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Intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure continues to be a pervasive problem for children. Although the impact of IPV exposure on children's mental health has been well-documented, the impact of IPV exposure on children's physical health, as well as families' engagement with the medical system for their children's physical health needs (e.g., contact with primary care pediatricians, emergency room visits) remains under-studied. The purpose of this systematic review was to synthesize quantitative studies examining the association between IPV exposure and (a) medical system engagement and (b) physical health outcomes, and to examine methodological factors that may influence findings. A systematic review was conducted using seven electronic bibliographic databases to identify research examining outcomes of IPV-exposed children up to August of 2020. Citations were coded by two independent researchers to determine inclusion and exclusion, and then coded again to identify studies examining medical system engagement and physical health outcomes. A total of 31 citations were included. Consistent results were found across studies in that, compared with non-exposed children, IPV-exposed children were less likely to be up to date on immunizations, had an increased rate of emergency room visits, had more contact with primary care pediatricians, were more likely to have an increased risk of poor lung functioning, obesity, and nutritional deficiencies, and reported more general physical health problems. In addition to further research in this area, this study identifies the need for training healthcare providers to implement consistent IPV screening and provide IPV-exposed children and families with referrals to trauma-informed, community-based interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both in the United States and across the world, intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread social problem. It often occurs in households with children, and IPV exposure during childhood is associated with negative sequelae across developmental domains. This systematic review synthesizes the literature on the effects of IPV exposure on social-emotional competence (i.e., social competence, empathy, emotion regulation) from infancy through late adolescence. Seven bibliographic software databases were searched for relevant citations up to August 2020, and a total of 15,354 citations were identified after deduplication. Following a screening process by two research assistants, 381 citations were included in a broader Evidence and Gap Map. Data extraction was completed for included citations, and all were coded into child outcome categories and subcategories. Twenty-six studies examined social-emotional competence. Across studies examining social competence, a majority found that IPV-exposed children demonstrated lower levels of social competence and emotional regulation than a comparison group. Limited evidence was found to indicate that IPV-exposed children also exhibited fewer empathic skills compared with non-exposed peers. Social-emotional competence was additionally identified to significantly mediate and/or moderate the association between IPV exposure and other outcomes (e.g., aggressive behaviors, psychological distress), underscoring that social-emotional competence may be a malleable factor that could promote resilience among children exposed to IPV. These findings highlight the need to further explore the associations between social-emotional competence and other child adjustment outcomes, and develop and implement programming to foster social-emotional competence among IPV-exposed children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police-initiated post-traumatic stress symptomatology (PI-PTSS) refers to post-traumatic stress symptoms that are rooted in interactions with police officers. Research on PI-PTSS is scarce, though results typically suggest that invasive police behaviors are associated with higher levels of PI-PTSS. However, this research utilizes a general measure of PI-PTSS, failing to account for unique profiles of PI-PTSS that may be present in the data. Further, research has yet to the relationship between PI-PTSS and co-morbidities. The present study utilizes latent class analysis (LCA) to identify profiles of PI-PTSS, tests predictors of latent class membership, and tests latent classes as predictors of depressive symptomatology among a sample of 816 youth in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Findings from identified three profiles of PI-PTSS: low PI-PTSS, avoidance, and high PI-PTSS. The odds of belonging to the high PI-PTSS are greater for youth in low-income households, black youth, and youth who have been stopped by the police multiple times. Membership in the high PI-PTSS class is also associated with higher levels of depressive symptomatology. Our findings highlight the need to develop tactics that minimize the negative impact that police can have when responding to crime, and create mechanisms that increase the effectiveness of police when responding to non-crime situations that require a social service response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because the effects of children’s exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) carry long lasting consequences for the affected children, IPV exposure may impose a significant economic burden to localities, states, and society at large, made explicit over the victim’s lifetime and over a wide range of behaviors and outcomes, including use of social services, health and healthcare utilization, educational outcomes, workforce productivity, and criminal behavior. While much research has been conducted on the effect of IPV exposure on multiple short- and long-term outcomes, no research to date has examined the economic burden associated with IPV exposure. Using an incidence-based approach, we estimated the aggregate discounted costs associated with healthcare spending, criminal behavior, and labor market productivity accrued by a 20-year-old victim in 2016 projected to the age of 65, applying a 3% discount rate. The average lifetime costs derived from childhood IPV exposure are estimated to be over $50,000 per victim (2016 U.S. dollars) due to increased healthcare costs ($11,000), increased crime costs ($14,000), and productivity losses ($26,000). Over an annual birth cohort of young adults, these costs amount to over $55 billion nationwide. IPV exposure imposes a substantial economic burden to society at large in the form of increased healthcare costs, increased crime costs, and reduced productivity. This study offers an explicit quantification of substantial lifetime costs, which should encourage policy makers to redouble efforts to reduce the incidence of IPV and successfully ameliorate its effects on IPV-exposed children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ongoing social and environmental stress disrupts sleep for children after trauma. • Tangible changes to children's post-trauma environments may promote better sleep. • Changing rooms, changing noise or light levels, and bed-sharing are examples. • Individual agency to change sleep environments may be key for better sleep. • Positive sleep environment change occurs at multiple ecological levels. Over 25% of U.S. children are witness to traumatic intrafamilial or community violence each year, and sleep medicine and developmental research jointly suggest that trauma-exposed youth experience more sleep disturbance than their non-exposed counterparts. Sleep medicine literature emphasizes physical and social environmental factors affecting sleep, and trauma literature underscores children's seeking out physically and emotionally safe and predictable environments during trauma recovery. This study employed a hermeneutic phenomenological framing to explore the lived experiences of 65 violence-exposed children and families, and to examine how youths' social and physical sleep environments facilitated or impeded sleep in the aftermath of trauma. Children's sleep experiences following violence exposure shared two primary essences of experience: a) navigating external threats that agitated sleep after trauma; and b) exercising agency over sleep and related environments to restabilize emotional security. Clinicians and social services coordinators working with children and families are uniquely positioned to indicate sleep assessments as part of treatment following trauma, and to also facilitate identification of tangible, sleep-supportive and changeable factors in sleep environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Cross-system collaboration can promote the wellbeing of children exposed to domestic violence. • Trauma-informed care and cultural humility practices should be integrated across all child-serving systems. • Social-emotional school curricula may help youth exposed to domestic violence. Each year, more than 6% of all U.S. children are exposed to domestic violence and require intervention services from agencies that serve affected families. Previous research has examined detrimental biopsychosocial consequences of domestic violence exposure during childhood and the importance of effective prevention and intervention services for this population. However, less research has explored diverse intervention professionals' own perspectives on the needs of the domestic violence-exposed children they serve. This study employed an inductive approach to thematic analysis to investigate intervention professionals' reflections and advice regarding the service, policy, and research needs as well as overall strategies to better protect children exposed to domestic violence. Respondents articulated four primary themes of (a) building general education and awareness of the effects of domestic violence exposure on children; (b) the need for trauma-informed care; (c) the salience of cultural humility in serving affected families; and (d) essential collaboration across service domains. Respondents discussed these themes in the context of four key systems of care: the clinical or therapy, family, school, and judicial systems. Future research should integrate the voices of affected children and families as well as examine models for effectively implementing these recommendations into practice settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]