Anexo 2. Preguntas con estructura PICOT

This section will examine the extent to which the analysis of parent-child relationships in the domestic violence research field is influenced by a „unilateral‟ model and beginning to incorporate a „bilateral‟ model. The bilateral model has been advocated as a more advanced alternative to the unilateral model. According to Kuczynski et al. (see also Kuczynski 2003; Kuczynski and De Mol 2015), the bilateral model is needed because:

„Research [on the family] has been constrained by…a unilateral model of parent child-relationships…where influence was assumed to flow in one direction, from parent to child. […Within this model] parents were considered to be active agents capable of meaning construction and intentional action. Children were considered to be either passive recipients or victims of parental practices whose capacities for meaning construction and intentional action was usually ignored.‟ (1999:25)

In the unilateral model described here, children are seen as objects of parental action and their capacities for independent thought and action are obscured. Attention is placed on how parents influence children, and not on how children

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may „deliberately intervene to change parental behaviours, beliefs and attitudes‟ (1999:46).

This section argues that the bilateral model could usefully be adopted in domestic violence research. The bilateral model views the parent-child relationship as „bi-directional‟; that is, it has two directions of influence: Parents influence children, and children influence parents. It is the dynamic interaction between these directions of influence that creates the parent-child relationship. This model also conceptualises parents and children having equal agency, although not usually equal power to exercise it (see chapter 3).

The bilateral model can therefore be seen to offer a helpful framework for exploring:

- The impacts (including the potentially positive impacts) of support between mothers and children with experiences of domestic violence

- Children‟s varying experiences and feelings about giving support to their

abused mothers

Outside the domestic violence field, the bilateral model has already been used, implicitly or explicitly, for over a decade. Within family studies, sociological and psychological research has shown that children in „ordinary‟ families often see mutual supportiveness and problem-sharing between themselves and their parents as healthy and normal (Arditti 1999; Gillies et al. 2001; Morrow 2003; Oliphant and Kuczynski 2011). This research will be considered more fully in the next chapter. Meanwhile, the extent to which domestic violence research draws on bilateral or unilateral models will be explored below.

23 Introducing literatures A and B

Literature A: Predominantly quantitative, psychology based North American research

This research is focused on examining the multiple risks posed by domestic violence to children‟s emotional health and development. A review by Overlien (2010) suggested that this body of research accounts for approximately 80% of all research into children and domestic violence. Over the last decade, this research has increasingly investigated the reasons why some children appear to be harmed less than others (Prinz and Feerick 2003; Gewirtz and Edleson 2007; Graham-Bermann et al. 2009; Martinez-Torteya et al. 2009; Howell 2011). In doing so, it has particularly examined the role of parenting by abused mothers (Levendosky et al. 2006; Johnson and Lieberman 2007; Letourneau et al. 2007; Huth-Bocks and Hughes 2008; Sturge-Apple et al. 2010; Samuelson et al. 2012; Miranda et al. 2013; Boeckel et al. 2014).

Literature A can be seen as largely underpinned by the unilateral, rather than the bilateral, model. This can be seen in the tendency within this research to reduce the study of mother-child relationships to the study of mothers‟ parenting. For example, Letourneau et al. state that they conducted „an analysis of the relationships between parents and children exposed to domestic violence‟ (2007:655); yet, in practice, their study analyses only the parenting practices of mothers. In-keeping with the unilateral model, this approach suggests that parenting is the parent-child relationship, rather than only one direction of a bi- directional relationship.

This literature also focuses almost exclusively on the parenting of abused mothers and its links to the presence/absence of behavioural problems in their children (Hungerford et al. 2012). Abused mothers are imagined as either protecting or further damaging their children through the quality of their parenting (Letourneau et al. 2007; Sturge-Apple et al. 2010). A dominant

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assumption in this body of research is that „maternal parenting behaviours may play key explanatory roles in understanding associations between inter-parental violence and children‟s adjustment difficulties‟ (Sturge-Apple et al. 2010:45). For example, Huth-Bocks and Hughes (2008) argue that „there is considerable evidence that [mothers‟] parenting stress has a direct effect on child-adjustment problems‟ (2008:245).

