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Intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure threatens healthy child development by compromising outcomes across a range of domains including academic functioning. However, research suggests variability in the strength and nature of the association between IPV exposure and academic functioning, and the extent to which it varies by different academic outcomes and co-occurring risk factors (e.g., child maltreatment). This systematic review seeks to clarify the relation between IPV exposure and academic functioning by distilling overall outcome trends and critically assessing the existing literature's strengths and limitations. Seven databases were searched to identify relevant articles published through August 2020. Studies were included if (a) at least 80% of the sample were from birth to 18 years of age; (b) valid tools were used to measure outcome variables, and (c) outcomes of children exposed to IPV were compared with children who experienced other forms of violence and/or no violence exposure. After screening, the review yielded 13 articles examining academic functioning. The majority (76.9%, n = 10) of the studies found a negative association between IPV exposure and academic functioning, but results varied among subdomains of academic functioning (subjective performance, objective performance, and conduct). Findings from several studies indicate that the combined experience of IPV exposure and maltreatment negatively affects academic functioning. Results highlight the need for: 1) additional research examining IPV exposure and academic functioning 2) early detection of IPV-exposed children, and 3) the development and implementation of evidence-based interventions to support academic functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An estimated 15.5 million children in the United States are exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) in their homes each year. Empirical data suggest that childhood IPV exposure is associated with a plethora of adverse outcomes such as poor behavioral regulation, reduced cognitive functioning, and greater aggressive behavior. Within this body of research, it has been suggested that IPV-exposed children are more likely to both perpetrate and fall victim to bullying than non-exposed children. This systematic review explores the relationship between IPV exposure and bullying perpetration and victimization in the existing literature and includes a discussion of individual- and family-level factors that have been considered in the association between IPV exposure and bullying perpetration and victimization. Building upon findings from a broader Evidence and Gap Map, this systematic literature review identified 14 articles that examined the association between IPV exposure and bullying perpetration and victimization. Of these 14 articles, 12 assessed the relationship between youth IPV exposure and bullying perpetration, and 75.0% of these articles (n = 9) found a significant relationship between IPV exposure and bullying perpetration. Ten of the 14 articles examined youth IPV exposure and bullying victimization, with 70.0% of the articles (n = 7) supporting this association. Individual- and broader family-level characteristics, including gender, race/ethnicity, mental health symptoms, other types of adversities, and parenting were also examined. The article addresses implications for research and practice, including methodological suggestions for future studies and avenues for potential intervention for IPV-exposed children experiencing bullying victimization and perpetration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While quantitative studies have described foreclosure's correlates, and qualitative work has shed light on homeowners' experiences in general, research has not focused specifically on how families with children younger than 18 years experience foreclosure. This study was an exploratory qualitative examination of families' experiences with home foreclosure, focusing especially on the meaning(s) the foreclosure had for them. In-depth interviews were conducted with 29 adult homeowners living with children younger than 18 years during their foreclosures. The analysis revealed key themes of foreclosure threatening personal and social identity, family relationships and routines, and emotional attachment and experiences of loss. Adults tended to blame themselves for the foreclosures as opposed to seeing structural forces as responsible for their predicaments. The findings help illuminate some of the potential mechanisms underlying the negative impact of foreclosure. Understanding families' experiences is critical to formulating services and policies to help affected families regain stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial body of literature has documented the negative effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) on a wide range of children's developmental outcomes. However, whether a child's exposure to IPV leads to increased adjustment difficulties is likely to depend on a variety of factors, including the caregiver's mental health and the developmental time period when IPV exposure occurs. The present study seeks to improve our understanding of the long-term effects of IPV exposure and maternal depression on the development of children's overt aggressive behavior. Longitudinal analyses (i.e., latent growth curve modeling) examining three time points (toddler: age 2-3 years, preschool/kindergarten: age 4-5 years, and elementary school: age 6-8 years) were conducted using 1,399 at-risk children drawn from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW-I). IPV exposure during age 2-3 years was significantly related to concurrent aggressive behavior and aggressive behavior during age 4-5 years. At all three time points, IPV was significantly associated with maternal depression, which in turn, was significantly related to higher levels of aggressive behavior. There was also a significant indirect lagged effect of IPV exposure at age 2-3 years through maternal depression on aggressive behavior at age 4-5 years. Results indicated that maternal depression was a strong predictor of increased reports of overt aggressive behavior, suggesting that interventions to buffer the effects of IPV exposure should focus on relieving maternal depression and fostering productive social behavior in children. Aggr. Behav. 43:375-385, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [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]