Viewing Children’s Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence Through a Developmental, Social-Ecological, and Survivor Lens: The Current State of the Field, Challenges, and Future Directions.

Although some children exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) demonstrate resilience, the population-level health consequences of exposure across the lifespan and the related social and economic costs of such exposure are enormous. Using a developmental and social-ecological perspective, this article summarizes the literature examining the effects of IPV exposure on children, reviews key underlying mechanisms, and suggests the use of a public health prevention approach. It presents a discussion of next steps and identification of key challenges. One of the authors, a survivor of child exposure to IPV, presents a vignette that augments key sections and highlights children’s resilience.