Using Holden's taxonomy of domestic violence (DV) exposure as a guiding framework, the current study examined young adults' diverse DV exposure experiences. Twenty-five young adults (ages 19-25) exposed to father-perpetrated DV during their childhood and adolescence were interviewed using a qualitative descriptive design. Data analyses focused on coercive control exposure through reports of non-physical abuse tactics, types of exposure (e.g., direct, indirect), physical violence exposure (e.g., severity, frequency), and child abuse and harsh parenting practices. DV-exposed young adults were directly and indirectly exposed to physical violence and an array of non-physical abuse tactics toward their mothers. Young adults categorized as having been exposed to coercive controlling violence reported exposure to ongoing, non-physical abuse tactics and more frequent and severe physical violence. These young adults were also more likely to intervene and become victimized during physical violence and reported repeated episodes of child abuse and harsh parenting. Although coercive control appeared to be associated with physical violence and child abuse, generalizations should be made with caution as a few participants exposed to situational conflict were exposed to frequent and severe DV. The findings suggest that DV exposure should be measured in methodologically sophisticated ways to capture the heterogeneity in experiences, with the goal of promoting empirically driven intervention and prevention initiatives that are tailored to individual and family needs.

Objective To qualitatively examine fathering and father–child relationships from the perspective of young adult women who grew up with maritally violent fathers. Background Maritally violent men are consistently described as volatile, unresponsive, self‐centered, and often abusive. Yet domestic violence (DV) perpetrators are not homogenous, suggesting that maritally violent fathers may not be homogenous either. The revised tripartite model of father involvement and Johnson's typology of DV were applied to better understand how maritally violent men father. Method A theoretical thematic analysis was conducted based on interview data from a volunteer sample of 23 young adult women who were exposed to father‐perpetrated marital violence during childhood and adolescence. Results Findings were consistent with the small body of literature on fathering by maritally violent men, suggesting that these men as fathers are generally volatile, lack warmth and responsiveness, are disengaged, and sometimes are controlling and abusive. Nevertheless, dissimilarities in fathering and father–child relationships over time were identified such that participants categorized into coercive controlling violence exposure reported uniformly negative fathering experiences, whereas greater variability existed within the situational couple violence groups' recollections of their fathers over time. Implications Findings suggest that practitioners should take into consideration the context in which DV occurs when working with maritally violent men as fathers, while erring on the side of caution and safety for victimized women and their children.