Adolescents at Serious Psychosocial Risk: What Is the Role of Additional Exposure to Violence in the Home?

Abstract

Research into the effects of interpartner violence on the psychosocial development of the children of maltreated mothers is a relatively new field. This work examines the impact of exposure to interpartner violence (EIPV) on minors in middle and late adolescence, where this vicarious maltreatment is in addition to other situations of severe psychosocial risk. A group of adolescents who had suffered various types of direct maltreatment were compared with another group who, in addition to experiencing direct maltreatment, had mothers who had also been the victims of interpartner violence. There were 276 participants in total (138 adolescents and their mothers) reporting via questionnaires about their experiences related to maltreatment and about maladaptation and psychological dysfunction. The results demonstrate significant dysfunction in the adolescents, especially as indicated in the mothers' reports. In addition, the results make it clear that the adolescents are actively and directly involved in the episodes of interpartner violence and that the additional negative impact of vicarious maltreatment is evident in almost every aspect of their lives. Only the attitude toward teachers scored worse in the no-EIPV group. EIPV minors scored higher on personal and social maladjustment and worse on adaptive skills, and showed a more marked tendency to internalize problems. This study emphasizes the importance of considering EIPV as a form of child maltreatment and including it in programs of protection and intervention.

Childhood exposure to domestic violence: can global estimates on the scale of exposure be obtained using existing measures?

“…The final studies, when combined, had a total sample size of 2,546 children (Mean age = 12.70, SD = 3.30), that ranged across countries (including a mixture of HICs and LMICs), with the measure being translated and administered into several languages. This includes Sweden ( 48 , 57 , 58 ), India ( 51 ), Spain ( 56 ), Brazil ( 50 ), Iraqi-Kurdistan ( 53 ), Pakistan ( 54 ), South Africa ( 55 ) and Iran ( 52 ). Despite being translated into different languages for implementation in different countries and contexts, internal consistency remained when utilizing the CEDV with diverse populations, and the results indicated that the CEDV demonstrated content, convergent, and discriminant validity ( 47 ).…”

The Validity and Reliability of Malay Version Child Exposure to Domestic Violence Scale

“…The test-retest reliability has shown that the CEDV scale is consistent over time and has indicated a positive correlation in convergent validity testing with other validated questionnaires, namely, the ‘Things I have seen and heard’ and the ‘Exposure to physical aggression’ questionnaire ( 13 ). Moreover, existing studies also demonstrated concurrent validity between CEDV scale and several outcomes related to exposure to domestic violence such as anxiety symptoms, maladjustment, reduced self-esteem and physical health complaints ( 11 , 14 , 15 ).…”

“…Existing studies have reported that the CEDV scale is reliable among diverse populations internationally with relatively high overall Cronbach’s coefficients, ranging from 0.79 to 0.97 ( 11 , 12 ). Similarly, the translated version of the CEDV scale demonstrated a good level of internal consistency, with α coefficients ranging from 0.74 to 0.89 ( 13 – 15 ). The test-retest reliability has shown that the CEDV scale is consistent over time and has indicated a positive correlation in convergent validity testing with other validated questionnaires, namely, the ‘Things I have seen and heard’ and the ‘Exposure to physical aggression’ questionnaire ( 13 ).…”

Vulnerability to Suicide Ideation: Comparative Study between Adolescents with and without Psychosocial Risk

“…In another sense, there are several protective factors that allow reducing the risk of suicide risk, acting as insulators against it, such as self-esteem [21,43], reasons for living [28], and satisfaction with social support [14,21]. According to the results obtained, at-risk adolescents showed higher self-esteem compared to not-at-risk adolescents, which contradicts the tendency for low self-esteem in this type of population [42].…”