Childhood Family Violence Research Articles

Predictors of Adult Attitudes Toward Corporal Punishment of Children

This study identifies predictors of favorable attitudes toward spanking. Analyses were performed with survey data collected from a representative sample of 1,000 adults from Quebec, Canada. According to this survey, a majority of respondents endorsed spanking, despite their recognition of potential harm associated with corporal punishment (CP) of children. The prediction model of attitudes toward spanking included demographics, experiencing or witnessing various forms of family violence and abuse in childhood, and perceived frequency of physical injuries resulting from CP. Spanking was the most reported childhood experience (66.4%), and most violence and abuse predictors were significantly and positively correlated. Older respondents who were spanked in childhood and who believed that spanking never or seldom results in physical injuries were the most in favor of spanking. On the other hand, respondents who reported more severe physical violence or psychological abuse in childhood were less in favor of spanking. Findings are discussed in terms of prevention of CP and family coercion cycle.

Development of personality disorder symptoms and the risk for partner violence.

In a community sample (N = 543) followed over 20 years, the authors studied associations among childhood family violence exposure, personality disorder (PD) symptoms, and adult partner violence. PD symptoms (DSM-III-R Clusters A, B, and C) in early adulthood partially mediated the effect of earlier childhood risks on the odds of perpetrating partner violence. The authors tested whether stability of PD symptoms from adolescence to the early 20s differs for individuals who later perpetrated partner violence. Cluster A ("Odd/Eccentric") symptoms declined less with age among partner violent versus nonviolent men and women. Cluster B ("Dramatic/Erratic") symptoms were more stable through late adolescence in partner violent men, compared with nonviolent men and violent women. Cluster C ("Anxious") symptoms were most stable among partner violent men.

Domestic violence, single parenthood, and fathers in the setting of teenage pregnancy

Purpose To explore the relative impact of demographic and early interpersonal family relationships as associations of fatherhood where the mother is a teenager, compared to where the mother is over 20 years of age. Method A prospective cross-sectional cohort study was undertaken. Institutional ethics committee approval and informed consent were obtained. Data were analyzed from interviews with consecutive males about to become fathers where the mother was aged less than 20 years (teenage) and compared to information from males about to become fathers where the mother was aged 20 years or more (control). Subjects were interviewed to obtain information covering their early life experiences, demographic information, drug use, opinion of the pregnancy, and future planning. Results In multivariate analysis, and after controlling for family income and education, the following factors had a significant independent association with fatherhood in the setting of teenage pregnancy: a history of parental separation/divorce in early childhood, exposure to family violence in early childhood, and illicit drug use (ever or in pregnancy). Conclusions Fathers, in the setting of teenage pregnancy, are more likely to report adverse early family relationships, such as exposure to domestic violence or parental separation or divorce. As such, these fathers may lack a positive role model for parenting and fatherhood.

Childhood Exposure to Family Violence and Attrition in the Navy

In a prospective study of U.S. Navy recruits (n = 5,491), we examined the relationship between childhood exposure to family violence (child physical abuse, child sexual abuse [CSA], and domestic violence) and attrition. Overall, 55% of recruits experienced one or more forms of childhood family violence and 34% of recruits attrited within 4 years after enlistment. Considered separately, each form of childhood violence was significantly associated with attrition. When considered simultaneously, all three types of childhood violence were associated with attrition in men, but only CSA was associated with attrition in women. Men and women who experienced all three types of childhood violence were 303% and 139%, respectively, more likely to attrite than recruits who reported no childhood violence. In analyses examining the timing of attrition, CSA was associated with early attrition, whereas child physical abuse and domestic violence were unrelated to timing of attrition.

Impact of demographic factors, early family relationships and depressive symptomatology in teenage pregnancy.

Teenage pregnancy has been well studied from a demographic risk perspective, but less data examining the early interpersonal family experiences of teenage mothers are available. We aimed to explore the relative impact of demographic, early interpersonal family relationships and depressive symptomatology as associations for teenage, as compared to non-teenage, childbearing. A prospective cross-sectional cohort study was undertaken. Institutional ethics committee approval and informed consent were obtained. Data from consecutive teenage (teenage) and non-teenage (control) subgroups of antenatal women were compared. Subjects were interviewed and completed the following questionnaires: demographic, drug use and lifestyle; early life experiences; Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS); and General Health Questionnaire-28. In multivariate analysis, the following factors had a significant independent association with younger age of motherhood in order of magnitude: a history of parental separation/divorce in early childhood; exposure to family violence in early childhood; illicit drug use (ever or in pregnancy); idealization of the pregnancy; low family income; a positive HADS-A or HADS-D subscale score; and a low level of education. Interventions to reduce the rate of teenage births need to be multifocal and should include strategies to address early childhood exposure to parental separation and violence, reduce idealization of pregnancy, diagnose psychological symptomatology and offer alternative career choices to children defaulting in the education system.

Influential life contexts and environments for out-of-home pregnant adolescents.

