Effects of Child Abuse and Exposure to Domestic Violence on Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior Problems

• NCJ Number: 229964
• Journal: Journal of Family Violence Volume: 25 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2010 Pages: 53-63
• Author(s): Carrie A. Moylan; Todd I. Herrenkohl; Cindy Sousa; Emiko A. Tajima; Roy C. Herrenkohl; M. Jean Russo
• Date Published: January 2010
• Length: 11 pages
• Grant Number(s): 1 RO1 HD049767-01A2
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD); Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examines the effects of child abuse and domestic violence exposure in childhood on adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors.

Abstract

Data for this analysis are from the Lehigh Longitudinal Study, a prospective study of 457 youth addressing outcomes of family violence and resilience in individuals and families. Results show that child abuse, domestic violence, and both in combination (i.e., dual exposure) increase a child's risk for internalizing and externalizing outcomes in adolescence. When accounting for risk factors associated with additional stressors in the family and surrounding environment, only those children with dual exposure had an elevated risk of the tested outcomes compared to non-exposed youth. However, while there were some observable differences in the prediction of outcomes for children with dual exposure compared to those with single exposure (i.e., abuse only or exposure to domestic violence only), these difference were not statistically significant. Analyses showed that the effects of exposure for boys and girls are statistically comparable. Tables and references (Published Abstract)