Exposure of youth to violence in their families and communities is a serious societal problem because of the number of youth who experience violence and the documented toll of violence on youth's physical, emotional, and academic adjustment [1]. Approximately 5-16% of youth are recipients of parent's severe aggression or abuse, and over 50% experience minor parental aggression including corporal punishment [2]. Interparental aggression is experienced by 29% of youth in two-parent households [3], whereas community violence is directly experienced by 30-50% and witnessed by over 90% of youth [4].The need for integrated approaches to examining violence exposure arises from mounting evidence that children who experience violence in one domain have an increased likelihood of violence in other domains [5,6,7]. Hundreds of studies examining separate types of violence exposure show wide ranging negative outcomes including aggression and delinquency, emotional and mood disorders, post-traumatic stress symptoms, risk-taking behaviors, and compromised cognitive performance [8]. However, the compartmentalization of literatures on exposure to marital aggression, parent-to-child aggression, and community violence has limited our overall understanding of the impact of violence. The present study integrates these three interpersonal domains of violence exposure in two ways. First, using frequency counts, we examine whether different interpersonal domains of violence exposure are uniquely associated with specific symptoms. Second, we assess the impact of cumulative violence exposure that sums presence vs. absence of violence across domains and years.Direct comparisons linking specific violence exposure types with specific outcomes are relatively rare. In a study of youth receiving mental health services, community violence and maltreatment contributed uniquely to conduct disorders, whereas domestic violence did not, and community violence, but not maltreatment and domestic violence, predicted externalizing behavior [9]. In a sample of youth identified by child protective services, harsh physical discipline was associated with externalizing, whereas witnessing home violence was associated with internalizing behaviors [10]. A school-based study [11] examining school, home and neighborhood violence reported that school and home exposure predicted internalizing symptoms whereas only home exposure predicted delinquency and overt Corresponding Author: Gayla Margolin, Ph.D., University of Southern California, Psychology Department-SGM 930, 3620 McClintock, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1061, Telephone: 213-740-2308.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the con...

Research has established that academic intrinsic motivation, enjoyment of school learning without receipt of external rewards, significantly declines across childhood through adolescence. Math intrinsic motivation evidences the most severe decline compared with other subject areas. This study addresses this developmental decline in math intrinsic motivation, and also serves as a resource for applied researchers by providing exemplary illustrations of approaches to longitudinal modeling. Using a multivariate latent change model, the longitudinal relationship between academic intrinsic math motivation and math achievement among participants ( n = 114) aged 9—17 years was examined to explain this motivational decline. On average, both math motivation and achievement decreased over time. This study reveals that math achievement is a significant contributor to the developmental decline in intrinsic math motivation from childhood through adolescence. In addition, academic intrinsic math motivation was found to be related to initial and later levels of mathematics achievement. These findings enhance understanding of developmental processes whereby early motivation and achievement are related to subsequent declines in mathematics.

Despite considerable research on the effects of husband-to-wife aggression, family-of-origin aggression, and child abuse potential, information is limited regarding the co-occurrence of these three family aggression factors and their impact on specific positive and negative dimensions of parenting. This article examines the separate and additive influences of these family aggression variables on mothers’ and fathers’ parenting in two samples of community families. Co-occurrence rates for husband-to-wife aggression and family-of-origin aggression range from 9% to 12%. Co-occurrence rates for husband-to-wife aggression and child abuse potential range from 6% to 14%, with correlations ranging from .25 to .48. Husband-to-wife aggression is associated with several categories of disrupted parenting. Comparisons of parents with zero, one, or two to three of the family aggression risk variables reveal significant group differences, particularly in parents’ discipline control strategies. The discussion addresses the importance of assessing multiple family aggression factors and the implications for intervention and prevention.

A longitudinal approach was used to examine the effects of parental task-intrinsic and task-extrinsic motivational practices on academic intrinsic motivation in the subject areas of math and science. Parental task-intrinsic practices comprise encouragement of children's pleasure and engagement in the learning process, whereas task-extrinsic practices comprise parents' provision of external rewards and consequences contingent on children's task performance. A conditional latent curve model was fit to data from the Fullerton Longitudinal Study (A. W. Gottfried, A. E. Gottfried, & D. W. Guerin, 2006), with academic intrinsic motivation in math and science assessed from ages 9 to 17 and parental motivational practices measured when children were age 9. The results indicated that task-intrinsic practices were beneficial with regard to children's initial levels of motivation at age 9 as well as with regard to motivational decline through age 17. Conversely, parents' use of task-extrinsic practices was adverse with regard to children's motivation both at age 9 and across the 8-year interval. Theoretical implications of the findings with regard to academic intrinsic motivation are discussed.

With considerable literature establishing how separate types of violence disrupt the lives of children, there is emerging interest in examining violence across multiple interpersonal domains. This paper examines four commonly occurring and frequently researched domains of violence exposure: marital physical aggression, mother-to-youth aggression, father-to-youth aggression, and community violence. A community-based sample of 103 parents and youth provided three waves of data at annual intervals beginning when the youth were aged 9–10. We explored stability of exposure, co-occurrence across different types of violence exposure, and associations with co-occurring risk factors. Approximately 30–45% of youth reported intermittent exposure over the 3 years. In addition to overlap among types of violence exposure within the family, we found overlap between parent-to-youth aggression and community violence, an association that was exacerbated in families where fathers reported high levels of global distress symptoms. Mother-to-youth, father-to-youth, and community violence related to youth behavior problems beyond the contextual risk factors of low income, stressful life events, and parents’ global distress symptoms. These results highlight the importance of examining violence longitudinally, across multiple types, and with attention to contextual factors.

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The present study examined how marital conflict may compromise parenting by identifying interdependencies across marital and parent-child subsystems in a sample of 86 two-parent families with a child aged 9-13. The study used direct observation of three family discussions to examine interdependencies across family subsystems. The study also assessed whether a history of husband-to-wife aggression strengthened interdependencies. Overall, families with husband-to-wife aggression showed a negative tone that pervaded throughout the family. Consistent with theories about physically aggressive men tending to withdraw from conflict, fathers who had engaged in husband-to-wife aggression showed an association between marital hostilities and lower levels of empathy toward their children. Consistent with stress theories, women who had been exposed to husband-to-wife aggression showed a link between marital hostilities and negative affect when interacting with their children. These findings illustrate how a history of exposure to marital aggression can create a family environment of multiple risks for children. For children in families with prior marital aggression, ongoing marital hostilities can be linked to the additional risk of erosions in parental support. Within the large sphere of influences on child development, family relationships contribute significantly to children's behavioral and developmental well-being~Caspi, 1993;