Types of Adolescent Exposure to Violence as Predictors of Adult Intimate Partner Violence

• NCJ Number: 247105
• Journal: Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 38 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2014 Pages: 627-639
• Author(s): Scott Menard; Andrea J. Weiss; Robert J. Franzese; Herbert C. Covey
• Date Published: April 2014
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the association between physical abuse, witnessing parental violence, and exposure to violence in the community during the adolescent years with the perpetration of and/or being a victim of intimate partner violence (IPV) in middle age.

Abstract

The study found that exposure to violence in adolescence was primarily associated with selection out of being in a married or cohabiting relationship in middle age, particularly for females. The most conservative interpretation of the results is that considering only results significant at the .05 level or better, physical abuse in adolescence was associated with IPV as an adult only for males and only for the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) general violence perpetration. For females, physical abuse in adolescence was associated not so much with IPV but rather with not being married or cohabiting, which places them out of the at-risk group for IPV. For females, but not for males, general violent victimization, not family and neighborhood violent victimization, predicted adult violence perpetration and victimization. The hypothesis that witnessing parental violence is associated with adult IPV was not supported. The hypothesis that exposure to neighborhood violence would be predictive of increased adult IPV was also not supported. For females, adolescent general violence victimization was associated with higher general violence perpetration and victimization in adulthood. Respondents were drawn from a nationally representative longitudinal sample from which data were collected for the period 1976-77 to 2002-03, beginning with interviews at ages 11-17 and then at ages 37-43 at the last interview. Univariate descriptive statistics and bivariate correlation are presented, along with the Heckman two-step model, which allows prediction of selection out of intimate partner relationships. Implications are drawn for targeted gender-based interventions in both adolescence and adulthood. 8 tables and 81 references