Emotional Awareness in Children Exposed to Interparental Violence and Its Relation to Symptoms and Protective Variables

Aims: This study was to analyze the relationship of the emotional awareness (EA) in children exposed to intimate partner violence (EIPV) aged 8–12 with internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and protective factors such as social skills, self-esteem, and resilience. Method Participants were 61 children (M = 10 years, SD = 1.25, 52.5% girls), EIPV patients from three CSMIJs of the Barcelona metropolitan area was interviewed. Spearman correlations were made to assess the relation between the EA and the clinical and protective factors. Multiple linear regression models were constructed using the stepwise method to determine the signifcant clinical and protective factors that were most relevant in bivariant analysis to explain each of the EA subscales. Results the following results were produced: greater EA meant more symptoms, mainly trait anxiety (TA), depression, dysphoria, and low self-esteem from the CDI, as well as predominant sadness, fear, and anger from the MOOD questionnaire. There was also a lesser effect on other symptoms such as isolation, somatic complaints, altered thinking, attention problems, criminal behavior, total externalizing, and total internalizing, from the CBCL. Relating EA with protective factors, the results demonstrate that greater EA carries with it a greater self-esteem from the Rosemberg; resilience capacity: self-esteem, creativity and humor factors from the personal resilience factors (PRF), internal protective factor (IPF), external protective factor (EPF); and improved social skills: appropriate social skills, friendship from the MESSY. Conclusion we may conclude that EA is a relevant factor in this sample of EIPV children, and it may be related with both internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as well as with protective factors such as resilience, self-esteem, and social skills.