A child’s perception on intra-family physical aggression

Abstract

The research investigates the child's perception about the physical aggression when he/she is the victim in the family environment. Descriptive exploratory study with a qualitative approach, carried out in a shelter home that serves children and adolescents in an emergency, located in Fortaleza, Ceará, from April to November 2007. The informants were children victims of physical violence within their own families. The data collection instruments were participant observation and semi-structured interview. The results provide an understanding that children have feelings of fear, sadness, pain, helplessness and disgust toward the perpetrators. It was concluded that the prevailing feeling in the victims of physical abuse is the fear of further aggression, fear of the consequences of the complaint, the disintegration of family, concern regarding their fate after being sheltered. These aspects may leave scars that will remain and will possibly remind them for life, the difficult moments experienced during childhood.