Elsevier

Child Abuse & Neglect

Volume 35, Issue 9, September 2011, Pages 700-711
Child Abuse & Neglect

Maternal experiences of childhood abuse and intimate partner violence: Psychopathology and functional impairment in clinical children and adolescents

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.05.008Get rights and content

Abstract

Objectives

The current study examined the independent effects of mothers’ childhood abuse (CA) and intimate partner violence (IPV) on psychopathology and functional impairment in children; and the potential moderating and mediating role of individual and family factors in these relationships. Additionally, this study explored the potential cumulative effects of both maternal CA and IPV on children's outcomes.

Method

The sample included 547 Spanish children and adolescents aged between 8 and 17 years, and their parents, who had accessed mental health services. The assessment was based on structured interviews with the children and their parents. Statistical analyses were carried out through hierarchical multiple, negative-binomial and logistic regressions, and Structural Equation Models.

Results

Children whose mothers experienced CA and those whose mothers suffered physical IPV showed increased DSM-IV disruptive disorders and externalizing behavior problems, respectively. Children who directly observed physical IPV and also suffered physical punishment by parents showed increased internalizing problems. IPV had effects, either direct or indirect by physical punishment, on children's externalizing problems. Cumulative effect analyses indicated that the prevalence of disruptive disorders was highest in children whose mothers had suffered both CA and IPV.

Conclusion

Spanish children whose mothers have suffered CA, IPV or both, are at high risk of serious conduct problems, whereas children exposed to IPV and who were also physically abused are at greater risk of internalizing problems. Physical punishment of children contributes in part to explain externalizing problems of IPV-exposed children. These findings indicate potential targets of assessment and intervention for families seeking help in mental health services.

Section snippets

Participants

The sample included 547 children and adolescents, between 8 and 17 years of age, and their parents, who were recruited from psychiatric outpatient settings of the public health network in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Spain). Families from 27 municipalities of this geographic area were included, representing populations living in north-eastern Spain. Subjects were referred by their general practitioner, regardless of socioeconomic status. All the participants were included in this study

Results

Demographic characteristics of the participants are shown in Table 1. Participants were classified into the 4 groups according to life-time maternal violence experiences, based on the mothers’ and children's reports to the Schedule for Risk Factors (SRF). Of the 547 mothers participating in this study, it was reported that 77% (n = 422) were not exposed to any experience of violence, 8.96% (n = 49) had suffered CA only, 10.6% (n = 58) IPV only and 3.29% (n = 18) had both experiences. Considering the

Discussion

In this study the independent effects of mothers’ CA and IPV on their children's psychopathological problems showed few significant results and partially confirm the study's hypotheses; maternal CA was related to children's disruptive disorders and IPV was associated with an increase of externalizing behavior problems. Results also indicated that physical punishment of children moderated the effects of IPV on children's internalizing behavior problems. Moreover, the IPV had effects, either

References (53)

  • American Psychiatric Association

    DSM-IV diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders

    (1994)
  • V. Banyard et al.

    The impact of complex trauma and depression on parenting: An exploration of mediating risk and protective factors

    Child Maltreatment

    (2003)
  • R. Baron et al.

    The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1986)
  • B. Byrne

    Structural equation modelling in Amos: Basic concepts, applications, and programming

    (2001)
  • D. Cicchetti et al.

    Failures in the expectable environment and their impact on the individual development: The case of child maltreatment

  • S. Collishaw et al.

    Maternal childhood abuse and offspring adjustment over time

    Development and Psychopathology

    (2007)
  • N. de la Osa et al.

    Fiabilidad entre entrevistadores de la Entrevista Diagnóstica Estructurada para Niños y Adolescentes (DICA-R)

    Psicothema

    (1996)
  • D. DiLillo et al.

    Parenting characteristics of women reporting a history of childhood sexual abuse

    Child Maltreatment

    (2003)
  • H. Dubowitz et al.

