The Association between Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence and Child Bullying Behaviors

Background/Purpose: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an urgent public health problem in the United States. Approximately 16% of children in the United States have witnessed a violent assault in their home at some point during their lifetime. Child exposure to IPV is associated with numerous negative consequences, including an increased risk of developing externalizing disorders in childhood. Specifically, studies have found that exposure to IPV is associated with greater perpetration of bullying behavior. Extensive research points to long-term negative outcomes for both victims and perpetrators of bullying behavior. The current study seeks to examine the relationship between child exposure to parental IPV and perpetration of bullying behavior within the context of child, parent, family, and community factors through the use of a nationally representative dataset.

Methods: The data for this study came from the 2011/12 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), a nationally representative survey used to assess the physical and emotional health of children (0–17 years) and identify factors related to child well-being (N=95,677). Sampling weights were used to adjust for nonresponse and unequal selection bias, yielding results representative of all noninstitutionalized children. We employed two multivariate regression models. In our first model, we examined the relationship between exposure to parental IPV and bullying behavior, while controlling for parent and child demographics. In our second, expanded model we included all of the “adverse childhood experiences” (ACE) variables (e.g., extreme economic hardship, parental divorce/separation, parental incarceration, witnessing of neighborhood violence, parental substance abuse, parental mental illness, parental death, discrimination due to race or ethnicity), as well as parent-child relationship quality and parental coping skills.

Results: The relationship between exposure to parental IPV and bullying behavior was significant in both regression models. Specifically, in our first model, exposure to parental IPV significantly increased risk for child bullying perpetration (b = 0.66, p < .001) after controlling for the child’s race, gender and age, as well as family income and parent education level. Further, in our second model, the effect of exposure to parental IPV (b = 0.37, p < .001) was slightly attenuated but remained significant, even after controlling for demographic variables, parent-child relationship, parental coping skills, and all other ACEs.

Conclusion/Implications: This is the first study to find that exposure to parental IPV predicts bullying behavior in a nationally representative sample. Moreover, child exposure to parental IPV remained a strong predictor of bullying, even after controlling for a variety of child, family and community circumstances. Given the strength of this relationship, it is critical that children who have been exposed to parental IPV are assessed for potential perpetration of bullying behavior. Conversely, children who are perpetrating bullying behavior should be assessed for potential adverse circumstances occurring at home, including exposure to parental IPV. Professionals in clinical, child welfare, education or other settings that work with families and children should be made aware of the relationship between parental IPV exposure and bullying behavior and trained on how to effectively identify and respond.