Maternal Experiences Of Intimate Partner Violence And Adolescent Delinquency: Pathways Through Parenting Stress And Harsh Parenting Behaviors

Author ORCID Identifier

Samantha Awada: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8723-0121

Elizabeth Corning: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3075-9387

Elizabeth Shelleby: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0727-7259

Publication Title

Journal of Family Trauma, Child Custody and Child Development

ISSN

26904586

E-ISSN

26904594

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Women with children in the home are more likely to report experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) compared to women without children in the home. Consistently, research has identified an association between maternal experiences of IPV and adolescent delinquency. While research has suggested that this link may be explained through parenting factors, there are limited studies exploring sequential mediators that may explain how maternal experiences of IPV are related to distal outcomes, such as adolescent delinquency. The present study investigated mechanisms that might explain the association between early maternal experiences of IPV and adolescent delinquency. Data were collected as part of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a longitudinal birth cohort study. Using a structural equation modeling approach, parenting stress and both physically and psychologically harsh parenting behaviors were examined as sequential mediators in the association between the latent construct of maternal experiences of IPV and adolescent delinquency. Findings supported one sequential mediation mechanism: maternal parenting stress at child age five and psychologically harsh parenting at child age nine mediated the association between maternal experiences of IPV and adolescent delinquency at child age 15. In contrast, support was not demonstrated for the other proposed sequential mediation mechanism: maternal parenting stress at child age five and physically aggressive parenting at year nine did not mediate the link between maternal experiences of IPV and adolescent delinquency child age 15. The present study suggests maternal parenting stress and psychologically harsh parenting behaviors should be examined when referred for psychological services for experiences of IPV.

First Page

268

Last Page

292

Publication Date

9-10-2020

DOI

10.1080/26904586.2020.1806771

Keywords

Delinquency, harsh parenting, intimate partner violence, parenting stress

Department

Department of Psychology

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