    Type and timing of mothers’ victimization: Effects on mothers and children

    Pediatrics

    (2001)
  • C. Eckhardt et al.

    Anger disturbances among perpetrators of intimate partner violence: Clinical characteristics and outcomes of court-mandated treatment

    Journal of Interpersonal Violence

    (2008)
  • M. El-Sheikh et al.

    Marital psychological and physical aggression and children's mental and physical health: Direct, mediated, and moderated effects

    Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

    (2008)
  • L. Ezpeleta et al.

    Fiabilidad test–retest de la adaptación española de la Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents – DICA-R

    Psicothema

    (1997)
  • L. Ezpeleta et al.

    Diagnostic agreement between clinician and the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents – DICA-R in a Spanish outpatient sample

    Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

    (1997)
  • L. Ezpeleta et al.

    Assessment of functional impairment in Spanish children

    Applied Psychology: An International Review

    (2006)
  • D. Fergursson et al.

    Exposure to interparental violence in childhood and psychosocial adjustment in young adulthood

    Child Abuse & Neglect

    (1998)
  • S. Goodman et al.

    Measurement of risk for mental disorders and competence in a psychiatric epidemiologic community survey: The National Institute of Mental Health Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental disorders (MECA)

    Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology

    (1998)
  • Cited by (45)

    • Keeping it together for the kids: New mothers’ descriptions of the impact of intimate partner violence on parenting

      2020, Child Abuse and Neglect
      Citation Excerpt :

      IPV exposure also significantly affects children, with potentially long-term effects on child health and psychosocial well-being (Evans, Davies, & DiLillo, 2008; Wathen & MacMillan, 2013). For example, children of IPV survivors are at an elevated risk for adjustment problems, including internalizing behaviors (e.g. depression, anxiety) (Field, Muong, & Sochanvimean, 2013; Miranda, de la Osa, Granero, & Ezpeleta, 2013) and externalizing behaviors (e.g. oppositional defiant disorder, conduct issues) (Kobak, Zajac, & Smith, 2009; Miranda, de la Osa, Granero, & Ezpeleta, 2011). The perinatal period and early infancy are especially vulnerable times in terms of IPV effects upon children (Casanueva & Martin, 2007; Lannert et al., 2013; Waters et al., 2015).

    • Intergenerational Impacts of Family Violence - Mothers and Children in a Large Prospective Pregnancy Cohort Study

      2019, EClinicalMedicine
      Citation Excerpt :

      Evidence suggests that women who have experienced childhood abuse are more likely to experience IPV and poor health in adulthood [24–27], however research into the potential intergenerational impacts on children has focused on exposures to childhood abuse, IPV or maternal mental health problems in isolation. For instance, maternal childhood abuse has been associated with poor child health and development including preterm birth, being born small for gestational age [28], depression, anxiety, behavioral problems, and developmental delays [24,29–31]. Exposure to IPV has been associated with child mental health problems, conduct disorders, learning difficulties, substance use, poor health and relationship problems [2,6,17].

    • Central Neuroepigenetic Regulation of the Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal Axis

      2018, Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science
      Citation Excerpt :

      However, it is now considered that parental life experience may also perpetuate behavioral phenotypes and HPA axis dysfunction transgenerationally, which is thoroughly reviewed in chapter “Transgenerational epigenetics of stress” by Mansuy of this book. Briefly, initial evidence in humans suggested that exposure to trauma increases the rate of depression and behavioral deficits in the offspring of parents and grandparents exposed to traumatic life experiences.81–83 In rodents, paternal stress84–86 as well as maternal stress in combination with postnatal stress87 has been demonstrated to perpetuate changes in HPA axis function as well as miRNA profiles within the brain of offspring for up to two generations, which appears to be sex and brain region-specific.

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    This work was supported by grant SEJ2005-01786 from Ministry of Education and Science (Spain).

    View full text