Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence and the Harsh Parenting of Children.

While research shows that adult intimate partner violence (IPV) and harsh parenting of children co-occur, less information is available about whether specific types or patterns of IPV create greater risk for harsh parenting, and whether these patterns vary by gender. This study used latent class analysis (LCA) to examine unique patterns of IPV perpetration and victimization among men and women, and variation across patterns by gender, parenting status, and harsh parenting of children. Data are from the Lehigh Longitudinal study (n = 332). LCA produced four classes of IPV perpetration and victimization (Minor Psychological; None; Moderate; and Severe), which were invariant by gender. Although any level of IPV was associated with an increase in harsh parenting, patterns of IPV characterized by a greater number of and more severe types, were particularly associated with the use of harsh parenting toward their children for both mothers and fathers. Parents were overrepresented in all IPV classes compared to the No-IPV class. Results suggest the need for more broad screening and increased supports for parents that are tailored to different levels of need.

First, Do No Harm: From Diversity and Inclusion to Equity and Anti-racism in Interpersonal Violence Research and Scholarship.

This article aims to support interpersonal violence (IPV) researchers in promoting diversity and inclusion in their research and scholarship and urges the IPV field to advance a racial equity, anti-oppressive, and justice-driven research agenda. The article discusses a range of factors to consider at each stage of the research process as researchers seek to be inclusive, responsive to diversity concerns, and seek equity. The researcher's perspective and positionality are discussed and the importance of critical self-examination of one's position in relation to the research is emphasized. Participatory and collaborative research processes are recommended, to engage with community partners, strengthen the validity of the findings, and help ensure that the research benefits the participants. Examples illustrate ways researchers might support diversity and inclusion with respect to sampling and measurement, cultural validity, and the conceptualization and operationalization of race. Recommendations are offered to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion when analyzing data, interpreting results, and writing up the study. The importance of a strengths-based approach and structural level analysis is emphasized. This article goes beyond discussion of the minimum, "do no harm" standard that researchers should meet in attending to diversity and inclusion in research and urges the pursuit of equity, anti-racism, and justice toward dismantling those structures that perpetuate violence in its many forms. Researchers are encouraged to ask themselves: Where would I situate my research? Is it racist, not racist, or anti-racist? Not all IPV research has the goal of dismantling inequities, but we should aspire that it do so.

Intersection of child abuse and children's exposure to domestic violence.

This review addresses research on the overlap in physical child abuse and domestic violence, the prediction of child outcomes, and resilience in children exposed to family violence. The authors explore current findings on the intersection of physical child abuse and domestic violence within the context of other risk factors, including community violence and related family and environmental stressors. Evidence from the studies reviewed suggests considerable overlap, compounding effects, and possible gender differences in outcomes of violence exposure. The data indicate a need to apply a broad conceptualization of risk to the study of family violence and its effects on children. Further testing of competing theoretical models will advance understanding of the pathways through which exposure leads to later problems in youth, as well as protective factors and processes through which resilience unfolds.

Contested Discourses in Multidisciplinary Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs).

This qualitative study explored how law enforcement officers, forensic nurses, and rape crisis advocates who are members of coordinated service delivery models such as Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) describe their process of engaging with one another and managing their differences in professional orientation, statutory obligations, and power. Using semi-structured interviews with 24 SART responders including rape crisis center advocates, law enforcement, and medical personnel, we examined the ways that SART members discursively construct one another's role in the team and how this process points to unresolved tensions that can manifest in conflict. The findings in this study indicate that interdisciplinary power was negotiated through discursive processes of establishing and questioning the relative authority of team members to dictate the work of the team, expertise in terms of knowledge and experience working in the field of rape response, and the credibility of one another as qualified experts who reliably act in victims' and society's best interests. Implications of these findings for understanding and preventing the emergence of conflict in SARTs are discussed.

Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs): mapping a research agenda that incorporates an organizational perspective.

