The Associations Among Family-of-Origin Violence and Young Adults' Current Depressed, Hopeless, Suicidal, and Life-Threatening Behavior

The purpose of the current study was to determine if college students' retrospective reports of family-of-origin physical abuse were related to their current reports of depressed symptomology, hopelessness, and suicidal and life-threatening behavior. Consistent with hypotheses, abuse by a parent (physical and psychological) and physical perpetration toward a parent were associated with increased rates of suicidal and life-threatening behavior. Gender of the parent was also shown to be important as symptoms of depression were related to mother but not father victimization and perpetration. Contrary to expectation, witnessing parental spouse abuse was not associated with young adults' current symptoms of depression, hopelessness, and suicidal and life-threatening behavior. These findings were interpreted with regard to the intergenerational transmission of violence theory.     

FATHER INVOLVEMENT AND LONG‐TERM YOUNG ADULT OUTCOMES: THE DIFFERENTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF DIVORCE AND GENDER

The present study investigated the relationship between retrospectively reported father involvement and current reports of psychosocial outcomes in an ethnically diverse sample of 1,989 young adults. Outcomes included subjective well‐being, which has been traditionally used as an outcome of divorce, and desires for more or less father involvement, which have only recently been conceptualized as an outcome of divorce. The present results indicate that reported father involvement was related to subjective well‐being primarily in children from intact families, whereas it was related to desired father involvement primarily in children from divorced families. Among participants from divorced families, young women were more likely than young men to desire more expressive father involvement than they received. Implications for family court practices are discussed.     

Exposure to Interparental Violence and Childhood Physical and Emotional Abuse as Related to Physical Aggression in Undergraduate Dating Relationships

The present study examined whether witnessing interparental violence and experiencing childhood physical or emotional abuse were associated with college students’ perpetration of physical aggression and self-reports of victimization by their dating partners. Participants (183 males, 475 females) completed the Adult-Recall Version of the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2-CA; Straus 2000), the Exposure to Abusive and Supportive Environments Parenting Inventory (EASE-PI; Nicholas and Bieber 1997), and the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2; Straus et al. 1996). Results of zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) regressions demonstrated that being female and having experienced higher levels of childhood physical abuse were associated with having perpetrated physical aggression at least once. Among women, exposure to mother-to-father violence and childhood physical abuse were related to the extent of dating aggression. Among men, witnessing father-to-mother violence and childhood emotional abuse were associated with the extent of dating aggression. Witnessing interparental violence and experiencing childhood physical abuse increased the likelihood that women would report victimization, whereas childhood emotional abuse decreased the likelihood that respondents reported dating victimization. Viewing father-to-mother violence and experiencing childhood emotional abuse increased the extent that men reported being victimized by their dating partners, whereas witnessing mother-to-father violence and experiencing physical abuse decreased the extent that men reported being victimized by their dating partners. Results suggest the importance of parent and respondent gender on dating aggression.     

Associations Between Experiencing and Witnessing Physical and Psychological Abuse and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Yemeni Children

There is little research on how family violence affects children who live the Arab world. This study had three aims. First, to examine the prevalence of family violence in Yemen. Second, to examine the associations between family violence and internalizing and externalizing problems in Yemeni children. Third, to examine participant gender as a possible moderator. A total of 598 children, 11–16 years old, completed measures of experiencing and witnessing physical and psychological abuse in the home, and reported emotional symptoms and conduct problems. Findings indicate that prevalence rates of all forms of abuse are high among Yemeni children (57.5% experiencing physical abuse, 71.2% psychological abuse, 33.6% witnessing physical abuse, and 78.9% witnessing psychological abuse). Boys experienced more physical and psychological abuse in the home than girls, although the level of physical and psychological abuse children witnessed in the home did not differ for boys and girls. The structural equation model indicated that witnessing psychological abuse was associated with emotional symptoms and conduct problems in children. Experiencing physical abuse was associated with conduct problems, whereas experiencing psychological abuse was associated with emotional symptoms. These associations were similar for boys and girls. These findings suggest that living in an abusive home can have harmful effects on Yemeni children.     

Violent marriages: Gender differences in levels of current violence and past abuse

Military couples mandated for marital violence treatment (n=199) self-reported pretreatment levels of marital violence. This sample is unique in that data from both partners in severely violent marriages were available. Spouses were interviewed conjointly about past and current marital violence, childhood victimization, type of parental violence witnessed, and subjective impressions of childhood emotional and/or physical abuse. Results suggest that in the majority of these couples both husbands and wives reported engaging in acts of current marital violence (83%). However, significant gender differences were found such that husbands were more likely to use severely violent tactics, less likely to receive a marital violence injury, and less likely to report being afraid during the last incident of marital violence than wives. Surprisingly, wives were more likely than husbands to blame themselves for the first incidence of violence in the marriage. Husbands and wives did not differ in the prevalence of witnessing parental aggression, but wives were more likely than husbands to report being beaten as children and to perceive themselves as abused. For both genders, victimization from mother predicted marital perpetration, whereas victimization from father predicted marital victimization.     

