Associations of exposure to intimate partner violence and parent-to-child aggression with child competence and psychopathology symptoms in two generations

Discrepancies in Mother-Child Reports of Child's Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence: Associations With Externalizing Symptoms

The type and frequency of children's exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) are considered as key variables in understanding children's heightened risk of externalizing symptoms. Notably, children's exposure to IPV has been primarily measured using mothers' reports of their own victimization. However, mothers and children might differently perceive children's exposure to physical IPV. To date, no research has investigated multi-rater reporting discrepancies in child's exposure to physical IPV and whether such discrepancies would be linked to externalizing symptoms. This study aimed to identify patterns of mother-child discrepancies in child's exposure to physical IPV and examine whether those patterns would be associated with children's externalizing symptoms. Participants were mothers who have experienced police-reported male-perpetrated IPV and their children (n = 153; 4-10 years). Latent profile analysis identified three profiles of mother-child discrepancies: a concordant group reporting high IPV exposure; a discordant group with mothers and children reporting high and low child's IPV exposure, respectively; a second discordant group with mothers and children reporting low and moderate IPV exposure, respectively. Profiles of mother-child discrepancies were differentially associated with children's externalizing symptoms. Findings suggest that discrepancies among informants' ratings of children's IPV exposure might have important implications for measurement, assessment, and treatment.

Childhood maltreatment: The role of concurrent advantageous experiences on adolescents' psychosocial adjustment

Despite the growing body of evidence concerning the harmful effects of childhood maltreatment, intimate partner violence exposure (IPVE) and their correlates, little is currently known about the effects of co-occurring advantageous family conditions (e.g., instrumental support, inductive parenting, positive communication) and how they may serve to offset the detrimental effects of maltreatment and IPVE. The present study applied a three-step latent class analysis to identify the co-occurrence patterns of childhood maltreatment and advantageous family conditions among 1379 Spanish adolescents. The study also sought to identify the sociodemographic risk markers and psychosocial adjustment associated with each latent class membership. The analyses revealed four classes, namely (1) violent family context, (2) emotionally neglectful family context, (3) adverse and advantageous family conditions, and (4) positive family context. Having a lower socioeconomic status and being a migrant were both risk markers for membership to the violent family context as well as to the adverse and advantageous family conditions class. Adolescents who were exposed to advantageous family conditions (e.g., the positive family context or the adverse and advantageous family conditions) exhibited fewer psychosocial problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, somatisation) and lower frequencies of teen dating violence (TDV) when compared with those in the violent family context. Moreover, membership to the emotionally neglectful family context class was related to more psychological symptoms and a higher prevalence of TDV when compared with membership to the positive family context class, despite the absence of IPVE and maltreatment. Overall, the results provide evidence that advantageous family conditions contribute to better psychosocial adjustment on the part of adolescents even when exposed to IPV and maltreatment. Identifying the experiences that contribute to adolescents' psychosocial adjustment could help clinical and governmental interventions tailor their often-limited resources to children who are at greater risk of negative outcomes.

The relationship between aggressive behaviors of preschool children and the violence against Iranian women in the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

During epidemics, supports are limited and individual and collective vulnerabilities as well as domestic violence are increased. Therefore, various groups in society, especially children and their mothers, are extremely vulnerable. This study aimed to assess the relationship between aggressive behaviors of preschool children and the violence against Iranian women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

This descriptive-correlational study was conducted in October-November 2020. Stratified random sampling was performed among preschool children in Kerman. Data were collected using the Violence toward Women Inventory and the Aggression scale for preschoolers Scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS25, ANOVA, independent t-test, and Pearson correlation test.

RESULTS

The results showed that the total mean scores of violence against women and preschoolers' aggression were 54.43 ± 10.6 and 88.44 ± 6.5, respectively. The results showed a statistically significant difference in aggressive behaviors of preschool children, mother's job, number of children, mother's education, income, and age. A positive and significant relationship was also found between the subscales of violence against women and aggression in preschool children.

CONCLUSIONS

The results showed a positive and significant relationship between violence against women and aggression of preschool children. Therefore, it is recommended that parents identify and eliminate the risk factors for domestic violence during the COVID-19 in order to protect their children. Parents also must learn coping strategies for stress and resilience in the epidemic crises.

Spillover and Crossover Effects: Mothers' and Fathers' Intimate Partner Violence, Parent-Child Aggression Risk, and Child Behavior Problems

The high co-occurrence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and physical child abuse suggests that studying these forms of aggression simultaneously, bidirectionally, and longitudinally is critical. Guided by family systems theory, this study examined parent-child aggression (PCA) risk, IPV victimization, and child behavior problems as reported by mothers and fathers when their child was 18 months and at 4 years old, to evaluate whether negative processes can transmit across family subsystems (i.e., spillover hypothesis) and/or across individuals (i.e., crossover hypothesis). Results indicated that mothers' PCA risk predicted their subsequent IPV victimization and their reported child behavior problems (i.e., spillover effects) as well as fathers' reported IPV victimization (i.e., crossover effect). Maternal reports of child behavior problems also predicted mothers' reported IPV victimization and fathers' reported child behavior problems, indicating child-driven effects. Overall, mothers rather than fathers appear more vulnerable to harmful spillover effects. Findings underscore the need for early prevention and intervention given the complex, transactional nature of family violence.