Multidisciplinary coordinated Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) are a growing model of providing health, legal, and emotional support services to victims of sexual assault. This article conceptualizes SARTs from an organizational perspective and explores three approaches to researching SARTs that have the potential of increasing our understanding of the benefits and challenges of multidisciplinary service delivery. These approaches attend to several levels of organizational behavior, including the organizational response to external legitimacy pressures, the inter-organizational networks of victim services, and the negotiation of power and disciplinary boundaries. Possible applications to organizational research on SARTs are explored.

Labeling and the effect of adolescent legal system involvement on adult outcomes for foster youth aging out of care.

This study uses labeling theory to examine the role that adolescent legal system involvement may play in initiating a process of social exclusion, leading to higher levels of adult criminal activities among foster youth who have aged out of care. We used data from the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth (Midwest Study), a prospective study that sampled 732 youth from Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin as they were preparing to leave the foster care system at ages 17 or 18. The youth were interviewed again at ages 19, 21, and 23 or 24. We used structural equation modeling to examine pathways to self-reported adult criminal behaviors from juvenile legal system involvement. The path model indicated that legal system involvement as a juvenile was associated with a lower likelihood of having a high school diploma at age 19, which was associated with a reduced likelihood of employment and increased criminal activities at age 21. Legal system involvement is more common among foster youth aging out of care, and this legal system involvement appears to contribute to a process of social exclusion by excluding former foster youth from conventional opportunities.

Measuring child maltreatment: a comparison of prospective parent reports and retrospective adolescent reports.

Using Lehigh Longitudinal Study data (N = 457), the authors compare prospective parent self-reports and retrospective adolescent reports of early childhood physical abuse, exploring their correspondence, predictive equivalence, and outcomes associated with conflicting reports. Correspondence between prospective and retrospective reports of child maltreatment was moderate (Phi = 0.27). Concurrence rates were similar for males and females. Analyses of the relative predictive capacity of prospective and retrospective measures revealed both to be significant predictors of key outcomes in adolescence. Findings support the predictive validity of both measures of childhood maltreatment and underscore the methodological challenges of measuring this important construct. Given the abundance and salience of research on the consequences of childhood maltreatment, greater attention to such measurement issues is due.

Examining the link between child abuse and youth violence: an analysis of mediating mechanisms.

This study investigates several factors as possible mediators of physical child abuse in the prediction of violence among adolescents. Prospective and retrospective measures of abuse are compared in mediation tests. Data are from the Lehigh Longitudinal Study, a prospective study of 457 children followed from preschool into adolescence. Structural equation models examined the degree to which abuse is mediated in the prediction of violence through youths' bonds to family, commitment to school, involvement with antisocial peers during adolescence, and attitudes about the use of violence. The model included measures of family socioeconomic status and youths' gender and age as controls on violence. Findings suggest that abuse (whether measured prospectively or retrospectively) is heavily mediated in its prediction of later violence and that a sizeable proportion of variance is accounted for in the violence outcome. A fuller pattern of mediation was shown when the retrospective abuse variable was modeled.

Moderating the Effects of Childhood Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence: The Roles of Parenting Characteristics and Adolescent Peer Support.

We investigate parenting characteristics and adolescent peer support as potential moderators of the effects of childhood exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) on adolescent outcomes. Lehigh Longitudinal Study (N=416) data include parent and adolescent reports of childhood IPV exposure. Exposure to IPV predicted nearly all adverse outcomes examined, however after accounting for co-occurring child abuse and early child behavior problems, IPV predicted only one outcome. Several moderator effects were identified. Parental "acceptance" of the child moderated the effects of IPV exposure on the likelihood of teenage pregnancy and running away from home. Both peer communication and peer trust moderated the relationship between exposure to IPV and depression and running from home. Peer communication also moderated the effects of IPV exposure on high school dropout. Interventions that influence parenting practices and strengthen peer support for youth exposed to IPV may increase protection and decrease risk of several tested outcomes.

Longitudinal study on the effects of child abuse and children's exposure to domestic violence, parent-child attachments, and antisocial behavior in adolescence.