Predictability of Physical and Psychological Violence by Early Adverse Childhood Experiences

Early Adverse Childhood experiences (ACEs) in families of origin can take the form of witnessing it and/or being its victim, both of which can lead to the occurrence of domestic violence. Given such close linkage, the purpose of the present study was to determine the predictive abilities of ACEs regarding specific types of physical and psychological violence. To do so, 50 couples from those referred to five different family courts in Tehran to seek divorce due to domestic violence, were randomly selected and administered an author’s-made questionnaire assessing different types of physical and psychological violence and the participant’s history of abuse by their parents. Our findings showed that witnessing domestic violence in childhood can predict different types of physical and psychological violence, but mostly could account for “hitting” of the physical type and “cursing” of the psychological type. Similarly, being the victim of domestic violence mostly accounted for predict “strangling” of the physical type and “cursing” of the psychological type. Such results are discussed in the context of the existing literature and underscore ACEs importance in terms of their predictive ability of various types of physical and psychological violence.     

A test of social learning and intergenerational transmission among batterers

This research examined the direct and indirect transmission of family-of-origin violence among a sample of male domestic violence offenders. Intergenerational transmission of violence was tested by examining the effects of childhood corporal punishment experiences and witnessing inter-parental physical violence on the odds of reporting minor and severe intimate partner violence perpetration in adulthood. Social learning mechanisms were applied to examine the relationship between abuse experiences and the incidence of minor and severe forms of intimate partner violence. Use of a sample of 204 male domestic batterers attending court-mandated family violence intervention programs in an urban setting revealed considerable variation in minor and severe intimate partner violence. Results from logistic regression models suggested intergenerational transmission and social learning provided distinct mechanisms for both minor and severe forms of intimate partner violence.     

Childhood Abusive and Supportive Experiences, Inter-Parental Violence, and Parental Alcohol Use: Prediction of Young Adult Depressive Symptoms and Aggression

Issues in both the children of alcoholics and child abuse literatures were addressed in an attempt to disentangle the effects on young adults of growing up in alcoholic homes versus abusive homes. Using multiple regression, retrospective reports of parental abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual) and parental support (love/support, independence, and fairness), witnessing violence between parents, and parental alcohol use were used as predictor variables for outcomes noted by both literatures. When the effects of all other predictors were statistically controlled, parental alcohol use was not significantly related to depressive symptoms or aggression. Different abusive and supportive behaviors, depending on sex of parent and sex of participant, were significant predictors of both depression and aggression. Results underscore the importance of including and controlling for inter-parental violence and for different types of child abuse (especially emotional abuse) and parental supportive behaviors in investigations of outcomes related to abusive and alcoholic families. Implications for treatment of individuals from these families are discussed.     

Long-Term Effects of Witnessing Marital Violence for Women: The Contribution of Childhood Physical and Sexual Abuse

A sample of 313 college women completed a questionnaire about experiences with violence in childhood and adulthood and adult adjustment and relationship functioning. Nine percent of the women reported having witnessed some type of physical conflict between their parents. Witnessing marital violence was associated with other family mental health risks, childhood physical and sexual abuse, and adult physical assaults by strangers. Women who witnessed marital violence reported more symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder than other women, after family background and abuse variables were accounted for. Significant interactions between witnessing marital violence and childhood physical abuse were observed for measures of social avoidance and predictability in partner relationships, indicating that the effects of witnessing marital violence depended on the presence of childhood abuse. Implications of these results for research and interventions are discussed.     

Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Trajectories and the Role of Familial Factors

Prior empirical research on intimate partner violence (IPV) in adolescence and young adulthood often focuses on exposure to violence in the family-of-origin using retrospective and cross-sectional data. Yet individuals’ families matter beyond simply the presence or absence of abuse, and these effects may vary across time. To address these issues, the present study employed five waves of longitudinal data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS) to investigate the trajectory of IPV from adolescence to young adulthood (N = 950 respondents, 4,750 person-periods) with a specific focus on how familial factors continue to matter across the life course. Results indicated that family-of-origin violence and parent-child relationship quality were independent predictors of IPV. The effect of parent-child relationship quality on IPV also became greater as individuals aged. These results have implications for policies targeted at reducing IPV.     

