Social Context and Violence Exposure as Predictors of Internalizing Symptoms in Mothers and Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence

• Published in: Journal of family violence Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 145 - 155
• Main Authors: D’Andrea, Wendy, Graham-Berman, Sandra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.02.2017; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adjustment; Analysis; Child abuse & neglect; Child Behavior Checklist; Child development; Child psychology; Child violence; Children; Clinical Psychology; Conflict; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Domestic violence; Ecology; Environmental aspects; Families & family life; Influence; Internalization; Intimate partner violence; Law and Psychology; Maternal depression; Measures; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental depression; Methods; Mother-child relations; Mothers; Original Article; Psychotherapy and Counseling; Quality of Life Research; Race; Self esteem; Social aspects; Social environment; Social support; Symptoms; Tactics; Violence; New York; United States > US; Interpersonal violence; Development; Domestic violence; Depression; Complex trauma; Child maltreatment
• ISSN: 0885-7482; 1573-2851
• DOI: 10.1007/s10896-016-9869-0

Family and social environment may play a part in children’s post-violence adjustment. The goal of this paper is to examine which factors are related to internalizing symptoms in mothers and their children exposed to intimate partner violence. Participants were 208 mothers exposed to domestic violence. Mothers responded using the Conflict Tactics Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, and other standardized scales. They also reported on their children’s internalizing symptoms using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). For the whole group, children’s CBCL scores were related to higher maternal depression and lower maternal self-esteem. Factors determining internalizing in children varied based upon the child’s race. This study illustrates the importance of factors, such as maternal depression, maternal self-esteem, violence exposure, and social support, in determining whether a child exposed to domestic violence develops internalizing symptoms, and that ecological factors may have different effects on children based on race.