Intimate Partner Violence Exposure, Relational Health, and Adopted Adolescents: Empirical Application of Relational Cultural Theory

Background & Purpose: Among adopted adolescents receiving mental and behavioral health services, exposure to pre-adoptive intimate partner violence (IPV) is a risk factor. Parental IPV exposure in early childhood places children at risk of missed opportunities for learning healthy interpersonal relationship skills, including empathy and relational attachment. One protective factor that is influential in the development of empathy and relational attachment among IPV-exposed youth is their relational health, or the degree to which they are connected to attuned and supportive adults. With Relational Cultural Theory (RCT) serving as a guiding framework for this study, it was hypothesized that early childhood IPV exposure would predict lower levels of empathy (Hypothesis 1) and relational attachment (H2) in adopted adolescents. Further, it was hypothesized that adolescents’ current relational health would moderate the association between IPV exposure and empathy (H3), and relational attachment (H4).

Methods: The sample included adolescents ages 11 – 18 years (N = 222; 54% female) receiving mental health services from an adoption service provider in a southeastern U.S. state. Measures and scoring anchors were developed by the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT), which is a neurodevelopmentally-informed approach to clinical assessment that emphasizes the timing, duration, and severity of lifetime traumatic exposure on youth functioning. NMT-trained clinicians collected assessment data upon youth intake for agency services, including measures of early childhood exposure to IPV (independent variable), empathy and relational attachment (outcome variables), and current relational health. Ordinary least squares (OLS) hierarchical regression was conducted to examine the relationship between early childhood IPV exposure and each outcome variable, while controlling for gender, age, and lifetime adversity. Moderation analysis was then conducted to determine if the relationship between IPV exposure and each outcome variable was moderated by youths’ current relational health.

Results: Early childhood IPV exposure rates were high (59.6% of sample). Change in R2 (Δ R2) between Model 1 and Model 2 was insignificant for the first two research questions, revealing that early childhood IPV was not predictive of adolescent relational attachment (Δ R2 = .01, p = .22) or empathy (Δ R2 = .003, p = .39). However, the adversity covariate was a significant predictor of both relational attachment (β = -.19, p < .01) and empathy (β = -.14, p < .05). Although current relational health had a significant direct effect on relational attachment (b = .06, p < .001) and empathy (b = .06, p < .001), the interaction effect was insignificant for both moderation models.

Conclusions & Implications: Although the interaction effects were insignificant, current relational health was still found to have a significant direct effect on adopted adolescents’ empathy and relational attachment, which provides preliminary support for the theoretical underpinnings of RCT. Within the context of growth-fostering relationships, RCT asserts that adolescents have the capacity to develop skills in attunement, empathy, and secure relational attachments. In turn, these skills can be translated to other relational contexts, thus contributing to overall well-being. Implications for supportive services for adopted adolescents are discussed.