Is Domestic Violence Learned? The Contribution of Five Forms of Child Maltreatment to Men's Violence and Adjustment

On the basis of a learning-theory approach to the intergenerational transmission of violence, researchers have focused almost exclusively on violent men's childhood experiences of physical abuse and witnessing family violence. Little consideration has been given to the coexistence of other forms of child maltreatment or the role of family dysfunction in contributing to violence. This study shows the relationships between the level of child maltreatment (physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, sexual abuse, neglect, and witnessing family violence), childhood family characteristics, current alcohol abuse, trauma symptomatology, and the level of physical and psychological spouse abuse perpetrated by 36 men with a history of perpetrating domestic violence who had attended counseling. As hypothesized, a high degree of overlap between risk factors was found. Child maltreatment, low family cohesion and adaptability, and alcohol abuse was significantly associated with frequency of physical spouse abuse and trauma symptomatology scores, but not psychological spouse abuse. Rather than physical abuse or witnessing family violence, childhood neglect uniquely predicted the level of physical spouse abuse. Witnessing family violence (but not physical abuse) was found to have a unique association with psychological spouse abuse and trauma symptomatology. These results present a challenge to the understanding of domestic violence obtained from learning theory.     

The correlation of childhood physical abuse history and later abuse in a group of Turkish population

Domestic violence is passed from one generation to the next, and it affects not only the victim but also the psychological states of the witnesses, and especially the psychosocial development of children. Studies have reported that those who have been the victim of or witnessing violence during their childhood will use violence to a greater extent as adults in their own families. This research examines the relationships between a history of childhood physical abuse, likelihood of psychiatric diagnoses, and potential for being a perpetrator of childhood physical abuse in adulthood among women who received psychiatric treatment and in the healthy population from Turkey. Estimates of the prevalence of childhood physical abuse vary depending on definition and setting. The frequency of witnessing and undergoing physical abuse within the family during childhood is much higher in the psychiatrically disordered group than the healthy controls. Childhood physical abuse history is one of the major risk factors for being an abuser in adulthood. The best indicator of physically abusing one's own children was found to be as physical abuse during the childhood period rather than psychiatric diagnosis. There is a large body of research indicating that adults who have been abused as children are more likely to abuse their own children than adults without this history. This is an important study from the point of view that consequences of violence can span generations. Further studies with different risk factor and populations will help to identify different dimensions of the problem.     

Who is most at risk for intimate partner violence? A Canadian population-based study

Whole population studies on intimate partner violence (IPV) have given contradictory information about prevalence and risk factors, especially concerning gender. The authors examined the 1999 Canadian General Social Survey data for gender patterns of physical, sexual, emotional, or financial IPV from a current or ex-partner. More women (8.6%) than men (7.0%, p = .001) reported partner physical abuse in general, physical IPV causing physical injury (p < .0001), sexual abuse (1.7% vs. 0.2%, p < .0001), and financial abuse (4.1% vs. 1.6%, p < .0001). There were no gender differences for partner emotional abuse. Significant risk factors after multivariate modeling for physical/sexual IPV were younger age, being divorced/separated or single, having children in the household, and poor self-rated physical health. These findings from a large, randomly generated data set further refine our understanding of the risk profile for IPV in the developed world.     

Psychological Distress of Children and Mothers in Domestic Violence Emergency Shelters

Abused mothers and their school-aged children who recently entered domestic violence emergency shelters were assessed by individual interview and psychometric measures. Children had positiveviews of the shelter residence. Mothers and children reported high-quality relationships with eachother. Children came from highly violent homes, and the majority had attempted to intervene in theinteradult violence. Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted on child PTSD symptoms, child behavior problems, and maternal depression, anxiety, and anger. Child PTSD symptoms were associated with amount of physical violence. Child behavioral problems were related to mother anxiety andanger. The predictors of maternal emotional distress varied. Depression was associated with sexualabuse, child physical intervention, and quality of mother–child relationship; anxiety was related to witnessing child abuse, child age, and child internalizing behaviors; anger was associated with abuse-related injuries, violence frequency, and child internalizing behaviors. Augmentationof shelter-based interventions for children's trauma, maternal emotional distress, and parenting are discussed.     

Family-of-origin factors and partner violence in the intimate relationships of gay men who are HIV positive

This exploratory study examined the prevalence of intimate partner violence in a sample of gay men who are HIV positive. The concept of intergenerational transmission of violence, from family systems theory, provided the basis of this examination. It was hypothesized that men who had witnessed or experienced violence in their families of origin would be more likely to perpetrate or experience violence in their intimate relationships. Perpetration and receipt of abuse were assessed to provide a more comprehensive examination of these relationships. The results of this study indicated that psychological abuse was the most commonly reported form of violence in these relationships. The results also provided partial support for the hypothesized relationship between family-of-origin violence and subsequent violence in an intimate relationship. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed.     