This study examined the unique and combined effects of child abuse and children's exposure to domestic violence on later attachment to parents and antisocial behavior during adolescence. Analyses also investigated whether the interaction of exposure and low attachment predicted youth outcomes. Findings suggest that, although youth dually exposed to abuse and domestic violence were less attached to parents in adolescence than those who were not exposed, for those who were abused only and those who were exposed only to domestic violence, the relationship between exposure types and youth outcomes did not differ by level of attachment to parents. However, stronger bonds of attachment to parents in adolescence did appear to predict a lower risk of antisocial behavior independent of exposure status. Preventing child abuse and children's exposure to domestic violence could lessen the risk of antisocial behavior during adolescence, as could strengthening parent-child attachments in adolescence. However, strengthening attachments between parents and children after exposure may not be sufficient to counter the negative impact of earlier violence trauma in children.

The Effects of Child Abuse and Exposure to Domestic Violence on Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior Problems.

This study examines the effects of child abuse and domestic violence exposure in childhood on adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Data for this analysis are from the Lehigh Longitudinal Study, a prospective study of 457 youth addressing outcomes of family violence and resilience in individuals and families. Results show that child abuse, domestic violence, and both in combination (i.e., dual exposure) increase a child's risk for internalizing and externalizing outcomes in adolescence. When accounting for risk factors associated with additional stressors in the family and surrounding environment, only those children with dual exposure had an elevated risk of the tested outcomes compared to non-exposed youth. However, while there were some observable differences in the prediction of outcomes for children with dual exposure compared to those with single exposure (i.e., abuse only or exposure to domestic violence only), these difference were not statistically significant. Analyses showed that the effects of exposure for boys and girls are statistically comparable.

Early Child Maltreatment, Runaway Youths, and Risk of Delinquency and Victimization in Adolescence: A Mediational Model.

This article examines whether running away from home mediates the link between child maltreatment and later delinquency and victimization in adolescence. Specifically, the authors tested the hypothesis that childhood physical and psychological abuse increase the risk of a child's running away from home by the time of adolescence. Running away from home is, in turn, hypothesized to increase the risk of delinquency and victimization. Childhood sexual abuse, modeled independently of physical and psychological abuse, is hypothesized to have a similar effect on the intervening factor of running away, as well as the two adolescent outcomes: delinquency and victimization. The sample of 416 adolescents was drawn from the Lehigh Longitudinal Study conducted in a two-county area of Pennsylvania. Findings show that physical and psychological abuse predict a child's running away from home. Running away predicts later delinquency and victimization and partially mediates the effect of earlier abuse. Both child abuse and running away from home are adverse events that can be addressed through systematic prevention and intervention efforts tailored to those who have been victimized. Findings can support social workers in their efforts to advocate on behalf of child abuse victims in developing interventions and support services.

Protection against antisocial behavior in children exposed to physically abusive discipline.

PURPOSE: The study investigated protective factors (school commitment/importance, parent/peer disapproval of antisocial behavior, positive future orientation, and religion) hypothesized to lower risk for antisocial behavior among adolescents who, as children, had been physically abused. Protective factors also were investigated for comparison, nonabused children, and for children at risk on abuse and other factors: low socioeconomic status and early antisocial behavior. METHODS: Analyses used a two-step hierarchical regression approach. In step 1, age, gender, and early antisocial behavior were entered as controls. In step 2, each protective factor was entered separately as a predictor. A final regression model in each case examined the additive (combined) effect of all protective factors on a given outcome. Tests of predictor-by-group interactions were used to examine group differences. RESULTS: Among abused and nonabused children, having a strong commitment to school, having parents and peers who disapprove of antisocial behavior, and being involved in a religious community lowered rates of lifetime violence, delinquency, and status offenses. Having a positive future orientation appeared less powerful as a protective influence. Exposure to an increasing number of protective factors was for each outcome associated with a diminution in risk for antisocial behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Protective factors represent targets for preventive intervention that are viable for children as they enter adolescence. The fact that protective factors were predictive of lower antisocial behavior in both the abuse and comparison groups suggests that protective effects are more universal than they are unique to a given group of children.