آثار خشونت خانگی در مشکلات رفتاری کودکان: بررسی نقش تعدیل کننده فقر و وضعیت تأهل

Using four waves across 5 years of a recent longitudinal dataset, this study examined whether the effects of domestic violence at Year 1 on children's behavior problems at Year 5 differed by poverty and marital status. Findings from multiple-group structural equation modeling revealed that children in poor families were less affected by domestic violence than those in non-poor families, for both externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Children in unmarried-mother families were more affected by domestic violence for externalizing behavior problems, whereas they were less affected for internalizing behavior problems, compared to children in married-mother families. Findings from this study highlight that the effects of domestic violence on the behavior problems of children vary by socioeconomic categories, such as poverty and marital status, and, therefore, that children's and their mothers' needs in violent families may vary widely as well.

At least 1 in 4 women during their lifetime have been physically, emotionally, or sexually abused by an intimate partner (Coker et al., 2002 and Straus and Gelles, 1986) and these women frequently suffer from mental health problems and parenting difficulties (Campbell and Soeken, 1997 and O'Keefe, 1994). The mental health problems and parenting difficulties experienced by abused women have been considered as key factors that may mediate the effects of domestic violence on children's behavioral outcomes (Huang et al., 2010, Levendosky and Graham-Bermann, 1998, Levendosky et al., 2003 and Schoppe-Sullivan, 2007). Although the domestic violence is a problem affecting all women and children, research suggests that low-income and unmarried women are far more likely to experience domestic violence (Davis et al., 1997, Fantuzzo et al., 1997, Frias and Angel, 2007 and Vest et al., 2002), and that the risks of experiencing mental health problems and parenting difficulties associated with domestic violence may be greater for the women and their children (Brown and Moran, 1997, Conger et al., 2010, Goodman et al., 2009 and Tolman and Rosen, 2001). However, the effects of domestic violence combined with socioeconomic categories such as poverty and unmarried-mother status, on women and children have not fully researched. Most studies in this area have commonly considered poverty (or income) and marital status as control variables but have not focused on their moderating roles in the effects of domestic violence on children's behavioral outcomes (Goodman et al., 2009). Therefore, investigating the effects that domestic violence has on women and children across a variety of social categories is critical in order to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of domestic violence and to develop more adequate policies and services for supporting domestic violence victims and their children. Using the first four waves of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this study examines whether the negative effects of domestic violence at Year 1 on children's behavioral outcomes at Year 5 vary depending on poverty and marital status and whether those effects more matter for poor families than for non-poor families, and for unmarried-mother families than married-mother families.

