Some effects children may experience after witnessing their mothers being abused:

*Children think they are responsible.

*They feel anxious that at any moment the violence will happen again.

*They fear being abused or abandoned themselves.

*They are ambivalent about one or both parents; they both hate and love the battered and the batterer.

*They are ashamed that the violence is happening.

*They have feelings of detachment, psychic numbing, and constricted emotions.

*They cling to their mothers and need excessive attention.

*They are afraid to go to school and leave mom alone; they fall behind in their school work.

*They become isolated; they are afraid to have friends for fear the friends will find out about the abuse.

*Adolescents (and younger children) may abuse alcohol or drugs.

*They may develop hearing, speech or learning disabilities.

*They may act out with parents, siblings, peers, or teachers.

*They may feel inhibited, be hypervigilant and phobic, and have nightmares.

*They may have emotional and behavioral problems.

*They may have symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

*They may show more distress than the average child.

*They may present more child adjustment problems.

*They may have physical symptoms: bedwetting, headaches, stomach aches, nail biting, catch colds and flu more easily, etc.