Harsh Parenting As a Potential Mediator of the Association Between Intimate Partner Violence and Child Disruptive Behavior in Families With Young Children

Abstract

Young children living with intimate partner violence (IPV) are often also exposed to harsh parenting. Both forms of violence increase children’s risk for clinically significant disruptive behavior, which can place them on a developmental trajectory associated with serious psychological impairment later in life. Although it is hypothesized that IPV behaviors may spillover into harsh parenting, and thereby influence risk for disruptive behavior, relatively little is known about these processes in families with young children. The current study examines the overlap of the quality and frequency of psychological and physical forms of IPV and harsh parenting, and tests whether harsh parenting mediates the relationship between IPV and child disruptive behavior in a diverse cross-sectional sample of 81 children ages 4 to 6 years. Results suggest that mothers reporting a greater occurrence of psychologically aggressive IPV (e.g., yelling, name-calling) more often engage in psychological and physical aggression toward their children (odds ratios [ORs] = 4.6–9.9). Mothers reporting a greater occurrence of IPV in the form of physical assault more often engage in mild to more severe forms of physical punishment with potential harm to the child (ORs = 3.8–5.0). Psychological and physical forms of IPV and harsh parenting all significantly correlated with maternal reports of child disruptive behavior (r = .29–.40). Psychological harsh parenting partially mediated the association between psychological IPV and child disruptive behavior. However, a significant direct effect of psychological IPV on preschool children’s disruptive behavior remained. Implications for child welfare policy and practice and intervention, including the need for increased awareness of the negative impact of psychological IPV on young children, are discussed.

Examining Patterns of Exposure to Family Violence in Preschool Children: A Latent Class Approach

“…Child externalizing symptoms followed a linear pattern from the low-exposure to polyvictimized classes. These findings reflect the strong link between children's exposure to IPV and disruptive behavior (Evans, Davies, & Dilillo, 2008), which some studies suggest may be mediated by harsh parenting (Grasso, Henry, et al, 2016). Our harsh parenting class findings also highlight risk associated with harsh physical discipline, which was underlined in a recent meta-analysis providing evidence for an adverse effect of spanking on child outcomes, above and beyond physical abuse (Gershoff & Grogan-Kaylor, 2016).…”

“…Similar to the clinically-referred Hagan et al (2015) sample, a small, but not unsubstantial, portion of children showed patterns of polyvictimization, characterized by exposure to multiple indicators of psychological and physical violence towards the child and between caregivers. This pattern reflects the high overlap observed between IPV and harsh or abusive parenting (Edelson, 1999; Grasso et al, 2015), which may be due in part to “spillover” of violent behaviors from partner conflict to parent-child interactions (Levendosky & Graham-Bermann, 2001). A second class was likely to have experienced harsh parenting (e.g., spanking) but unlikely to have experienced physical forms of violence between caregivers.…”

“…These children have been described as polyvictims and have shown patterns of severe and chronic exposure to violence that extends across multiple contexts and developmental stages. Onset often presents early in life, when children are largely bound to the caregiving environment (Grasso, Henry, et al, 2016). For these very young children, recent data have suggested that polyvictimization may be principally defined by violence in the home, either directed towards the child or between caregivers, and may serve as a gateway to victimization that extends beyond the caregiving environment and occurs later in childhood.…”

A community-based randomized controlled trial of Mom Power parenting intervention for mothers with interpersonal trauma histories and their young children

“…In addition to heightening risk for a variety of physical and emotional symptoms, the interpersonal nature of child maltreatment and adult violence, which is often manifest in the context of close primary relationships (e.g., abuse perpetrated by a parent or intimate partner violence), may also impact the adult’s capacity to form loving and trusting relationships, to be empathic to others’ distress, and in the case of being a parent, to be sensitive and empathically attuned during interactions with the adult’s own child (Grasso et al 2015; Muzik et al 2013b). Parents who have experienced interpersonal trauma as children or adults are probabilistically more likely to be re-exposed to additional interpersonal violence across their lifespan (Whitfield et al 2003) and they are at greater risk for disrupted parenting sensitivity with subsequent cascading negative effects on their children’s development (Gustafsson et al 2015; Lyons-Ruth and Block 1996).…”

Versão Portuguesa da Escala de Perceção da Criança sobre os Conflitos Interparentais – Versão para crianças dos 7 aos 9 anos (EPCCI-C)

“…Na avaliação do fenómeno da exposição da criança aos conflitos interparentais há que ter em conta diversos fatores considerados mediadores do impacto (Overbeek, Schipper, Willemen, Lamers-Winkelman, & Schuengel, 2015;Sani, 2006a), que permitem perceber a variabilidade experiencial destas crianças, a qual se traduz em consequências diversas a curto médio e longo prazos (Almeida & Sani, 2014;Bedi & Goddard, 2007;Grasso et al, 2015;Sani, 2007). Entre estes fatores estão variáveis que apelam às construções cognitivas que cada criança elabora acerca dos conflitos violentos entre os pais (Grych & Fincham, 1990;Grych, Seid & Fincham, 1992;Jouriles, McDonald, Mueller, & Grych, 2013;Mendes & Sani, 2014, 2015 e que influenciam o seu ajustamento global.…”