This body of research therefore examines several „explanatory‟ aspects of maternal parenting, including mothers‟:

- Mental health (Levendosky et al. 2006; Miranda et al. 2013)

- Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Johnson and Lieberman 2007; Boeckel et al. 2014)

- Parenting behaviours/stress (Huth-Bocks and Hughes 2008)

- Parenting effectiveness (Gewirtz et al. 2011)

More recently, this literature has also begun to explore how mothers mediate the relationship between exposure to domestic violence and children‟s neurocognitive functioning (Samuelson et al. 2012).

The data collection in this research is mainly focused on measuring mothers‟ ability to take effective parental action. Often this is completed by measuring the parenting warmth of mothers or their adaptability, use of discipline, or mental health. Here, implicitly, children are often seen as objects. It is mothers‟ behaviour which is investigated for its roles in determining children‟s successful „adjustment‟. The majority of these quantitative psychological studies therefore do not collect data about children‟s agency, or about their active participation in the mother-child relationship (see e.g. Levendosky et al. 2006; Johnson and Lieberman 2007; Letourneau et al. 2007; Huth-Bocks and Hughes 2008; Sturge-Apple et al. 2010; Samuelson et al. 2012; Boeckel et al. 2014).

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When data are gathered about children (through, for example, the Child Behavior Checklist or the Children‟s Depression Inventory), the aim is almost always to assess whether they are aggressive, withdrawn, depressed, or suffering from PTSD or other problems. The procedure is therefore limited to recording the level of damage sustained by children and their resulting behavioural (mal)functioning. These data are rarely accompanied by data on the active coping strategies used by children, or their ways of interacting with their mother on an everyday basis. As a result, considerations of children‟s agency or actions have been all but missing from this literature on domestic violence and mother-child relationships.

Literature B: Predominately UK/Scandinavian qualitative, feminist/child-centred research

This body of research explores mothers‟ and children‟s experiences of domestic violence from feminist and/or child-centred perspectives (Mullender and Morley 1994; McGee 2000; Mullender et al. 2002; Eriksson et al. 2005; Humphreys et

al. 2006a; Radford and Hester 2006; Eriksson and Nasman 2008; Overlien and

Hyden 2009; Lapierre 2010; Harne 2011; Eriksson 2012; Overlien 2013; Semaan et al. 2013). The study of mother-child relationships forms only a small part of this body of research, and the research produced about these relationships has mainly focused on how they are undermined by perpetrators/fathers as part of their abuse (Humphreys et al. 2006a; Morris 2009; Lapierre 2010). This research is having significant impacts on practice, with programmes having been introduced in some areas of the UK that focus on rebuilding mother-child relationships in the aftermath of domestic violence, such as the Community Group Programme in England (Nolas et al. 2012), termed „Cedar‟ (Children Experiencing Domestic Abuse Recovery) in Scotland (Sharp et

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Some research within literature B has placed emphasis on children‟s agency (Mullender et al. 2002; Eriksson et al. 2005; Eriksson and Nasman 2008; Overlien and Hyden 2009; Eriksson 2012). Drawing on theories from childhood studies (James and Prout 1990), this research sees children as active within domestic violence situations - calling the police, having their own opinions, and developing their own coping strategies (see e.g. Mullender et al. 2002; Overlien and Hyden 2009). It has critiqued the tendency within the North American research (literature A) to view children as passive victims of domestic violence.

From children’s agency to the bilateral model: Has the bilateral model been fully incorporated by the domestic violence field?

Childhood studies has, over the past twenty years, considered how children may be active influencers of their environment and circumstances (Qvortrup et al. 2009). Agency is not generally seen here as conditional on its bearer being fully „rational‟ or „free‟ (Valentine 2011). Researchers have also ascribed it to children and young people who may be experiencing unsettled feelings and constrained circumstances.

As mentioned at the end of the last section, this concept of children‟s agency has already been incorporated by the UK/Scandinavian qualitative research into children, parenting and domestic violence (literature B). These UK/Scandinavian studies have argued that the quantitative psychological domestic violence research (literature A):

- Sees children as passive witnesses who „suffer in silence‟ and are

damaged by their experiences (Overlien and Hyden 2009:479)

- „Marginalize[s them] as a source of information about their own lives‟

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By contrast, much of the UK/Scandinavian literature has emphasised how children who experience domestic violence are capable of making decisions, taking actions and influencing their surroundings.

