Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence, Psychopathology, and Functional Impairment in Children and Adolescents: Moderator Effect of Sex and Age

This longitudinal study indicates that exposure to the traumas of mass conflict and subsequent depressive symptoms play an important role in pathways leading to functional impairment in the postconflict period among women of child-rearing age. Our study, conducted in Timor-Leste, involved an analytic sample of 1292 women recruited at antenatal clinics in the capital and its surrounding districts. Women were re-interviewed at home 2 years later (77.3% retention). We applied the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire for conflict-related traumatic events, the WHO Violence Against Women Instrument covering the past year for intimate partner violence and the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS V.2.0) to assess functional impairment. A longitudinal path analysis tested direct and indirect relationships involving past conflict-related trauma exposure, depressive symptoms measured over the two time points and functional impairment at follow-up. The prevalence of predefined clinically significant depressive symptoms diminished from 19.3% to 12.8%. Nevertheless, there was a tendency for depressive symptoms to persist over time (β=0.20; p<0.001). Follow-up depressive symptoms were associated with functional impairment (β=0.35; p<0.001). Reported conflict-related trauma occurring a minimum of 6 years earlier (β=0.23; p<0.001) and past-year physical intimate partner violence (β=0.26; p<0.001) were each associated with depressive symptoms at baseline and at follow-up. A measure of poverty specific to the context and reported health problems in the mother and infant also contributed to depressive symptoms. The findings highlight the association between ongoing trauma-related depressive symptoms and the capacity of women in the childbearing age to function in multiple areas of their lives in a postconflict country. Recognition of these relationships is important in the formulation and implementation of contemporary international recovery and development policies applied to postconflict countries.

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The Association between Maternal Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence and Emotional and Behavioral Problems in Spanish Children and Adolescents

Journal of Family Violence ◽

10.1007/s10896-016-9864-5 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 32 (2) ◽

pp. 135-144 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Concepción López-Soler ◽

Mavi Alcántara-López ◽

Maravillas Castro ◽

Julio Sánchez-Meca ◽

Visitación Fernández

Keyword(s):

Intimate Partner Violence ◽

Children And Adolescents ◽

Behavioral Problems ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Intimate Partner ◽

Maternal Exposure ◽

Emotional And Behavioral Problems

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Profiles of Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260519877938 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 088626051987793 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Maria M. Galano ◽

Andrew Grogan-Kaylor ◽

Hannah M. Clark ◽

Sara F. Stein ◽

Sandra A. Graham-Bermann

Keyword(s):

Intimate Partner Violence ◽

Functional Impairment ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Latent Profile Analysis ◽

Profile Analysis ◽

Intimate Partner ◽

Childhood Exposure ◽

Stress Symptoms ◽

Wide Range ◽

Best Fitting

Childhood exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) is associated with a host of problems, including the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). PTSS include a wide range of unique symptomatology and as a result, clinical presentations of PTSS can vary in both distribution and overall number of symptoms. Work in child and adolescent samples has largely focused on factors predicting the total number of symptoms (i.e., symptom severity), with less work focused on both patterns of symptom number and distribution. Furthermore, few studies have examined how functional impairment varies in relation to PTSS presentation. The goal of the current study is to (a) document patterns of PTSS severity and distribution in children with histories of witnessing IPV, (b) examine the factors that predict different PTSS presentations, and (c) investigate how PTSS presentation is associated with functional impairment. Data for this study were drawn from a sample of 236 children between the ages of 4 and 12 years and their mothers who had experienced recent IPV. Families reported high levels of IPV in the past year, and children reported moderate levels of PTSS. A latent profile analysis of PTSS revealed that three profiles were the best-fitting model for the data. The three profiles were differentiated between low, moderate, and high levels of PTSS, and membership in the profiles varied by children’s age and trauma history. The results of this study give important information about the potential development of PTSS as well as clinically useful information about the relationship between children’s PTSS and their functioning following exposure to IPV.

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