What Facets of Family Violence Affect Child Functioning

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Children's exposure to partner maltreatment (CE) is a public health concern of substantial magnitude. A recent study of a generalizable sample of parents with a 3-7 year-old found the rate of physical CE to be 48% and physical/emotional CE to be 63%. On a host of outcomes (internalizing and externalizing problems, social problems, academic problems, negative affect/distress and negative cognitions), CE, compared to non-CE, children fare worse. In this proposal, we first present a heuristic roadmap to guide CE definitional research by sketching the moderational and mediational relations linking CE and negative child outcomes. We then outline a five step process for resolving the paradox: have a conceptual model, use it to specify key CE facets, improve measurement of the facets, test facet-outcome associations (controlling for non-CE variables [such as couple conflict, inept parenting, and child victimization] to ensure parsimony), and winnow CE and child victimization facets. We will examine CE facet/ outcome relations in a generalizable sample of 400 families with 4-8 year-old children recruited through random digit dialing and assessed at two lab visits 6 months apart. The specific aims of the project are as follows: 1) Determine the prevalence of CE in a generalizable community sample of families with 4 - 8 year-old children. Establish the effect size of relations between (a) exposure status and facets and (b) child externalizing problems, internalizing problems, social adjustment, school adjustment, vagal tone and reactivity, and cognitive functioning for boys and girls in this sample. 2) By applying a moderational framework to identify what makes exposure to some instances of IPV impact children and others not, determine which facets of children's exposure to IPV relate to concurrent and future aspects of child functioning. Determine if threshold effects are present. If so, determine the thresholds. 3) By applying a moderational framework to identify what makes some instances of victimization impact children and others not, determine which facets of children's victimization by parents relate to concurrent and future aspects of child functioning. Determine if threshold effects are present. If so, determine the thresholds. 4) Determine the extent to which meaningful facets of exposure and victimization are mediated by (a) non-abusive marital conflict, (b) inept parenting, or (c) both. 5) Build a multifaceted model of how IPV exposure and victimization directly and indirectly relate to classes of child outcomes, accomplished through 7 specified steps.