However, I argue that the UK/Scandinavian research is similar to the North American research in seeing the mother-child relationship primarily in terms of mothers‟ parenting. It sees children as active individuals, responding with agency to the domestic violence, but it often sees them as passive when

relating to their mother, rather than as active and agentic in providing her with

support. Caring roles undertaken by children are frequently seen as burdensome and inappropriate, and there has been little consideration of whether they may, in some circumstances, be beneficial for mother-child relationships (Holden 2003; Holt et al. 2008; Stanley et al. 2012).

The best that is usually said about children‟s support, from this viewpoint, is that it makes children feel, as individuals, more mature and in control. It is as though we have to abstract children from the family, and the mother-child relationship, to see their agency, or to see it in a positive way. As Holt et al., drawing on Goldblatt (2003), state: „Adolescents may adopt care-taking roles for their mother and siblings and although this can [be] empower[ing…] the cost of over-parentification is a lost childhood and the likelihood of severe emotional distress‟ (2008:803). Viewed from this perspective, any benefits of children supporting their mother are outweighed by detrimental impacts. However, there is another approach, present in a few studies in the field, which implies a more sympathetic – and bilateral – conception of mother-child support.

A particular example where the bilateral model is implicit, though not explicit, is the UK study by Mullender et al. (2002). This research shows that, although children experience serious negative impacts from living with domestic violence, many:

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- Wish to be treated as agentic subjects and to take active roles in decision-making

- Are more active in supporting themselves and others than was previously thought

Mullender et al. interviewed 24 mothers and 54 children (aged 8-17), and found that it is important for children to „[be] listened to and taken seriously as participants in the domestic violence situation‟ (2002:121). Many children in the study emphasised a wish to be informed and active in helping their mothers and other adults to find solutions: „Grown-ups think they should hide it and shouldn‟t tell us but we want to know. We want to be involved and we want our mums to talk with us about what they are going to do – we could help make decisions‟ (2002:129). In discussing coping strategies, children commented on how they had taken agentic roles and encouraged other children, when experiencing domestic violence, to be active in supporting their mother and siblings, as well as seeking their support. The phrases they used, summarised by Mullender et

al., were:

„Help your mother be strong; Give your mum advice because sometimes she can‟t think straight; Have lots of cuddles with your mum and your brothers and sisters; Talk to your brothers and sisters; Get lots of reassurance and love from your mother; If you are a child, think what your mum is going through; Stick to your mum.‟ (2002:234)

Mullender et al.‟s study suggests here that children‟s agency may be both individual and family-directed. Children may draw support from the other survivor(s) of domestic violence in their family, and support these other survivors, including their mother.

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Furthermore, this family-directed support by children may have positive long-term effects, as described by this 14-year-old boy:

„I had to stand by my mum because she was not in the wrong. That pulled us through and made us stronger and better. We have been through a lot. We can feel for others and are better human beings‟ (2002:109).

This boy found that, in standing by his mother, they both experienced benefits: „pulling through‟ and becoming „stronger‟. The potential benefits of children supporting mothers are also highlighted by Mullender et al. when they conceptualise this response by children as a coping strategy. This strategy, they suggest, often „maintained or helped build [children‟s] own sense of themselves their self-esteem (and sometimes their mother‟s too)‟ (2002:130).

Overall, then, Mullender et al.‟s findings highlight children‟s agency and their active roles mother-child relationships. They suggest that children supporting mothers may, in some cases, have positive impacts on both children and mothers. These findings created a basis within the UK/Scandinavian literature for further investigating the potentially positive impacts of mother-child supports. However, as we will see below, this basis has not yet been built upon by subsequent studies in the field.

The importance of explicitly introducing the bilateral model

In light of Mullender et al.‟s findings, an explicit introduction of the bilateral model may help to enhance a number of areas in the domestic violence field. These will now be considered in turn.

30 Interpreting evidence of supportive behaviours by children

Evidence of child-to-mother support is not yet fully discussed in the qualitative feminist/child-centred literature (literature B). This literature highlights a range of important issues. Yet what is already apparent in this work, and could be extrapolated more fully through use of the bilateral model is how some children support and advise their mothers, and how this may produce a range of outcomes, both negative and positive, for mothers and children

Although this literature finds much evidence of such purposeful and agentic behaviours by children, it also tends to follow the unilateral model by:

1. Considering supportiveness to be a parental role that children should not adopt

2. Providing little discussion of children‟s agency in their mother-child relationships, and focusing on the agency of mothers

3. Marginalising cases where children‟s support for their mothers seems most positive

4. Assuming that children‟s attempts to support their mothers are unsuccessful or unreciprocated

These points will now be considered below, using examples from this literature.

