The Relationship Between Mother-Child Concordance about High-Risk IPV and the Child's Psychological and Behavioral Concerns

Background/Purpose:Very little research published to date clarifies the association between (a) similarities and differences in mother-child reports about high-risk Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and (b) the exposed child’s psychological and behavioral concerns (e.g., Knutson et al., 2009). Identifying such relationships is germane to how IPV exposure is measured/assessed in clinical, research, and forensic applications.  To address this empirical gap, the following research questions were explored:

RQ1:Are different child behavioral and psychological concerns identified when mother-child reports about exposure to high-risk IPV differ compared to when they concur. 

RQ2:What childhood psychological and behavioral markers are associated with parent-child concordance on the following areas of high-risk IPV: physical violence, choked-weapon, mother injury visible, police involvement, homicide-suicide threat, child present, child fear, and child intervened to stop abuse. 

RQ3:  Which psychological and behavioral concerns are most closely associated with mother-child concordance?

Methods:The sample consisted of 386 heterosexual women IPV survivors and their children (ages 8-18; 178 boys, 208 girls) attending community-based group intervention.  Measurement instruments include the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991-2009), the Revised Conflict Tactic Scales (CTS-2; Straus et al., 1996), and eight risk-assessment items designed to be equivalent between the mother and the child.

Results:  Areas of agreement/disagreement were identified for each of the eight high-risk items resulting in four groups per item: (a) neither reported, (b) both reported, (c) mother reported, child did not (d) child reported, mother did not.  Items from the CTS-2 were used to further clarify mother-child agreement/disagreement. 

RQ1:ANOVAs were used to compare means between the four groups identified for each of the eight high-risk items on all 21 CBCL scales.  Overall, differences were identified in 138 of the 168 total comparisons (8-risk items by 21-behavior items). Pairwise multiple comparisons (Tukey HSD) identified the group in which neither mother or child reported the high-risk violence/abuse accounted for the largest differences across almost all of the significantly different comparisons.

RQ2:These pairwise comparisons also revealed 21 instances where parent-child disagreement was associated with behavioral concerns, all of which were in the following high-risk areas: police response, child present, child fear, and child intervened to stop abuse. 

RQ3:Hierarchical regression was then used to drill down these associations resulting in the identification of three areas child psychological and behavioral concerns most closely associated with parent-child concordance (internalizing problems, anxious depression, and anxiety problems).

Conclusions/Implications: It is important to remember that parents may not always understand the differences between their understanding about the violence that occurs in the home and that of their child. The current study furthers knowledge about these differences by identifying behavioral and psychological factors associated with mother-child concordance in relation to 8 areas associated with high-risk violence/abuse.  Congruent with previous work, findings indicate that presence of the violence/abuse is indicative of behavioral concerns, regardless of who reports it (i.e., mother, child, or both).  However, specific child behavioral and psychological concerns are identified that are associated with mother-child disagreement.  Of these, anxiety, anxious depression, and internalization were most relevant.