Syftet med uppsatsen var att ge en övergripande bild av barns upplevelse av pappans våld mot mamman, samt att undersöka hur denna problematik kan konstrueras i forskningslitteraturen. Uppsatsens frågeställning var: Hur diskuterar forskningslitteraturen barns upplevelse av mäns våldsutövande i hemmet, med fokus på temana barnets hemmiljö, den våldsutövande pappan, den våldsutsatta mamman och sociala, fysiska och psykiska konsekvenser av våldet för barnet? Uppsatsen är en selektiv kunskapsöversikt av nio primärdokument. Resultaten analyserades med hjälp av socialkonstruktionistisk teoribildning. Resultaten visade att barn som upplever pappans våld mot mamman uppfattar hemmiljön som oförutsägbar, och barnen kan ha svårigheter i att knyta an till föräldrarna. Mammans omsorgsförmåga beskrivs i litteraturen som bristande och barnen har en tudelad bild av sin mamma och pappa. Barnen håller våldet hemligt vilket ger sociala och psykiska konsekvenser. Genom ömsesidigt samspel konstruerar och upprätthåller familjemedlemmarna varandras familjeroller. / The purpose of this study was to give a general picture of children’s experience of their father`s violence against their mothers, and to look at how this problem can be constructed in the research literature. The question at issue was: How does the research literature discuss children’s experiences of domestic violence, with focus on the themes the child’s home environment, the violent father, the abused mother, and the social, physical and psychological consequences of the violence for the child? The study is a selective review of nine primary documents. A social constructionist theory was used to analyze the results. The results showed that these children find their home environment unpredictable and they can have difficulties to attaching to their parents. The mothers caring ability is described as insufficient and the children have a conflicting understanding of both their parents. Through mutual interaction, the family members construct and obtain each others roles in the family.

The aim of this study is to find a deeper understanding of in which ways social workers experience that children are exploited to continue power and control, in the form of post-separation abuse, towards the mother after the separation from the abusive father. The study also wants to bring attention to which consequences this can cause the child, from social workers' experiences. The questions at issue are 1. In which ways do social workers see that children are exploited to expose the mother to post-separation abuse? and 2. Which consequences of this exploitation have been seen by social workers? This study uses a qualitative method in the form of interviews. This method is used due to the goal of finding a deeper and more clear view on the social workers' perspective on these questions. In this study there have been 6 interviews. 5 of the respondents work within the Swedish Social Services and 1 in a municipal counseling service. 2 of the respondents work with the children and the remaining 4 work with the adults/parents. The result of this study shows 4 ways children can be exploited to post-separation abuse towards the mother. 1. The child is forced to ally with the father. This means that the child imitates the fathers behavior, language or vocabulary. 2. Misleading penalty. This means that the child is penalized through the fathers' attempt to punish the mother. 3. Economy as an unwitting arena. This means that the father tries to obstruct the mothers' economy by withholding child support or by not contributing towards the childs' clothes or activities. 4. The child as a messenger between the parents. This means the hand-over of the child. This also includes situations where the child is forced to give information about the mother to the father. The result of this study shows that consequences of exploiting the children during post-separation abuse are mental health issues, guilt and shame, poor self-esteem, developmental trauma and being wrongfully diagnosed with, for example, ADHD. This study shows that it is very common and highly likely that children are exploited as a pawn in post-separation abuse towards the mother.