Domestic Abuse and Children's Health in the Canary Islands, Spain M. Pilar Matud La Laguna University, Tenerife, Spain Abstract. This study analyzed the association between domestic partner abuse and children's health. The sample consisted of 420 abused women with at least one child, for a total of 406 female children and 504 male children in 420 households. The women reported that one or more of their children had psychological problems in 27.4% of the cases, 13.6% reported physical health problems, and 7.6% reported both psychological and physical health problems. Externalizing problems were reported most frequently (in 11.7% of the children), while internalizing problems were reported in 5.6% of the children. A greater percentage of children with psychological and physical health problems was found in families in which the abusive partner was also abusive toward the children. We found better mental health in children whose mothers did not abuse them. Women whose children did not exhibit physical or mental health problems were younger, had suffered fewer years of abuse, and had fewer children than the women whose children exhibited health problems. Keywords: domestic violence, children's health, child maltreatment Domestic violence is one of the most serious and wide- spread problems in contemporary society. This violence produces many negative effects on the family and society, as well as on the women who are assaulted, and on the health of their offspring. Women from all socioeconomic and cultural levels and all sociodemographic groups have reported a history of intimate partner violence (Balci & Ay- ranci, 2005; Fontanil et al., 2002; Walker, 1999). Popula- tion-based surveys from around the world indicate that the proportion of women who report physical abuse by a cur- rent or former male partner at some point in their lives rang- es from 10% to 69% (Heise & GarcĂa-Moreno, 2002). In Spain, as in most countries, domestic violence has tradi- tionally been kept hidden, since it was considered a "pri- vate," and even "normal," phenomenon. Fortunately, in re- cent years, domestic violence has begun to be discussed more openly, and society at large, and specifically women, are slowly beginning to recognize their rights and to de- nounce the aggressive acts. In spite of all this, there are limited available data about the prevalence of intimate part- ner abuse of women in Spain. The Spanish Women's Insti- tute in 1999 conducted a national survey on violence against women, using a representative sample of 20,552 women older than eighteen. Of the women surveyed, 14.2% stated that currently or within the past year a family member, boyfriend, or other person who shared their home had abused them. In the majority of the cases, the women were mistreated by their intimate partners. According to this study, 9.2% of Spanish women over 18 experienced violence in their domestic partner relationships (Alberdi & Matas, 2002). Intimate partner violence is a complex pattern of be- haviors that cause physical, psychological, or sexual dam- age to those in the relationship. Such behaviors include @ 2007 Hogrefe & Huber