This focused ethnography explored influential life experiences and environmental contexts associated with pregnancy among "out-of-home" pregnant adolescent women in Seattle (i.e., not living in stable settings or with parents). Methods adapted from feminist anthropology guided ethnographic interviewing and participant observation. Key informants (N = 8) included 5 White, 1 American Indian, and 2 African American women 17-19 years, plus expectant fathers and street friends. Narrative and domain analysis focused on life events and current experiences that participants linked to their pregnancy decisions. Participants organized their narratives primarily around relationships: conflict-laden family relationships, violence and sexual abuse in childhood, mental health and substance abuse problems, and life-long patterns of housing instability. Economic challenges, disconnection to school, and spiritual change were important in their current circumstances. For most, out-of-home status preceded pregnancy, and during pregnancy, housing options improved slightly. For others, pregnancy occurred within a relationship that offered them relatively more stable housing arrangements.

Childhood family violence history and women’s risk for intimate partner violence and poor health

Background There is growing evidence for associations between generations in family violence and between family violence in both childhood and adulthood and women’s health. Most studies focus on a subset of family violence (child abuse, witnessing intimate partner violence [IPV] as a child, and/or adult IPV), and few examine possible differences associated with the nature of abusive experiences, such as physical versus sexual abuse. Methods A population-based telephone survey, the 1999 and 2001 Washington State Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, asked a representative sample of 3527 English-speaking, non-institutionalized adult women whether they had been physically or sexually assaulted or witnessed interparental violence in childhood, and whether they had experienced physical assault or emotional abuse from an intimate partner in the past year. The survey also asked about current general health and mental distress in the past month. Results The risks associated with childhood family violence experiences varied depending on the nature of those experiences. Women reporting childhood physical abuse or witnessing interparental violence were at a four- to six-fold increase in risk of physical IPV, and women reporting any of the experiences measured were at three- to four-fold increase in risk of partner emotional abuse. In contrast, women reporting childhood sexual abuse only were not at increased risk of physical IPV. Women reporting childhood physical abuse were at increased risk of poor physical health, and women reporting any type of childhood family violence were at increased risk of frequent mental distress. Approximately one third of women reporting poor general health and half of women reporting frequent mental distress also reported at least one of the childhood experiences measured. Conclusions These findings underscore the role of childhood experiences of abuse and of witnessing family violence in women’s current risk for IPV, poor physical health, and frequent mental distress.

Attention and conduct problems in children exposed to family violence.

This study examines the impact of family violence on the development of attention and conduct problems in girls and boys. Mothers (n = 287) were interviewed and given diagnostic assessment instruments to measure attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder in 1 of their children. Six years later, youths were interviewed about their delinquent behavior. Family violence related to attention and conduct problems in girls only. Girls who displayed these problems in childhood were not necessarily at risk for later delinquency. Family violence in childhood had a direct effect on delinquency in girls. Boys who developed attention problems were more likely to show conduct problems that eventually led to adolescent delinquency. Family violence failed to account for problems or delinquency in boys.

How do young offenders describe their parents?

The study examined (1) what dimensions of parenting would emerge from retrospective reports of parental behaviour, and (2) whether childhood family violence and parental problems are associated with later perceptions of parenting among 89 young male Finnish inmates. The inmates completed the Parent Behaviour Inventory (PBI) and the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS). Data on childhood family violence and parental problems were obtained from two files. The PBI yielded three factors and the CTS two factors for both mothers and fathers. When the PBI and CTS factors were combined into a principalcomponents analysis, five dimensions of perceptions of parenting emerged: maternal rejection, paternal rejection, autonomy, control, and ineffective parenting in the family. The inmates' childhood family violence and parental problems were associated with maternal rejection, paternal rejection and ineffective parenting in the family.

The Intergenerational Transmission of Spouse Abuse: A Meta‐Analysis

This study uses meta‐analytic procedures to examine the relationship between growing up in a violent home and subsequently becoming part of a violent marital relationship. Our meta‐analysis examines published and unpublished research studies that investigate the relationship between witnessing or experiencing family violence in childhood and receiving or perpetrating violence in an adult heterosexual cohabiting or marital relationship. The findings of this meta‐analysis suggest there is a weak‐to‐moderate relationship between growing up in an abusive family and becoming involved in a violent marital relationship. Differential effects of gender and sample type are also discussed.

Violence at the Door

In this article, the authors present their clinical experience with more than 30 lesbian batterers in a large city and a small rural community. Data are offered on the psychological profile of batterers and relationships in which abuse occurs. Two treatment models are described: group therapy and a three-phase community model. The authors suggest that lesbian batterers are women who have broken the norm of compliant victim, running counter to the developmental expectations of female survivors of childhood family violence.

