Childhood Exposure to Family Violence, Residential Instability, and Parental Incarceration: Compounding Household Adversities and Adolescent Delinquency

Abstract

Objectives: Although childhood exposure to family violence has been linked to crime and delinquency over the life course, it rarely occurs in isolation from other household hardships. Drawing from developmental hypotheses of cumulative disadvantage and disadvantage saturation, we examine how the effect of childhood exposure to family violence (i.e., witnessing violence against one's mother) on adolescent delinquency varies when it co-occurs with two interrelated familial adversities: residential instability and parental incarceration. Methods: Using longitudinal data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study ( N = 3,191), we assess categorical combinations of childhood exposure to family violence, residential instability, and parental incarceration (years 3–9) on adolescent delinquency (year 15). Logistic regression models are specified for overall, nonviolent, and violent delinquency, controlling for a host of confounding variables. Results: Exposure to family violence has the strongest association with delinquency when combined with childhood residential instability and parental incarceration. The findings align with the cumulative disadvantage hypothesis, and these patterns are strongest for overall and nonviolent delinquency outcomes. Conclusions: Life-course research should explicitly consider the broader landscape of adversity in which childhood exposure to family violence occurs, recognizing that its long-term effects may be contingent upon or amplified by co-occurring household hardships.