Parenting and IPV: Insights from a Longitudinal Study

Introduction: The cyclical multi-generational nature of intimate partner violence (IPV) and its detrimental impact on the health and safety of children has been well documented. As evidenced by deficits in parent-child relationships (e.g. disrupted attachment, harsh parenting) and child development (e.g. increased medical problems, developmental delays), IPV puts enormous strain on the family unit. Further evidence for the effect of this stress is that child maltreatment and IPV often co-occur, with estimates ranging from 18-67% of cases. Finally, children and adolescents exposed to IPV are at heightened risk for subsequent teen dating violence and adult IPV victimization and perpetration. This documented cycle then exposes yet another generation to violence and its related impacts. Despite the negative and intergenerational consequences of IPV on individual and family health, few effective family-level interventions exist. Indeed, the field is limited by insufficient knowledge about the role of parental stress on IPV, as well as potential protective factors (e.g., positive parenting skills), which may mitigate the risk for child maltreatment in the context of violence in the home. Methods: We used Waves 10-12 (2021 -2023, respectively) from an ongoing 15 year/13 wave longitudinal study of IPV among 1,042 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse participants. We recruited and assessed Freshman high school students (Mage=15) in 2010, with follow-ups annually from 2011 through 2023 (from age 16 through age 28; 56% female). The sample is primarily African American (30%), White (31%), and Hispanic (31%). Annual assessments of IPV victimization and perpetration are conducted with the well-validated and behaviorally-specific Conflict in Adolescent Relationship Inventory. We also used established measures to assess child abuse potential, parental stress, and positive parenting skills. Results: Based on data from our 2023 assessment (Mage=28), 42% of our sample (n=337) are currently parenting at least one (41%), two (39%), or 3 or more children (20%). Of our parenting participants, 32% report their oldest child is four or younger, and the plurality (49%) have an oldest child aged 5-9. Parenting participants are majority female (68%), people of color (76%), working full time (66.5%), and with household incomes <$50,000 annually (55%). Over 45% (n=152) reported physical or sexual IPV victimization and/or perpetration in the past three years (Waves 10-12). Parenting participants with past three-year IPV experiences report significantly higher levels of parental stress (p=0.002) and child maltreatment potential (p=0.001) and significantly lower positive parenting skills (supportive, p=0.021; proactive, p=0.035; and limit setting, p=0.003). Discussion: Relative to their counterparts without IPV experiences, parents who recently experienced IPV reported more stress, were less likely to use positive parenting strategies, and had higher potential for child maltreatment. While these findings reinforce the urgent need to prevent IPV in the first place, results also emphasize that child maltreatment prevention and healthy development promotion efforts will benefit from 1) parenting interventions, especially when IPV is involved, that focus on teaching positive parenting skills; and 2) clinical efforts that reduce stress and anxiety among people in violent relationships.