The impact of exposure to parental intimate partner violence on adolescent precocious transitions to adulthood

Abstract

Introduction: Precocious transitions can create stress by placing excessive demands on adolescents and are associated with adverse outcomes that extend into adulthood. The current study assessed whether exposure to parental intimate partner violence (IPV) is associated with adolescent precocious transitions to adulthood.Methods: Data come from 33,360 individuals aged 18+ years in the United States who participated in the National Epidemiologic Surveys of Alcohol and Related Conditions. Six precocious transitions (leaving home early, early sex, early marriage, early parenthood, early full-time employment, and dropping out of high school) were examined. Robust Poisson regression was used to calculate relative risks for the association between IPV exposure and each precocious transition, adjusting for confounders. We assessed effect modification by gender and by exposure to childhood abuse or neglect.Results: Participants exposed to IPV in childhood were at higher risk of engaging in early sex; dropping out of high school; entering into early full-time employment; entering into early marriage; and entering into early parenthood relative to participants not exposed to IPV. Significant interactions between gender and exposure to IPV were detected for early sex and early full-time work outcomes, such that the associations were stronger for females compared to males. Participants exposed to more frequent or more severe IPV in childhood were at even higher risk for experiencing precocious transitions.Conclusions: Individuals exposed to IPV in childhood are more likely to experience precocious transitions to adulthood. Findings highlight the need for interventions to mitigate adverse outcomes in adolescence for children exposed to IPV.

An Umbrella Review of Qualitative Research on Teen Mothering

“…Teen mothering contrasts sharply with the trajectory that middle class youth secure through lengthy postsecondary education, followed by employment, adult independence, marriage, and parenthood, typically in that order (Anastas, 2017; McDermott & Graham, 2005). In contrast, for teens who grow up in disadvantaged families and segregated, low-income neighborhoods, unequal life chances begin in childhood (Mollborn & Jacobs, 2012; SmithBattle, 2018a, 2019) and contribute to growing up faster, feeling older, and assuming adult roles and responsibilities earlier than middle class youth whose risk-taking is mitigated by family and community resources (Adhia et al, 2019; Johnson & Mollborn, 2009). Because impoverished youth are attuned to their limited prospects for the future, they are more likely than their middle class peers to find identity in family roles than in the job market where low-income work provides little security, benefits, or flexibility (Furstenberg, 2015; McDermott & Graham, 2005; Peterson & Bonell, 2018).…”

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

“…Regarding our first hypothesis, the results of our analyses & Gregerson, 2019;McLennan et al, 2020). Thus, the inclusion of concurrent advantageous family conditions could represent a major breakthrough in terms of the recognition of protective factors that may bolster adolescents' decision making, health and personality development despite any maltreatment and IPVE (Adhia et al, 2019;Harold & Sellers, 2018;Willems et al, 2018).…”

American Women’s Experiences With Intimate Partner Violence during the Start of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Risk Factors and Mental Health Implications

“…Although the present study did not assess children's exposure to violence or the incidence of child abuse and/or neglect, given the stay-at-home orders and quarantine circumstances, it is likely that children of mothers in the present study were exposed to the IPV directed toward their mothers or were victims of abuse themselves. Exposure to interparental violence can have a range of negative implications for children and adolescents, including internalizing, externalizing, and total behavior problems (e.g., McFarlane et al, 2003 ), impact on psychological, physical, and social development (e.g., Howell et al, 2016 ), and precocious transitions to adulthood (i.e., higher risk of engaging in early sex and dropping out of high school; Adhia et al, 2019 ). Furthermore, while there has been a decrease in reported violence against children during the pandemic ( Campbell, 2020 ), this might largely be due the closing of schools and subsequently children's lack of in-person interaction with mandatory reporters such as teachers and school personnel.…”