The Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Mothers’ Parenting Practices for Urban, Low-Income Adolescents

Abstract

This study examined whether depression and social support mediated the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and parenting practices. Participants were 1,057 female primary caregiver-young adolescent pairs. (Sample included greater than 90 % biological mothers; hereafter, female primary caregivers are referred to as mother.) Findings indicated that IPV was associated positively with mothers' use of physical punishment and negatively with mothers' involvement in their children's education. Although depression and social support were not found to mediate the relationship between IPV and parenting practices, study findings suggest that IPV directly and negatively impacted mothers' parenting practices. In sum, findings point to the important role that IPV may play in explaining parenting practices for mothers living in highrisk urban environments.

A Dynamic Approach to Risk Factors for Maternal Corporal Punishment in Early to Middle Childhood

“…However, we briefly note that the absolute levels of mothers' depression, substance use, parenting stress, negative child affect, and IPV victimization at age 1 and 3 were also associated with higher age 3 CPUN but not with long term linear change in CPUN between age 3 and 9. Such findings are consistent with considerable prior research (e.g., Kohl et al, 2011;Lee et al, 2010;MacKenzie et al, 2015;Murray et al, 2012).…”

“…Several studies have documented the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of CPUN, or parentchild physical aggression more broadly, with parental depression (e.g., Eamon & Zuehl, 2001;Kohl, Jonson-Redi, & Drake, 2011), substance use (e.g., Fuller et al, 2003;Lee, Perron, Taylor, & Guterman, 2010), parenting stress (e.g., Lee et al, 2010;Liu & Wang, 2015;Mackenzie, Nicklas, Brooks-Gunn, & Waldfogel, 2011), child negative emotionality (e.g., Day, Peterson, & McCracken, 1998;Gromoske & Maguire-Jack, 2012;MacKenzie et al, 2015), and IPV victimization (Jouriles, McDonald, Slep, Heyman, & Garrido, 2008;Murray, Bair-Merritt, Roche, & Cheng, 2012). These studies suggest that the absolute levels of such risk factors, either in past or present, are associated with CPUN.…”

How Can We End the Stigma Surrounding Domestic and Sexual Violence? A Modified Delphi Study with National Advocacy Leaders

“…Children who are exposed to domestic and/or sexual violence are at an increased risk of emotion dysregulation, externalizing and aggressive behavior, anxiety, and depression (Zarling et al 2013). Children can also be directly affected by the way in which domestic and sexual violence affects parenting practices, as seen in Murray et al (2012) study revealing a correlation between a mother's experience of domestic or sexual violence and an increase in the use of physical means of punishment and a decrease in parental involvement. The costs for society are significant as well, with high economic costs due to the healthcare, mental healthcare, legal services, survivors' basic needs (e.g., transportation and housing), and economic consequences of lost productivity at work (e.g., Black et al; Chrisler & Ferguson; National Center for Inquiry Prevention and Control [NCIPC] 2003).…”

Intimate Partner Violence, Power, and Equity Among Adolescent Parents: Relation to Child Outcomes and Parenting

“…The presence of IPV in the household may create an adverse environment for the caregiver experiencing the violence and children in the household [46]. Children may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of IPV, as violence may compromise the ability and quality of parenting in the traumatized caregiver [22]. Importantly, our results suggest that experiencing IPV may extend beyond mothers, affecting fathers’ mental health and experience of parenting as well.…”

“…Parents who experience such poor outcomes are less engaged with their children and have poorer coping skills, all of which affect parent–child interactions [21]. For example, depressed mothers are often preoccupied with their own relationship stress and mental health [22]. As such, they report less maternal involvement and ineffective parenting which may contribute to difficult infant temperament [21, 23].…”