Exposure to family violence from childhood to adulthood

Margot Shields,Harriet Macmillan,Andrea Gonzalez,Lil Tonmyr,Wendy E Hovdestad

doi:10.1186/s12889-020-09709-y

Abstract

BackgroundBoth childhood maltreatment (CM) and intimate partner violence (IPV) are public health problems that have been related to a wide range of adverse health consequences. However, studies examining associations between specific types of CM and experiencing IPV in adulthood have yielded conflicting results.MethodsUsing data from 10,608 men and 11,458 women aged 18 or older from Canada’s 2014 General Social Survey, we examined associations between three types of CM—childhood physical abuse (CPA), childhood sexual abuse (CSA), and childhood exposure to IPV —and subsequent intimate partner violence (IPV) in adulthood (physical, sexual or emotional).ResultsWhen potential confounders were controlled, CPA, CSA and childhood exposure to IPV were associated with IPV in adulthood for both sexes (odds ratios, 1.7, 1.8 and 2.0 for men, and 2.2, 2.0 and 2.1 for women). When severity and frequency of CM were examined, a dose-response relationship between all three types of CM and IPV in adulthood was observed among women (meaning that as the severity/frequency of CM increased, the likelihood of reporting IPV also increased); among men, a dose-response relationship was observed only for CPA.ConclusionsThe association between CM and IPV in adulthood is particularly concerning because experiencing multiple forms of trauma has cumulative effects. Lifespan studies have shown that individuals who experience multiple incidents of abuse exhibit the highest levels of impairment. This underscores the importance of programs to eradicate both CM and IPV. This underscores the importance of programs to eradicate both CM and IPV. Future research should focus on assessing interventions designed to promote healthy relationships and the provision of emotional support and coping mechanisms to children and families in abusive situations.

Highlights

Both childhood maltreatment (CM) and intimate partner violence (IPV) are public health problems that have been related to a wide range of adverse health consequences
Shields et al BMC Public Health (2020) 20:1673 victimized by IPV in adulthood, with the majority of studies focusing on associations with childhood sexual abuse (CSA) [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18] and childhood physical abuse (CPA) [5,6,7, 9, 10, 12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22]
Based on Statistics Canada guidelines, the sample size for men who reported sexual IPV was too small for the estimate to be published; the combined percentage reporting physical/sexual IPV is presented

Summary

Introduction

Both childhood maltreatment (CM) and intimate partner violence (IPV) are public health problems that have been related to a wide range of adverse health consequences. The World Health Organization defines intimate partner violence (IPV) as any “behaviour by an intimate partner that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm, including acts of physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviours. This definition covers violence by both current and former spouses and other intimate partners” [1]. Studies of associations with other types of CM, such as childhood exposure to IPV, emotional abuse, and neglect, are less common [5, 6, 13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20, 22,23,24,25]. Many of these studies have samples comprised exclusively of women [5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20]

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