Risk for Intimate Partner Violence and Child Physical Abuse: Psychosocial Characteristics of Multirisk Male and Female Navy Recurits

• NCJ Number: 204157
• Journal: Child Maltreatment Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2004 Pages: 18-29
• Author(s): Lex L. Merrill; Julie L. Crouch; Cynthia J. Thomsen; Jennifer M. Guimond
• Date Published: February 2004
• Length: 12 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study identified the psychosocial characteristics of individuals at risk for committing both intimate partner violence (IPV risk) and child physical abuse (CPA risk).

Abstract

Study participants were selected from a sample of 3,765 U.S. Navy recruits who completed surveys at the Recruit Training Command in Orlando, FL, between January and April 1994. A final sample consisted of 1,367 recruits (775 women and 592 men). Risk for IPV perpetration was assessed with the intimate partner version of the Conflict Tactics Scale. CPA risk was assessed with the Physical Abuse Scale of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory. The Trauma Symptom Inventory was used to assess symptoms of dysphoria, posttraumatic stress, and self-dysfunction. Alcohol problems were identified with the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test. The study found that risk for either IPV or CPA nearly doubled the risk for the other form of violence. Approximately 40 percent of respondents with IPV risk were also at risk for CPA; whereas, nearly 30 percent of individuals at risk for CPA were at risk for IPV. Within the total sample, approximately 9 percent of respondents were classified as multirisk, (risk for both IPV and CPA). Each of the psychosocial characteristics assessed was positively associated with IPV risk (without controlling for CPA risk) and CPA risk (without controlling for IPV risk). Females and those with alcohol-related problems were more likely to be in the IPV-risk only (versus low-risk) group. A separate set of predictors (elevated symptoms of dysphoria, posttraumatic stress, and self-dysfunction) predicted membership in the CPS-risk only group. Predictors of multirisk included the combined set of predictors found for the IPV-risk only and CPA-risk only groups. Thus, predictors for the multirisk group were similar in nature but larger in number compared to the IPV-risk only or CPA-risk only groups. 4 tables, 3 notes, and 40 references