Situational Coping of Young Adolescents During Adult Domestic Violence Incidents: Results From a Qualitative Study

Background and purpose: Recent estimates indicate that seven million American children and adolescents (ages 0-17) live in households with severe adult intimate partner violence (McDonald et al., 2006). Young adolescents exposed to adult IPV are at risk of exhibiting post-traumatic symptoms, emotional and behavioral problems (Wolfe et al, 2003). They are also at risk of injury due to physical intervention in adults' IPV (Christian et al, 1997) and at risk of recreating violent patterns in their own dating relationships. Researchers have only recently begun to study situational coping responses of children/adolescents to IPV incidents. Service providers use safety planning interventions with children/adolescents exposed to IPV to address some of the potential risks they face, but these interventions were originally developed for adults and have not been studied empirically. Knowledge of what children/adolescents do during IPV incidents would inform development of sound intervention practices for increasing safety and improving psychological outcomes. Also, very little coping research on children/adolescents in general considers the goals and motivation underlying their responses to stressors. This qualitative study sought context-rich information to begin to address these gaps.

Methods: This study used Life Story methods with semi-structured interviews. A purposively recruited, culturally diverse sample (N=27) of young adolescents (ages 12-14) and their mothers (14 dyads) residing in emergency shelters provided in-depth descriptions of the adolescents' coping responses during adult IPV incidents. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and coded independently by two trained coders using categorical content analytic methods (Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach, & Zilber, 1998) with a consensus process to resolve differences (Hill et al, 2005).

Results: Findings indicate that the young adolescents had used a range of problem-focused and palliative coping responses during adult IPV incidents, including: leaving home, collaborating with family members to stay safe, calling 911, verbally or physically intervening between adults, seeking help outside the family, and palliative responses (e.g., covering ears). The most frequent coping responses reported by adolescents were leaving home (n=9, 64%) and going somewhere else inside the home (n=8, 57%). Less frequently, adolescents called 911 (n=3, 21%) or sought help from someone else outside the immediate family (n=2, 14%). Some adolescents physically intervened (n=2, 21%). Mothers' descriptions of adolescents' coping responses differed slightly from adolescent self-reports, with fewer mothers (n=6, 43%) stating that their children left home during IPV incidents. Overall, mothers reported fewer types of coping responses than adolescents. Participants provided rich data on situational coping, coping goals, and related contextual and cognitive factors during violent situations, including perceptions related to law enforcement involvement and help-seeking. The presentation will use vivid quotes to illustrate their perspectives.

Implications: Results have implications for professional practice and future research, particularly in terms of adolescents' physical intervention and reluctance to seek help outside the family or call 911. For example, future research on injury prevention may build on findings regarding adolescents' motivation to intervene physically rather than respond otherwise. The intentions adolescents described as motivating their coping responses, an advance on existing coping research, could inform further development of safety planning practices.