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Mother's exposure to domestic and community violence and its association with child's behavioral outcomes
Author(s) -
Chen WanYi,
Lee Yookyong
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.22508
Subject(s) - aggression , domestic violence , psychology , fragile families and child wellbeing study , anxiety , intervention (counseling) , poison control , clinical psychology , suicide prevention , injury prevention , depression (economics) , association (psychology) , developmental psychology , psychiatry , medicine , medical emergency , psychotherapist , economics , macroeconomics
This study investigated the potential cumulative effect of maternal exposure to violence both at home and in community on children. This study used the data ( N = 2506) from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. We found that maternal nonphysical victimization, either by witnessing violence in the community or by experiencing psychological domestic violence, had a direct negative effect on children's depression and anxiety. Maternal nonphysical victimization also indirectly elevated child's aggression through mother's use of psychological and physical aggression toward the child. Witnessing community violence by mothers, directly and indirectly, worsened the child's withdrawal behaviors through the mother's psychological aggression toward the child. Mother's direct victimization by community violence and physical domestic violence was not related to child's behavioral outcomes after controlling for other risk factors. This study points to important considerations for devising intervention and prevention for mothers and children. Implications for research and practice are discussed.