Examining the Protective Effects of Mental Health and Parent-Youth Relationship on the Relation between Childhood Violence Exposure and Adolescent Dating Violence Perpetration

Background and Purpose: Independently of each other, child maltreatment, childhood exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV), and adolescent dating violence (ADV) are all serious concerns. However, childhood IPV exposure and child maltreatment frequently co-occur in households, and are both associated with ADV. Yet, there are inconsistencies and limited research on these associations, as well as their co-occurrence, as they relate to ADV perpetration specifically. Furthermore, the lack of theory guiding ADV studies has limited the field’s understanding of potential risk and protective factors and has hindered further study of underlying mechanisms. To address these gaps, the current study tests a combined model of trauma theory and the developmental risk and resilience model to examine the potential mitigating effect of youth mental health as a mediator and parent-child relationship quality as a moderator on the relation between both forms of childhood violence exposure (IPV exposure and child maltreatment) and ADV perpetration.

Methods: This study utilizes data the National Survey of Teen Relationships and Intimate Violence (STRiV), which enrolled 2,354 youth and one of their caregivers at baseline and collected data over six waves. For this study, wave 1-4 data were utilized for the subsample of youth with a reported history of dating (n= 961). Violence exposure was assessed using four items for child maltreatment (e.g., pushed, grabbed, hit, or slapped child) and two items for IPV exposure (e.g., I’ve seen my caregiver be pushed, slapped, punched, beat up, or hit by their significant other). Mental health quality was measured using the 5-item Mental Health Inventory, parent-youth relationship quality was measured with eight items from the Adolescent to Adult Health questionnaire, and ADV was measured with the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory. Moderated mediation structural equation modeling was employed to answer the research questions.

Results: Results indicate a significant link between IPV exposure and ADV, as well co-occurrence (IPV exposure & child maltreatment) and ADV. The relation between child maltreatment alone and ADV was not significant. Mental health quality mediated the relation between co-occurrence and ADV. Parent-youth relationship quality was not a significant moderator.

Conclusions and Implications: This study is additive by providing additional evidence of the relation between IPV exposure and ADV perpetration, as well as novel evidence of the nuanced impact co-occurrence of both forms of violence exposure has on ADV perpetration. Furthermore, this study offers youth mental health quality as a potential, theoretically informed point of intervention for ADV programming to consider.