1. Considering supportiveness to be a parental role that children should not adopt

As we saw above, in their review of the (mostly North American) literature, Holt

et al. repeat its warning over parentification, saying that: „Adolescents may

adopt care-taking roles for their mother and siblings and although this can [be] empower[ing…] the cost of over-parentification is a lost childhood and the likelihood of severe emotional distress‟ (2008:803). As we have seen, this

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represents the tendency in much of the domestic violence literature to discuss children‟s supportiveness towards their mother in mainly negative terms. Supportive actions are seen here, through the unilateral model, as parental „roles‟ that are „taken over‟ by children. Yet as have seen above, they may alternatively be viewed through the lens of the bilateral model as a functional part of being a child that may exist alongside the continuation of parental roles by adults. These issues will be discussed in-depth in chapter 3.

2. Providing little discussion of children’s agency in their mother-child relationships, and focusing on the agency of mothers

The expectation that only mothers are agentic within mother-child interactions may also affect the interpretation of findings. For example, Rhodes et al., who conducted focus-group interviews with 39 women, did not develop an analysis of the deliberate interventions by children which are evident in their own data. Their findings include one mother describing how: „My daughter‟s the one that ended up calling the very last time. The taxi cab; she called two cabs and said that we need to go somewhere safe‟ (2010:488). Another says:

„When the children were involved…that helped a lot, especially seeing (my daughter) and her cry, “Mommy, you don‟t have to have this happen”. I mean, you know, a ten-year-old…knowing something that I just couldn‟t see…she was way above the intelligence that I was at that point.‟ (ibid.)

Both extracts are framed here as evidence of children‟s (passive) roles as objects of their mothers‟ concern. The first is treated as an example of a mother not wanting „her children to have to take an active role in the process of leaving‟ (ibid.). The second is seen as an instance where „concern for their children motivated mothers to ultimately seek help or leave the relationship‟ (ibid.). Yet the straightforward reading of the evidence is that, in these cases, the children

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were as active, or potentially more active, than their mothers in the leaving process.

3. Marginalising cases where children’s support for their mothers seems most positive

There are some studies that:

- Include findings which suggest the occurrence of supportiveness between children and mothers

But:

- Do not foreground those findings in the write-up text

This applies to the data presented by Mullender et al. For example, the authors mention families where: „Mothers may turn to their children for support [besides] do[ing] their best to try and protect their children from knowledge and sight of violence‟ (2002:156). They also mention families where: „[Children] dared to tell the truth whilst living with the abuse, thus strengthening their mother‟s resolve to separate […and] shored up [their mother‟s] decision to make it on their own‟ (2002:174). However, these cases are not explored in-depth by the authors, and far more attention is given to the difficulties and problems experienced by the mothers and children in their study.

4. Assuming that children’s attempts to support their mothers are

unsuccessful or unreciprocated

Within the research literatures, there is often a focus on the lack of success of children‟s supportiveness. For example, data on how children encourage mothers „to leave or separate from their partners‟ are presented negatively by Epstein and Keep (1995:49-50). The authors report that children „make suggestions to their mothers‟ but comment that „such concern [by children] is not always acknowledged or appreciated by the mother herself‟, and that „it can be

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confusing and hurtful to a child when their mother does not accept or act on the advice she gives‟ (ibid.) (see also Hague 2012:22 for another example of this issue). Although it is important to highlight these negative effects, it may also be helpful to observe that mothers sometimes are responsive and children‟s interventions sometimes are successful (see above – Mullender et al. 2002; Rhodes et al. 2010).

Considering points 1-4 overall, I argue that adopting the bilateral model would be helpful in several ways. It would:

- Provide a framework for analysing and discussing findings around children supporting their mothers, so that these findings may be explored in more depth

- Enable the development of a more nuanced view of child-to-mother supportiveness

This would particularly allow us to investigate (as this thesis does) whether