Children and Violence: The Role of Children’s Regulation in the Marital Aggression–Child Adjustment Link (original) (raw)
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This study examined the mediating effects of children’s emotional experiences and regulation strategies on the relationship between marital violence and children’s behavioral problems following divorce/separation. Findings indicated marital violence as reported by the mothers was associated with children’s internalizing problems as measured by the Achenbach Behavior Checklist. Marital violence was also associated with children’s reported experience of negative emotions, with sadness and anger emerging as statistical predictors of children’s behavioral problems. A weak relationship was found between emotional regulation strategies and children’s behavioral problems, with the exception that “direct intervention” and the range of strategies used by children were positively associated with behavioral problems. Children’s reported anger was also found to mediate the relationship between marital violence and children’s total behavioral problems. Implications of findings for treatment of children and adolescents from separated, conflicted homes are discussed.
Child Abuse & Neglect , 2020
Background: Associations of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and parent-to-child aggression (PCA) with child adjustment have not been examined adequately for community samples. Objective: To examine main, cumulative, and interactive associations of IPV and PCA (separately for physical and psychological aggression) with four aspects of child adjustment (i.e., ex-ternalizing and internalizing behavior; social and scholastic competence). Associations were examined between (a) G1 parent behavior and the adjustment of G2 boys (N = 203) at ages 13-14 years and (b) G2 parent behavior and the adjustment of G3 children (N = 294) at ages 4-5 and 11-12 years. Participants and setting: Families in a prospective, multigenerational dataset. Methods: Measures included reports by caregivers, children, and teachers. Cross-sectional regression models (controlling for parent socioeconomic status and G3 child gender) examined: (a) main effects of IPV or PCA, (b) the simultaneous (i.e., cumulative) effects of both IPV and PCA, and (c) interactive effects of IPV and PCA (sample size permitting) on each of the child adjustment outcomes. Results: When considered simultaneously, PCA (but not IPV) was associated with each aspect of child adjustment. The interaction between PCA and IPV indicated lower G2 adolescent scholastic competence and greater G3 preschool externalizing behavior for children exposed to lower levels of IPV and higher levels of PCA. Conclusion: Psychological and physical PCA were associated with child adjustment problems even when accounting for IPV. Findings support the use of evidence-based programs to prevent PCA and PCA-associated child adjustment problems.
Journal of interpersonal violence, 2015
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is prevalent in families with young children and challenges their healthy development. This study examined characteristics of IPV (e.g., mother- vs. partner-perpetrated, types and severity) and investigated potential effects of IPV on toddlers' behavioral regulation in a sample of families at risk for IPV. We also examined whether maternal depression and child-rearing attitudes and behavior would moderate IPV-child behavior links. These questions were addressed in a sample (N = 400) of first-time adolescent mothers and their toddlers (1-2 years of age). Families were visited in their homes; data were collected via maternal report and observations. Partner- and self-perpetrated IPV was assessed using the Conflict Tactics Scale questionnaire; child behavior regulation was measured using the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment questionnaire. Approximately 80% of families experienced psychological aggression; almost one third reported...
Preschooler witnesses of marital violence: Predictors and mediators of child behavior problems
This paper describes a conceptual approach to understanding the impact of marital violence on preschoolers, examines the predictors and mediators of child behavioral problems in a clinical sample of multiethnic preschoolers who witnessed their mothers' battering by their father figure, and presents empirical evidence supporting the use of relationship-based therapeutic modalities in treating preschoolers exposed to violence. We find that exposure to violence and maternal life stress are each predictive of child behavior problems, and that the impact of maternal life stress on child behavior problems is mediated by maternal psychopathology and the quality of the mother–child relationship.