Childhood Family Violence and Adult Recurrent Depression

Although previous research has shown that childhood adversity has long-term effects on adult depression, little is known about the causal pathways involved in these effects. In this report data from a two-wave longitudinal survey of the U.S. household population are used to study these pathways as they affect the association between childhood family violence and adult recurrence of depression. We focus on recurrence of depression because most episodes of clinically significant depression in adulthood occur to persons with a history of depression. We find that chronic interpersonal stress in adulthood mediates the effect of childhood family violence on recurrence of depression, and that childhood family violence modifies the effect of chronic adult interpersonal stress on recurrence of depression. Furthermore, in the absence of chronic adult interpersonal stress there is no association between childhood family violence and adult recurrence of depression.

Rejection sensitivity as a mediator of the impact of childhood exposure to family violence on adult attachment behavior

Substantial evidence indicates a link between exposure to family violence in childhood and troubled social relationships. We draw on attachment and social-cognitive theory to formulate a model of the mechanisms underlying this association. The model proposes that early experiences of overt rejection (e.g., physical maltreatment) or covert rejection (e.g., emotional neglect) are internalized as sensitivity to rejection. In this study, we operationalize sensitivity to rejection in social-cognitive terms as a tendency to expect and be concerned about rejection across a range of social situations. We hypothesize that rejection sensitivity mediates the link between exposure to family violence and adult attachment behavior. Data from a survey of 212 undergraduates support this hypothesis and also provide evidence that indicates sensitivity to rejection underlies both avoidant and ambivalent patterns of insecure adult attachment behavior. Overall, the results illustrate the power of a process approach to explaining the developmental sequelae of maltreatment.

An Office Mental Status Examination for Complex Chronic Dissociative Symptoms and Multiple Personality Disorder

Chronic complex dissociative symptoms can be readily inquired about in the diagnostic interview leading to a clinical diagnosis of MPD in many cases. It is most useful to begin with inquiry about amnesia, autohypnotic, posttraumatic, pseudopsychotic, and passive-influence symptoms, and childhood abuse or traumatization. As this proceeds, overt dissociation is commonly noted including spontaneous trances, age-regression, blending or overlap of states, or frank switching. When this occurs, the interviewer can pursue more detailed information about the patient's experiences. Tracking these processes may readily lead to the clear appearance of an alter personality or will help make the patient sufficiently comfortable that he or she will allow the full emergence of an alter if this is directly requested. In other cases, however, methods such as use of ideomotor signals, formal induction of trance, and even barbiturate-facilitated interviews may be necessary to permit the full emergence of an alter. The symptom-cluster method is a useful clinical diagnostic tool to elicit dissociative symptoms for the diagnosis of MPD. Combined with diagnostic tools such as the DES, the DDIS, and the SCID-D, this method can help the clinician make the diagnosis of MPD in a far more expeditious and rigorous fashion. In addition, all psychiatric patients should be screened for a history of blackouts, time loss, trance experiences, childhood trauma, and PTSD symptoms. This will improve case finding to help clinicians begin to treat the single largest preventable cause of mental illness: the sequelae of childhood abuse, trauma, and family violence.

Continuity of Marital Behavior in Remarriage: The Case of Spouse Abuse

This paper explores the variation between 1st marriages and remarriages in the incidence of spouse abuse an important aspect of marital relationships. 2 explanations are proposed for the higher rates of spouse abuse in remarried families. The 1st relies on characteristics individual spouses acquire prior to their remarriage; the 2nd focuses on remarried family characteristics in particular the complexity of family structure. Using data from the National Survey of Family Violence no support is found for the hypothesis that the experiences of individuals prior to remarriage account for higher rates of spouse abuse in remarried families regardless of complexity than intact never-divorced families. The Family Violence Survey utilized data obtained from interviews conducted with a national area probability sample of 2143 adults in January and February of 1976. To be eligible respondents had to be married or cohabiting with a member of the opposite sex. Interviews were conducted with wives in a randomly selected 1/2 of the families and with husbands in the other 1/2. Log-linear analysis was used to assess whether family structure is related to spouse abuse. The results support the hypothesis that divorced adults carry behavioral patterns from previous marriages into remarriage. The apparent incorporation of violence into a repertoire of marital behavior is consistent with remarried couples expectations that spouses replicate the mistakes of their 1st marriages in remarriage. The extent to which individuals consciously decide to repeat or renegotiate marital behavior upon remarriage is unknown. Data from 1 study indicate that adults entering remarriage carefully distinguish between their 1st and 2nd marriages on a variety of dimensions. In particular the data show that adults act consciously to avoid repeating behavior they found to be harmful in their 1st marriages. A key dimension upon which remarried couples distinguish their behavior in 1st and 2nd marriages is patterns of conflict of resolution. It is possible that the observed relationship between family structure and spouse abuse is a function of the relationship between family structure and childhood family violence. The data do not however support this hypothesis. The effect of family structure on spouse abuse persists when exposure to childhood family violence is controlled. Characteristics of predivorce marriages especially high levels of strain and conflict are likely sources of violent marital behavior that is then carried into remarriage. The findings in this paper expand the issues policy makers raise about the transmission of family violence. The chain of violence from marriage to remarriage is as important a problem as the chain of violence from parents to children in the US.