Violence in Juvenile Dating Relationships Self-Reported Prevalence and Attitudes in a Portuguese Sample

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of physical and emotional abuse in Portuguese juvenile dating relationships and to investigate attitudes about these forms of violence. A sample of 4,667 participants, aged 13 to 29 years, completed two questionnaires, one behavioral and one attitudinal. At least one act of abuse perpetrated by a dating partner during the previous year was reported by 25.4% of participants (13.4% reported to have been victims of physical abuse and 19.5% of emotional abuse). Abuse of a partner was reported by 30.6% of participants; at least one act of physical abuse was reported by 18.1% and of emotional abuse by 22.4%. The attitudinal data revealed, however, a general disapproval of violence use. Violence support was higher among males, participants with lower educational and social status and those who had never been involved in a dating relationship. Women reported more acts of partner abuse than males; no gender differences were found regarding self-reported victimization. Both perpetration and victimization were reported more by older students. Although university students tend to report more acts of general and emotional abuse against their partners, students from professional schools are more represented among both perpetrators and victims of physical and severe violence. The best predictors of violence were educational status and attitudes toward partner.     

THE DIVIDED WORLD OF THE CHILD: DIVORCE AND LONG‐TERM PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT

This study evaluated the extent to which divorce creates the “divided world of the child,” as well as consequences of this “divided world” for long‐term adjustment. An ethnically diverse sample of 1,375 young‐adult university students completed retrospective measures of parental nurturance and involvement, and current measures of psychosocial adjustment and troubled ruminations about parents. Results indicated that reports of maternal and paternal nurturance and involvement were closely related in intact families but uncorrelated in divorced families. Across family forms, the total amount of nurturance or involvement received was positively associated with self‐esteem, purpose in life, life satisfaction, friendship quality and satisfaction, and academic performance; and negatively related to distress, romantic relationship problems, and troubled ruminations about parents. Mother‐father differences in nurturance and involvement showed a largely opposite set of relationships. Implications for family court practices are discussed.     

Breaking the Cycle: Association of Attending Therapy Following Childhood Abuse and Subsequent Perpetration of Violence

Despite “cycle of violence” (Widom Psychological Bulletin, 106, 3–28, 1989, p. 4) theories prevailing for the past 30 years, few studies have looked at the empirical relationship between experiencing childhood physical abuse and becoming perpetrators of violence in adulthood. Those studies that do exist omit consideration of intervening therapeutic experiences. In the present study, archival data from an outpatient mental health clinic was used to examine whether therapeutic experiences mediate the relationship between experiencing childhood physical abuse by a parental figure and subsequent involvement as a perpetrator of physical violence. Treatment-seeking individuals (N?=?816) responded to three items about whether they had experiences of childhood physical abuse, whether they acted violently in adulthood, and whether they had ever before received counseling or therapy. Past counseling/psychotherapy treatment was a significant mediator between experiencing childhood physical abuse and perpetrating physical violence in adulthood, even after controlling for the effect of the victims’ gender. Findings suggest that psychotherapeutic experiences after experiencing childhood physical abuse may decrease the likelihood of perpetrating violence in adulthood. Limitations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.     

DIVORCE AND THE FAMILY COURT: WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE?

Approximately 50% of couples who have separated report being victims of violence and/or emotional abuse by their former intimate partners. Family courts can make an important contribution toward reducing the number of intimate partners who report being victims of domestic violence and abuse during and following their participation in divorce proceedings in three ways. First, increase opportunities for participation in nonadversarial procedures. Second, implement mandatory assessment/screening for domestic violence using field‐tested instruments that link subscores on sets of items (e.g., control motivated violence, conflict instigated violence/abuse, substance abuse associated violence/abuse) with appropriate community‐based treatments and/or resources. Third, educate family court judges, lawyers, mediators, and other court personnel in the dynamics of domestic violence generally, as well as the dynamics associated with separation/divorce.     

Conflict in the home environment of adolescents from divorced families: A longitudinal analysis

The purpose of this study was to examine conflict in the home environment of adolescents from divorced families across a 3-year period. Adolescents from intact (106) and mother-custody divorced (60) families participated. Interparental conflict and parent-adolescent relations were assessed. Results indicated that adolescents from divorced families did not experience more conflictual home environments than those from intact families. In fact, interparental relations after the first year and parent-adolescent relations in general appeared to be less conflictual in divorced families. Limitations and implications of the findings are discussed.