Domestic Violence and Child Aggression

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary goal of the proposed research is to advance our understanding of the relation between domestic violence and child problems, with an emphasis on children's aggressive behavior. We plan to address a number of important conceptual and methodological limitations of existing research that constrain our ability to interpret or generalize knowledge on this topic. In addition, we will examine pathways by which domestic violence is theorized to exert its detrimental effects on children; and, importantly, we will evaluate the contribution of domestically violent men to child problems (beyond the effects of their domestic violence). Participants will be 1000 children aged 7-9 years, their mothers, and mothers' partners (in families in which mothers and partners live together). The sample will be comprised of three demographically comparable groups. The first group will include 400 children whose mothers sought shelter because of recent domestic violence. The second group will consist of 400 children whose mothers experienced recent domestic violence but have not sought shelter. The third group will include 200 children not exposed to domestic violence. Each family will participate in 3 assessments over a 12-month period; the assessments will be spaced by approximately 6 months. The assessments will include measurements of domestic violence, proximal context variables directly related to the domestic violence, family milieu variables, child responses hypothesized to mediate the relation between domestic violence and child problems, maternal and partner emotional functioning and parenting, and children's aggressive behavior and internalizing problems.