who witness domestic violence at home lack coping mechanisms leading to violence in schools.
October was Domestic Violence Month, highlighting an issue that often results in children with violent streaks and an inability to resolve conflicts, experts say.
“With teenagers, you’re going to have more aggressive behaviors,” said Catherine Malatt, the manager of coordinated school health/crisis intervention with Chicago Public Schools.
“They’re getting into fights with their peers, they’re getting into fights with children they may call their friends, because they are traumatized at home.”
Kelly Jordan-Paube, family trauma therapist at Humbolt Park Outreach Program, has seen the effects on children who witness domestic violence. She works with overly aggressive 2-year-olds as well as elementary students whose troublesome behavior includes lashing out at peers in the schoolyard. These children act out, she said, due to trauma experienced at home.
“The propensity for violence depends on the child and how long they’ve been exposed to the violence rather than their age,” Jordan-Paube said.
Barbara Shaw, the director of Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, said positive examples from parents are the best medicine.
“If children learn that physical and emotional abuse are acceptable family dynamics, ways of getting what you want and asserting control over others, they may be more likely to engage in physical violence themselves,” she said.
Domestic violence is related to many of the factors that affect childhood development, said Gene Griffin, assistant professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and clinical director of the Illinois Childhood Trauma Coalition.
Children need to be taught alternative ways to respond to negative situations, Griffin said.
“Not just stop the negative, but add in positive strengths, which will make them more resilient for future adverse experiences,” Griffin said.
CPS has been responding to the rising awareness of youth violence by creating more after-school programs. It is also training all staff members to look for nonverbal clues that indicate children in distress, Malatt said.
“What is very critical in all of this,” she said, “is if they have a mentor or support system. That is key.”
