Wife abuse is now recognized as an important health and social problem that can have devastating short- and long-term consequences. Although women are the most obvious victims of wife abuse, it has become increasingly clear that their children are affected as well. This chapter reviews the empirical literature on the link between wife abuse (and marital violence, see the following paragraph) with child adjustment. We explore some of the parameters of this association and note conceptual, methodological, and practical issues confronting researchers in the area. We also highlight several controversial issues in the conceptualization of violence and note gaps in our knowledge that limit what can be concluded about this association. We conclude by offering several suggestions for future research.

It should be noted at the outset that in most of this literature the terms wife abuse and violence toward women are used interchangeably with the terms marital violence and interparent violence (Jouriles, McDonald, Norwood, & Ezell, in press). Similarly, the phrase children of battered women is often used interchangeably with phrases such as children of maritally violent parents. These terms, however, should refer to different constructs, depending on whether the intended focus is on violence against women, specifically, or interspousal violence in general. We discuss this conceptual distinction in more detail later in this chapter, and we attempt to maintain this distinction when referring to violence throughout this review.