A Multi-National Study Exploring the Long-Term Impact of Family Violence on Internalizing and Externalizing Mental Health Problems with Asian College Students in Asia and the USA

 

Purpose: Family violence (FV) such as parental interpersonal violence (PIV) and child maltreatment (CM) exists in every segment of our global society and its detrimental impacts on various aspects of the victim’s life have been well documented. Indeed, numerous studies conducted in America with general population demonstrated that experiencing dual FV, a combination of PIV and CM, not only had an immediate negative effect on children’s developmental outcome, but also a long-tern destructive impact on later adult adjustment. For example, children exposed to dual FV exhibited much more difficulties than their non-exposed peers in areas of social, emotional, psychological and behavioral functioning as adults in later life. However, domestically (in the U.S.) and globally, very little is known about to what degree Asians are exposed to FV in childhood and how such FV experience in childhood has impacted on their internal (e.g., depression, anxiety, etc.) and external (e.g. aggression, antisocial behaviors, etc.) mental health (MH) later in life. To address this gap, this study examined the long-term impacts of FV on mental health among Asian college students in the U.S. and in the three Asian countries of China, Japan, and South Korea. More specifically, this study addressed the following research questions (RQs): 1) what are the extents of dual FV that Asian college students across the international communities experienced in their childhood? and 2) what are the long-term impacts of FV in childhood on the internalizing and externalizing MH problems among Asian college students?

Methods: By utilizing an exploratory retrospective research design, 513 college students (233 Chinese, 92 Korean, 108 Japanese, and 80 American) were recruited for this study. The majority participants are female (61.1%) with a mean age of 20.72 (SD=2.11). FV of PIV and CM in childhood were measured by the Conflict Tactics Scale and MH problems were measured by the Adult Behavior Check List.

Results: Preliminary findings show that more than half of the participants from all four countries were exposed to some level of PIV and CM, however, there was no statistical difference across the nations for both PIV and CM (RQ 1). The ANOVA test indicates the harmful long-term impacts of FV on MH for all participants, but Japanese students show a higher level of internalizing MH problems than others and Korean students showed a higher level of externalizing MH problems (RQ2). Further analysis reveals that, while there was no statistical difference with the impact of PIV on MH problems, a different type of CM abuse (physical abuse vs emotional abuse) impacts MH problems differently across the nations.    

Discussions and Implications: This study shows that regardless of residence in the global community, family violence exists and exposure to FV in childhood has negative long-term impacts on MH in later life. The findings suggest a strong global attention and action to build and nourish a violence-free and healthy family environment. More prevention, intervention and community education about family violence and its impacts, proper parenting and discipline methods, and healthy family dynamics are needed across the countries.