Breaking the Intergenerational Cycle: Partner Violence, Child–Parent Attachment, and Children’s Aggressive Behaviors

Abstract

The link between exposure to violence in the home and children's later exhibition of violent behaviors is well documented in the criminological literature. To date, most research on partner violence (PV) and children's welfare has focused on adolescent outcomes. As such, we know little about how PV affects the behavior of the youngest, and perhaps most vulnerable population of children who have been exposed to PV. Our understanding of the PV-child behavior association is also limited because extant research has focused less attention on identifying risk factors that explain and modify the link between exposure to PV and children's behavior. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a five-wave longitudinal study of U.S.-born children ( N = 2,896) and structural equation modeling (SEM), to explore the impact of PV exposure on later aggressive behaviors. We extend the literature on PV exposure and childhood aggression in three ways: (a) We focus on young children's behavioral outcomes; (b) we identify child-parent attachment as a potential moderator of the PV-childhood aggression relationship; and (c) we investigate variation in the effect of PV exposure on children's aggressive behavior by children's attachment to parents. Findings support our hypotheses that exposure to PV during first 3 years of life is associated with increased aggression at age 5 and age 9. We find that the effect of PV on aggression at age 9 is fully mediated through the parent-child attachment. Contrary to our expectations, we do not find evidence of a strong parent-child attachment moderating the impact of PV exposure on children's aggressive behavior.

“I Didn’t Really Have Anybody to Turn To”: Barriers to Social Support and the Experiences of Male Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence

“…Despite the evidence that insecure attachment is related to abusive and aggressive behaviors, recent longitudinal research with a youth sample (ages 3–9 years; Juan et al, 2020) found a child’s secure attachment to at least one parent did not moderate the relationship between exposure to violence (i.e., partner violence between parents) and the child’s subsequent aggression. This suggests the parent–child attachment failed to buffer the effects of exposure.…”

Attachment Neuroscience and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Nonviolence Philosophy: Implications for the 21st Century and Beyond

“…This buffering effect extended to having the support of others such as extended family, church members, and coworkers. There is much empirical evidence supporting the notion of DP, which can make this concept an important justice-oriented addition to attachment frameworks (De Rubeis et al, 2016; English et al, 2018; Godbout et al, 2017; Gustafsson et al, 2017; Juan et al, 2020; McIntosh et al, 2019; Sagi-Schwartz, 2012).…”

Gender Differences in Witnessing and the Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence from the Perspective of Children in Finland

“…The concept of experience is particularly common in child-oriented research that considers children as agents and subjects. [7,15,22,23]. The emphasis on the notion of experiencing violence is on the holistic nature of the experience of violence and the fact that the consequences of seeing or hearing violence are not limited to the moment of witnessing the situation, as the child can also witness the effects of violence and be made aware of it otherwise [8].…”