A Longitudinal Study of Battered Children of Battered Wives

Twenty-seven battered women with children under 18 who had sought help at a shelter were interviewed about violence and abuse to their children by themselves and the men involved using a modified Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS). Twenty-one of these women were reinterviewed 6 months later. Longitudinal comparisons indicated that the total group of children were abused less after the woman's stay at the shelter, but a significant proportion maintained patterns of violence and abuse. Most of the reduction resulted from women no longer living with abusive men. Discussion focuses on implications for intervention at a shelter.