The impact of less severe intimate partner aggression on child conduct problems

TL;DR

Children exposed to less severe forms of intimate partner aggression are more likely to develop conduct problems, with effects that persist into childhood and are only partly explained by maternal depression.

Contribution

This study demonstrates that even less severe forms of intimate partner aggression impact child conduct problems, independent of maternal depression and unaffected by maternal warmth.

Findings

Intimate partner aggression predicts child conduct problems at different ages, regardless of the reporter.

Maternal depression partially mediates the effect of intimate partner aggression on child conduct problems.

Maternal warmth does not moderate the negative impact of intimate partner aggression on child behavior.

Abstract

Significant intimate partner aggression (IPA) has been found to negatively impact outcomes of children, such as increased conduct problems (CP). However, it is unclear if forms of IPA that are less severe (e.g., shoving, pushing or yelling) have no, little, or substantial impact on child CP, which would indicate that the intensity (i.e., dosage) of IPA matters. In addition, it is unknown if the impact of IPA on child CP depends on the reporter (mother vs. partner) and on variables such as maternal depression and parenting.

We investigated the impact of IPA (both mother‐ and partner‐reported), assessed during pregnancy and 9 months postpartum, on child CP at ages 2, 4.5, and 8 years. We also tested both the potential mediating role of maternal depression and moderating role of maternal warmth, reflecting risk and protective factors, respectively. Using longitudinal data from the Growing Up in New Zealand study, we tested path models with 5298 children.

IPA predicted greater child CP for both mother‐ and partner‐reported IPA, but at different age. Maternal depression partly mediated this effect, which was not moderated by maternal warmth.

These findings underscore the importance of exposure to IPA on child development and provides evidence for that impact on behaviour independent of the effects of maternal depression. Positive parenting like maternal warmth seems not to buffer those negative effects.

Children who were exposed to intimate partner aggression in their early development have a higher chance to show conduct problems later in childhood. This effect is only partially explained by maternal depressive symptoms. In addition, maternal warmth cannot buffer this impact.

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