“Witness” to violence? Psychological discourses of children in situations of domestic violence

Jane Callaghan, Judith Sixsmith

Research output: Contribution to ConferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

This paper takes a critical discursive and feminist perspective on psychological accounts of children who experience domestic violence. Academic, popular and professional discourses around domestic violence (DV) tend to represent children and young people (CYP) as passive witnesses and victims - as individuals who watch, who suffer from and who are damaged by the violence (e.g. Rivett and Howarth, 2006; Spilsbury et al, 2007). We consider how constructs like ‘witness’, ‘trauma’ and ‘exposure’ operate in psychological and other health and social care discourses of children, exploring the implications of such constructions for young people’s identities. In particular we explore how such accounts constrain the articulation of more agentic and resistant subjectivities in children living with domestic violence
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 8 Feb 2013
EventCongress of Critical Social Psychology: Discourse, Materiality and Politics - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Duration: 8 Feb 2013 → …
https://www.facebook.com/CongressCriticalSocialPsychology?fref=ts

Conference

ConferenceCongress of Critical Social Psychology: Discourse, Materiality and Politics
Period8/02/13 → …
Internet address

Keywords

  • Domestic violence
  • agency
  • children
  • domestic abuse
  • mental health
  • resilience
  • resistance

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