Using four waves across 5 years of a recent longitudinal dataset, this study tested whether the effects of domestic violence toward mother at Year 1 on children's behavior problems at Year 5 differ by poverty and marital status. The findings showed that the effects of domestic violence at Year 1 varied for poor versus non-poor families and for married versus unmarried families. First, the findings in this study showed that domestic violence was commonly interconnected with poverty but that this relationship did not necessarily intensify the consequences of abuse for mothers and their children. This study revealed an interesting and puzzling finding that mothers and children living in poverty were less affected by domestic violence than those who were not in poverty. For children's externalizing behavior problems at Year 5, the effects of domestic violence at Year 1 were direct and partially mediated through maternal spanking at Year 3 for non-poor families but not for poor families. For children's internalizing behavior problems, domestic violence at Year 1 had a direct effect on children's behavior problems at Year 5, but the effect was not mediated through maternal mental health or parenting at Year 3 in both poor and non-poor families. However, the direct and total effects of domestic violence on internalizing problems of children were bigger for non-poor than poor families. The findings in this study are not consistent with stress and resource theory and support resilience theory. With respect to the findings, it might be possible that poor children have more resilience than children not in poverty, despite facing significant multiple adversities. Limited research has addressed how poor children cope with domestic violence exposure and additional difficulties, but several studies have suggested that resilience among young children who are exposed to domestic violence and other adversities, such as family dysfunction and poverty, is not as rare as once thought (Gewirtz and Edleson, 2007, Grych et al., 2000, Kitzmann et al., 2003 and Sullivan et al., 2000). At least half of shelter-residing children in these studies exhibited no behavior problems. Still, the findings from these studies do not mean that these children are unaffected by domestic violence; rather, a range of resilient or protective factors may influence the extent of the impact of exposure to domestic violence on the child's outcomes. It is possible that the domestic violence may be more normal in poor neighborhoods and thus children living in poverty actually may be less affected by domestic violence. Alternatively, it might also be possible that poor mothers and children could be better helped through social support within the family and the community (Gewirtz & Edleson, 2007). Future research is needed to explore what factors may ameliorate or exacerbate the effects of domestic violence on the behavior problems of children in poverty. Second, this study showed that the impacts of domestic violence for children in married- and unmarried-mother families varied depending on the types of behavioral outcomes of children in this study. That is, for children's externalizing behavior problems at Year 5, the effects of domestic violence at Year 1 were bigger for unmarried-mother than for married-mother families. For children's internalizing behavior problems at Year 5, in contrast, the effects of domestic violence at Year 1 were bigger for married-mother than for unmarried-mother families. Specifically, for externalizing behavior problems of children at Year 5, the negative effects of domestic violence at Year 1 were direct and mediated through maternal mental health and spanking at Year 3 in unmarried-mother group only. For internalizing behavior problems at Year 5, domestic violence at Year 1 had a direct effect in both unmarried-mother and married-mother families. However, the direct and total effects of domestic violence at Year 1 on children's internalizing behavior problems at Year 5 were bigger for married-mother than for unmarried-mother families. This study revealed an interesting finding that marital status functioned differently for the relationships between domestic violence and externalizing behavior problems of children and for the relationship between domestic violence and internalizing behavior problems of children. It may not be clear why unmarried-mother families were less affected by domestic violence in terms of children's internalizing behavior problems. As a potential explanation, the unexpected findings might be related to length of exposure to domestic violence. One of limitations in this study was that this study did not measure whether the domestic violence was a one-time event that happened at Year 1 or that was ongoing in subsequent waves. If mothers in this study experienced domestic violence at Year 1 and she was married, they were more likely to still live with the child's father in subsequent waves and thus domestic violence could continue for a longer period in married-mother families. Unmarried mothers were less likely to live with the child's father in subsequent waves and therefore their children might be exposed to domestic violence for a shorter period. Previous studies found that long-term and continued abuse was associated with greater mental health problems (Campbell & Soeken, 1997). Given that internalizing behaviors is related to long-term process through which social interactions and the related emotions become part of the child's mental functions, the children's exposure to domestic violence for longer period may be more related to internalizing behavior problems. If children in married-mother families might be exposed to domestic violence for longer period, they may internalize their negative emotions related to domestic violence more. Still, further research with different data is required to fully understand how marital status functions in the effects of domestic violence on different types of behavior problems of children. This study has some limitations. First, the information on domestic violence, maternal mental health, and children's behavior problems relied on maternal reports, which might have led to single-reporter bias. Second, the substantial loss of data due to sample attrition across six surveys, as well as incomplete data for the variables used in this study, also might have influenced the results in this study. Third, father's effects in relationship between domestic violence and children's behavior were absent in the study. Father's mental health and parenting might have had an impact on children's behavior problems. Fourth, the measure of domestic violence and maternal parenting behavior may have been limitations in this study. For example, while the measure of domestic violence in this study appeared to capture the various types of violence, it remains a problem that the measure was based on a few items. Fifth, this study focused on two categories of marital status: married and unmarried. Studies have found a great deal of variation in parents' relationship status and father involvement (i.e., married, cohabitating, nonresident, and noninvolved nonresident fathers; Huang et al., 2010 and Meadows et al., 2007) and that the relationship status with child's father influences mother's experience of domestic violence (Gewirtz and Edleson, 2007 and Huang et al., 2010). This study highlights that the effects of domestic violence toward mother on children's behavior problems varied by socioeconomic conditions such as poverty and marital status; this variation indicates that children's and mothers' needs in violent families also vary greatly. The most interesting findings in this study were that children from poor families were less influenced by domestic violence than children in non-poor families, suggesting that poor families are more resilient in facing domestic violence and its associated family stressors. Although more research is required to fully understand these relationships, the findings in this study suggest that domestic violence in the context of low socioeconomic status does not necessarily intensify the negative consequences of abuse for women and children. Rather, this study suggests that there is wide variation in children's and mothers' experiences in violent families, depending on a variety of sub-populations, and many risk and protective factors may contribute to the dynamics of these children's and mothers' experiences. As such, it is critical for social service professionals to conduct open-minded and holistic assessments that account for the risk and protective factors in every family before drawing conclusions about the risks and harm to specific children and their mothers. This approach should help service providers respond more effectively to the individual needs of every family. Linking a family with supportive resources and intervention programs that fit their needs may help mothers and children cope with domestic violence and other related challenges more effectively.