Is Emotion Regulation the Key to Breaking the Cycle of Violence? The Roles of Emotion Regulation in Buffering the Effects of a Childhood History of Maltreatment on Intimate Partner Violence in Emerging Adulthood
Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: Extant literature has demonstrated that having adverse childhood experiences (e.g., child maltreatment, domestic violence, etc.) would place trauma survivors at high risk for experiencing emotion dysregulation and violence later in life. While a sizable body of literature has investigated direct effects and indirect effects of a history of childhood maltreatment on experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) in adulthood, only a few studies have tested the mediating effect of emotion dysregulation on the relationship between a history of childhood maltreatment and IPV exposure in adulthood. Particularly, since the pathways from a history of childhood maltreatment to experiences of IPV in adulthood have been primarily examined in cross-sectional studies, little is known about the long-term effects of childhood experiences of maltreatment on the trajectories of IPV exposure in emerging adulthood, in which the rate of IPV is the highest in adulthood. In addition, most of these studies examined only a single type and form of IPV. To fill this gap, the current study conducted secondary data analysis using data from the Pittsburgh Girls Study (PGS), which is a longitudinal survey of an urban community sample of girls. Latent growth curve modeling was used to examine the direct effects of a history of childhood maltreatment on risk of both IPV perpetration and victimization over time and to test whether these effects would be mediated by emotion dysregulation. The results of the study indicated that a history of childhood maltreatment was significantly associated with an initial level of risk for IPV exposure. Importantly, a history of childhood emotional abuse was significantly associated with a higher level of emotion dysregulation, which in turn increased the initial levels of risk for IPV exposure. These significant findings on the mediating effect of emotion dysregulation suggest important implications for social work practice. Specifically, it is critical for social workers to early identify the population who have a history of childhood emotional abuse and provide them with interventions targeting emotion dysregulation, thereby protecting them from later exposure to IPV.
Author: Lee, Hyunji
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7010582352