NCJ Number
173916
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 22 Issue: 5 Dated: May 1998 Pages: 339-357
Date Published
1998
Length
19 pages
Annotation
A birth cohort of 1,265 children in New Zealand was studied at age 18 to determine the relationships between psychosocial problems as young adults and their retrospective reports of childhood exposure to violence between the parents.
Abstract
The participants were assessed on measures of psychosocial adjustment, including mental health problems, drug abuse, and criminal offending. Results revealed that young people who reported high levels of exposure to interparental violence had elevated rates of all three kinds of adjustment problems at age 18. Analyses using multiple logistic regression revealed that much of this elevated risk was explained by social and contextual factors associated with exposure to interparental violence. However, even after adjustment for confounding factors, exposure to violence initiated by the father was associated with increased risks of anxiety, conduct disorder, and property crime. In contrast, exposure to violence initiated by the mother was associated only with increased risks of later alcohol abuse or alcoholism. Findings indicated that children who are exposed to high levels of interparental violence are an at-risk population for psychosocial adjustment problems in young adulthood. Tables and 43 references (Author abstract modified)