Predicting Adult Risk of Child Physical Abuse From Childhood Exposure to Violence: Can Interpersonal Schemata Explain the Association?

Abstract

Interpersonal schemata were examined to explain the association between childhood exposure to violence—including child physical abuse (CPA), child sexual abuse, and domestic violence—and adult risk of CPA perpetration. In a sample of male and female U.S. Navy recruits (N = 4,812), all forms of childhood violence and models of the self and others were predictive of increased adult CPA risk, and their effects were additive. Interpersonal schemata did not moderate or mediate the relationship between childhood violence and adult CPA risk; instead, interpersonal schemata were independent predictors of adult risk of CPA perpetration.