Examining child exposure to intimate partner violence: Integration of resilience theory and Johnson's typology of domestic violence

Ong, Matthew

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/49758 Copy

Description

Title

Examining child exposure to intimate partner violence: Integration of resilience theory and Johnson's typology of domestic violence

Author(s)

Ong, Matthew

Issue Date

2014-05-30T17:08:09Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Bost, Kelly

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Bost, Kelly

Committee Member(s)

• Hardesty, Jennifer L.
• Raffaelli, Marcela
• McCloskey, Laura

Department of Study

Human & Community Development

Discipline

Human & Community Development

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Domestic violence
• intimate partner violence
• child exposure
• resilience
• child behavior

Abstract

The current longitudinal study examined whether different types of intimate partner violence (IPV), specifically intimate terrorism (IT) and situational couple violence (SCV), create distinct developmental conditions for the process of behavioral resilience among exposed children by considering differences in the nature of the violence (i.e., frequency and severity of violence), maternal factors (i.e., maternal mental health; maternal warmth), and the co-occurrence of child physical abuse. Data for this study were drawn from the Women and Families Project, a prospective study on IPV, and included 363 mothers and one of their children aged 6-12 years (51% male). Participants were interviewed across three waves of research (Wave 1: 1990-1991; Wave 2: 1996-1997; Wave 3: 1998-1999) over the course of 10 years. Mothers completed face-to-face interviews at each wave, reporting on their history of IPV, mental health and maternal warmth, as well as their children’s externalizing behaviors (i.e., aggression and delinquency). Children were similarly interviewed, reporting on their history of exposure to parental IPV, child physical abuse, and internalizing behaviors (i.e., anxiety and depression). Children and their mothers were grouped based on maternal history of IPV (i.e., IT, SCV, and no violence). Data comparing IT and SCV types revealed that exposed children whose mothers experienced IT (i.e., children in the IT group) reported a higher incidence of child physical abuse and had mothers with greater mental health problems at baseline, but these group differences were found to diminish over time. Children in both the IT and SCV groups reported significantly higher anxiety and depression scores than children in the no violence group, but there were no observed differences between the two violence groups over time. Overall, findings on child externalizing outcomes indicated significant group differences, primarily with children in the IT group displaying higher aggression and delinquency scores than children in both the SCV and no violence groups. However, differences between the two IPV groups diminished over time. Finally, maternal anxiety was found to moderate the relationship between IPV type and child anxiety, while maternal warmth moderated the association between IPV type and child depression. Taken together, the results of this study contribute to our understanding of the complex nature of resilience and risk processes in exposed children. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.

Graduation Semester

2014-05

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/49758

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2014 Matthew Ong

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