Intimate partner violence exposure, child maltreatment, and behavioral self-regulation in childhood: A three-wave cross-lagged study

• In Event: Informing Prevention and Intervention Programs targeting Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Abstract

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment are two related yet different types of adverse childhood experiences that bring stress to children’s development (Renner, 2021). Self-regulation is generally defined as the individual’s ability to manage and control their attention, emotions, activity, and reactivity to environmental stimuli (Kopp, 1982) The development of self-regulation has been recognized as a prerequisite to the development of cognitive functioning and social skills that enable children and adolescents to successfully negotiate complex social situations (Perry, 2019). With accumulating evidence suggesting the negative impact of IPV on self-regulation (Clark et al., 2021), it is important to (1) test and single out the effects of IPV exposure from the negative impact of direct child maltreatment and (2) examine the possible reciprocal relationships between adverse experiences and the lack of behavioral self-regulation, particularly in childhood ages 3 to 5 when coregulated behavior advances to cognitive-behavioral forms of self-regulation.
Objectives: This study first examines the predictive relations between exposure to IPV against mothers, child maltreatment, and behavioral self-regulation. Then, we examine to what extent IPV impacts the development of behavioral self-regulation in children after accounting for the effects of child maltreatment. In addition, whether the effects are differed by types of child maltreatment (physical, psychological, or neglect) with considering the bidirectional relations among the three constructs.
Methods: Using a longitudinal design, data were drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,402). Three-wave cross-lagged models were built in Amos 28 to examine the relationships among IPV exposure, child maltreatment, and behavioral self-regulation across children’s first 9 years of life. Mothers reported their IPV victimization experience (on items selected from the Conflict Tactic Scale-Revised; Straus et al., 1996), maltreatment (Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales (CTSPC); Straus et al., 1998), and children’s behavioral self-regulation (selected items from the Child Behavior Checklist; Achenbach, 1992; Boutwell & Beaver, 2010) when children were ages 3, 5, and 9. Control variables were child sex, maternal depression, maternal impulsivity, and family poverty ratio.
Results: Cross-lagged analyses revealed reciprocal effects among IPV exposure, maltreatment, and behavioral self-regulation in early childhood that persist until age 5. IPV exposure at age 3 negatively predicted levels of behavioral self-regulation at age 5 and IPV exposure at age 5 negatively predicted behavioral self-regulation at age 9 when the effects of physical abuse or neglect were controlled. All three types of maltreatment at age 3 were found to be negatively associated with lower levels of behavioral self-regulation at age 5. However, levels of behavioral self-regulation at age 9 were not found to be predicted by maltreatment at age 5.
Conclusions and Implications: The findings confirmed that IPV exposure in early childhood has negative impacts on children’s behavioral self-regulation above and beyond the effects of child maltreatment. These findings highlight the need for programs that reduce children’s experience of familial violence, especially considering the additional negative impact of child maltreatment.

Authors

• Ying Zhang, Clarkson University
  Presenting Author

• Nabiha Madre, Clarkson University