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Impacts of a Coparenting-Focused Intervention on Links Between Pre-birth Intimate Partner Violence and Observed Parenting

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Abstract

Our understanding of the role of preventive interventions in buffering the effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) on mothers’ and fathers’ earliest parenting is limited. Couples (N = 167) in a community sample reported on past-year IPV prenatally and were observed interacting with their 1 year-old children; couples were randomly assigned to an 8-session prevention program designed to improve coparenting or a control condition. Links between mothers’ and fathers’ violence and parenting were largely significant, but only for control group couples. Coparenting did not significantly mediate associations between IPV and parenting among control group couples. This study adds to our understanding of the associations between IPV and early parenting, and has important implications for prevention.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the families who participated in this study. We thank Jesse Boring, Megan Goslin, Carmen Hamilton, Richard Puddy, Carolyn Kaldon, Anna Solmeyer, and Samuel Sturgeon for their assistance in conducting this study and Stephen Tueller for his analytic support. This study was funded by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Development (1 K23 HD042575) and the National Institute of Mental Health (R21 MH064125-01), Mark E. Feinberg, principal investigator.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. RTI International, P.O. Box 12194, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709-2194, USA

    Marni L. Kan

  2. The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA

    Mark E. Feinberg

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  1. Marni L. Kan
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  2. Mark E. Feinberg
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Correspondence to Marni L. Kan.

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Kan, M.L., Feinberg, M.E. Impacts of a Coparenting-Focused Intervention on Links Between Pre-birth Intimate Partner Violence and Observed Parenting. J Fam Viol 30, 363–372 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-015-9678-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-015-9678-x

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