Family violence in childhood and current intimate partner violence: Role of emotions and drinking

• In Event: Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Topic - Social Relationships

Abstract

Domestic violence impacts millions of families, creating a public health concern with great economic and social cost. Research implicates childhood exposure to family violence (FV; i.e. interparental, child-directed) as a risk factor for intergenerational transmission of aggression (Haj-Yahia et al., 2019; Kimber et al., 2018). Potential moderators of the risk for transmission include emotion regulation difficulties (ERD; Oliveros & Coleman, 2019) and alcohol abuse (Foran & O’Leary, 2008). Specifically, intimate partner violence (IPV) has been associated with alcohol use (McKinney et al., 2010). The nature of this association varies, however, depending on how alcohol use is operationalized, with larger effect sizes found for measures of problem drinking (i.e., bingeing, consequences) than for frequency (Foran & O’Leary, 2008). ERD may predict such drinking behaviors (Estevez et al., 2017). These findings call for measuring multiple aspects of drinking to elucidate its influence on IPV (Cafferky et al., 2016). Thus, we incorporated ERD and aspects of drinking (i.e., consumption, dependence, problem) into a model examining the association between childhood exposure to FV and psychological IPV (PIPV) perpetration. We expected problem drinking, in combination with ERD, to be the strongest amplifier of the risk for PIPV perpetration in those with childhood exposure to FV (Figure 1).

Emerging adults (N = 610) in a southern university, part of a larger study on adversities, rated exposure to FV on the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (CTSPC; Straus et al., 1998) and Revised CTS (Straus et al., 1996). Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004) and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (Saunders et al., 1993) measured ERD and alcohol use, respectively.

Moderated mediation analyses (Hayes, 2013; PROCESS model 14) tested whether alcohol measures moderate the effect of ERD on the relation between FV exposure and current PIPV perpetration. Results indicated that alcohol consumption (b = 0.91, SE = .41, p < .05), alcohol dependence (b = 1.73, SE = .85, p < .05), and problem drinking (b = 1.82, SE = .47, p < .01) were significant predictors of PIPV perpetration, although none of the interactions were significant. Although PIPV was predicted significantly by each aspect of drinking and by DER, the expected moderation was not significant. Exposure to FV predicted PIPV but ERD and alcohol did not mediate/explain the process. Given prior studies using ERD subscales identified lack of emotional clarity as a predictor of PIPV perpetration (Bliton et al., 2016; Shorey et al., 2011), we ran post-hoc analyses of our model replacing total ERD with emotional clarity (results depicted in Figure 1).

Our results are consistent with previous findings that aspects of alcohol use predict PIPV differentially (Foran & O’Leary, 2008). Our study extends previous literature by showing an interaction between lack of emotional clarity and dependence/problem drinking in predicting greater PIPV perpetration for emerging adults with childhood exposure to FV. Furthermore, the findings suggest that PIPV perpetration increases in individuals with greater dependence/problem drinking and that difficulties identifying one’s emotions increase risk of PIPV. Limitations and future research directions will be discussed.

Authors

• Deepali Dhruve, Mississippi State University
  Presenting Author

• Arazais D Oliveros, Mississippi State University
  Non-Presenting Author